The Wyss Foundation announced yesterday that it is launching a global campaign for nature conservation. In this context, it also announced that it is working with the University of Bern on a one-year pilot project in Kenya and Peru. The project aims to show how sustainable development for nature and people can be shaped in the future.
Read the original media release here. (in German)
With CHF 2 million, the University of Bern is conducting two regional, practice-oriented research projects in Kenya and Peru. In both regions, researchers from the University of Bern are working together with representatives of 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 protecting biodiversity, which will later be made available internationally.
Using findings for concrete measures
The Faculty of Science of the University of Bern is internationally renowned in the research fields 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. Particular attention is paid to sustainable land use and ecosystem services in the context of climate change and globalisation.
Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) #
The CDE is the University of Bern’s centre of excellence for sustainable development. As one of the University’s strategic centres, it is tasked with anchoring sustainable development in research and teaching across the entire university. In line with the Sustainable Development Goals 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 around the world. The CDE offers courses in 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.
Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR) #
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 cutting edge. Only through the collaboration of the natural sciences, humanities, social sciences, economics and law can ways be found to respond to global climate change at many different levels: regionally anchored and globally networked.
Institute of Plant Sciences (IPS) #
The IPS studies the entire spectrum of plant diversity, from molecules, cells and organs to whole individuals, populations, communities and ecosystems. This raises questions in basic genetic, physiological and ecological research and leads to the study of a wide range of applied topics. Among other things, the IPS investigates why – although most species tend to remain stable – certain native species are becoming increasingly rare while various exotic species are spreading. It also studies the evolution and adaptation of plants to global environmental change and the interactions between plants and pollinators or herbivores.
