Projects

EWALD Projekt:

The EWALD project (Earth Observation for Early Warning of Land Degradation at European Frontier) is a joint project involving several universities and other research institutions.
Based on multisource and multiscalar data, an innovative and reliable early warning system for land degradation at the EU's external borders is being developed in order to comply with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goal 15.
The aim is to enable rapid and large-scale action and adaptation in areas affected by land degradation. Current test areas are located in Ukraine and Morocco.
Regular workshops and staff exchanges are part of the project.

Resilient Agri-Food Systems: Sustainable Intensification of Mixed Farming Systems

The project “Resilient Agri-Food systems: Sustainable Intensification of Mixed Farming Systems” deals with land degradation in Northern Ghana with a focus on mixed cereal farming. While land degradation is a global problem with economic and environmental consequences, its effects are felt locally. In Ghana, the annual costs are estimated at 1.4 billion US dollars, or 6% of the gross domestic product. Previous research only offers a coarse spatial resolution and is therefore unable to capture small-scale changes in a highly fragmented system. The project aims to close this gap by assessing the status and trends and thus contribute to the achievement of UN Sustainable Development Goals 1, 2 and 15.

SnowAI

The SnowAI project, led by the University of Bergen, aims to improve the assessment of snow properties in western Norway. With the help of GeoAI and high-resolution satellite data (SAR and optical satellite images), the effects of snowpack variability on the cryosphere and biosphere are being investigated.

SeBAS

SeBAS (Sensing Biodiversity Across Scales) aims to improve the mechanistic understanding of the effects of land use on the interplay between biodiversity – ecosystem functions – and ecosystem services. For that, we are analysing the relationships between functional and structural diversity and the ecosystem service of forage production, and their temporal variation for three spatial scales (plot, farm, and landscape). We will achieve this by combining plot-based ecological and remote sensing research on land-use intensity and 5 Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs): Aboveground Biomass (AGB), Above Net Primary Productivity (ANPP), Leaf Area Index (LAI), plant phenology, and functional diversity.

For further information, please consult the projects webpage: https://www.biodiversity-exploratories.de/en/projects/sensing-biodiversity-across-scales/