The Wyss Foundation announced yesterday that it is initiating a global campaign for nature conservation. In this context, it also announced that it is collaborating with the University of Bern in a one-year pilot project in Kenya and Peru. The project is intended to show how sustainable development can be shaped for nature and people in the future.
Read the original press release here.
With CHF 2 million, the University of Bern is conducting two regional, practice-based research projects in Kenya and Peru. In both regions, researchers from the University of Bern are working together with representatives of the local authorities and nature conservation organisations as well as the local population. The aim is to develop innovative approaches to land use and strategies for biodiversity conservation, which will later be made available internationally.
The Faculty of Humanities and Natural Sciences at the University of Bern is internationally recognised in the research areas of climate change, sustainable resource use and biodiversity. Under the joint leadership of Markus Fischer (Institute of Plant Sciences), Peter Messerli (Centre for Development and Environment) and Thomas Stocker (Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research), the findings from the two test regions are intended to show how suitable measures for sustainable development can also be implemented in other parts of the world. Special attention will be paid to sustainable land use and ecosystem services in the context of climate change and globalisation.
The CDE is the competence centre for sustainable development at the University of Bern. As one of its strategic centres, its mission is to anchor sustainable development in research and teaching across the entire university. In accordance with the global goals for sustainable development of the 2030 Agenda, the CDE develops solutions and initiates transformation processes that distribute the gains and risks of globalisation more fairly, conserve natural resources and promote well-being in the world. The CDE offers courses in the field of sustainable development and employs around 100 staff from 17 disciplines. It is active in five regions of the Global South as well as in Switzerland and Europe.
The Oeschger Centre is the University of Bern's centre of excellence for climate research. It was founded in summer 2007 and bears the name of Hans Oeschger (1927-1998), a pioneer of modern climate research who worked in Bern. The Oeschger Centre brings together researchers from nine institutes and four faculties and conducts disciplinary and interdisciplinary research at the forefront. Only the cooperation of natural, human, social, economic and legal sciences can point out ways to counter global climate change on the most diverse levels: regionally anchored and globally networked.
The IPS studies the entire spectrum of plant diversity, from molecules to cells and organs to whole individuals, populations, communities and ecosystems. This raises questions in genetic, physiological and ecological basic research and leads to the treatment of a wide range of applied topics. For example, the IPS investigates the question of why - although most species tend to remain stable - certain native species are becoming increasingly rare and various exotic species are spreading. The evolution and adaptation of plants to global environmental changes and the interactions of plants with pollinators or herbivorous animals are also studied.