SERI´s research group “Quality of Life and Integrated Strategies” investigates how we can achieve a good life for ourselves and future generations. This implies that we have to take care of the ecosystems we depend on and use their resources in a sustainable way.

This highlight aims to show how we – as human beings with individual knowledge, skills, networks and relationships– make decisions on how to benefit from ecosystems.

We will introduce the theoretical concepts Ecosystem Goods and Services and Human Well-Being and explain how we link them in order to provide a framework for their application in our research projects EcoChange, KlimaNetz (CapitalAdapt) and Climsave.

1. Linking Ecosystem Goods and Services to Human Well-Being

We are an integral part of ecosystems, which means that our well-being is highly dependent on our environment and the benefits we gain from it.

By well-being we mean a combination of several objective and subjective factors including resources (income, material, infrastructure) for a good life, health, security, good social relations, happiness and freedom of choice and action.

We define the benefits that we obtain from ecosystems by using the concept of Ecosystem Goods and Services (EGS). EGS include a variety of services and functions of ecosystems, such as the provisioning of goods (e.g. food and freshwater), cultural benefits (e.g. aesthetic landscapes, recreational areas), regulating services (e.g. flood regulation, water purification) or processes, which other services are based upon (e.g. soil formation, nutrient cycling).

The links between the different components of our well-being and the EGS are manifold. Generally speaking, provisioning services are crucial to satisfy our needs for basic material for good life and health, for example by providing us with sufficient nutritious food. Regulating services link strongly to our health and security, e.g. by preventing floods and hereby securing us from disasters. Cultural services affect especially our subjective well-being, e.g. by offering space for recreational activities, which improve our life satisfaction and happiness.

The relationship between humans and ecosystems is – of course – not static. Changing human activities drive, both indirectly and directly, changes in ecosystems, which in turn has an impact on human well-being, because it affects the quantity and quality of the benefits we obtain from EGS. (see figure below).

For example, the way we produce our food has strong effects on the nutrients that get through the soil into our groundwater. Intensive practices with high amounts of fertilizers might lead to contamination, which in turn affects the quality of the water we can extract. Thus, it would need increasing efforts for us to purify the water if we want to prevent negative effects on our health.

2. How is SERI approaching the linkage between EGS and well-being?

The research group „Quality of Life and Integrated Strategies“ is involved in several projects, which address the relationship between EGS and well-being (see EcoChange, KlimaNetz (CapitalAdapt), Climsave). In the following, two possibilities to approach this relationship are described.

a. Human and Social Capital

Conducting research on societies´ impacts on EGS requires taking a closer look at the people that interact in this society and at their relationships with each other. SERI therefore explores the human and social capital which exists in communities.

Human capital describes the education, experience, acquired skills, and health of individuals. Social capital is used to apply human capital in the individuals´ social context. Moreover, it describes relationships, norms and trust that developed in certain networks and between those networks. These relations can be on micro-scale (family and close friends), on meso-scale (friends, organizations) and on macro-scale (broader governance structure).

The projects Climsave and KlimaNetz (CapitalAdapt) focus on the importance of human and social capital when dealing with natural impacts. Climate change, for example, challenges human societies and their dependence on ecosystem services. Due to increasing drought periods, farmers might have to adapt their managements (e.g. by changing crops or irrigation strategies). This requires different knowledge, which needs to be spread among farming communities, and which will ultimately affect the quantity and quality of food that can be provided.

b. Decision-making of relevant actors

What affects the way we make use of our capitals? The EcoChange project takes a closer look at the land use decisions farmers make in response to factors such as market (crop prices), policies (subsidies), climate change (vegetation cover) and new technologies. In case study regions in Belgium and Switzerland, socio-economic scenarios were developed, which either followed a business-as-might-be-usual scenario, a neoliberal growth approach or a sustainable pathway. Scenarios develop differently according to the above mentioned factors and the types of agents (e.g. conservative or innovative farmers) that exist on this land. This in turn has an impact on the ability of ecosystems to provide certain EGS for our well-being. For example, farmers in the neoliberal scenario might prefer to grow crops in monoculture due to higher yields, whereas farmers in the sustainability scenario might grow different organic cultures in crop rotation. The first approach results in high provision of limited kinds of food, whereas the latter might have lower yields, but higher diversity and more positive side-effects like cultural qualities (e.g. high aesthetics). Hence, different elements of our well-being are satisfied to different degrees by different farming strategies.

3. How does SERI communicate the linkage between EGS and well-being to stakeholders?

SERI applies the above mentioned approaches in several stakeholder processes using a variety of participatory methods. We aim at making stakeholders aware of the linkages between their individual behaviour and the provision of EGS in order to create strategies for them to foster their well-being.

Hereby, the underlying hypothesis of our work is that a high level of human well-being for us and future generations has to be achieved in relation with a sustainable use of natures´ resources.
Therefore, we emphasise the necessity to develop sustainable strategies to deal with the challenges arising in the respective case study areas.

EcoChange – challenges for farmers on regional scale
In the EcoChange project an Integrated Sustainability Assessment (ISA) is conducted to analyse the impacts of social, economic and environmental changes on EGS. An ISA is an iterative process, which includes several workshops with stakeholders in the case study regions. These workshops aim at identifying the strengths, weaknesses and challenges in the region, at exploring possible pathways for future developments, and at analysing the underlying mechanisms and drivers for these developments. The discussions and analysis of our project should help the region to develop policies which steer the areas´ development towards the desired directions.

KlimaNetz (CapitalAdapt) – adaptation to climate change in Austrian communities
Recent small-scale climate scenarios have shown the impacts of climate change on Austrian communities (see reclip :century project), which reveals the necessity to adapt to changing conditions.

An important first step towards adaptation is to communicate scenarios in an easy-to-understand way (well chosen language and visualisation) for the affected people. Rather than communicating an increase in temperature, it has to be explained what such developments mean for especially vulnerable people, e.g. elderly inhabitants who have to cope with heat. Then, it becomes crucial to look both at the ecosystems´ possibilities to provide beneficial services (e.g. increase green spaces and the amount of trees to cool the micro-climate) as well as on human and social capital that is needed for adaptation measures (e.g. knowledge of spatial planners to create green spaces or increase in voluntary and professional care personnel for elderly people). The adaptation measures will be developed within a participatory process, which takes place in two communities in Austria, Klosterneuburg and Virgen. We conducted interviews with members of the communities to scope the main challenges they perceive as well as the existing human and social capital in the region. In two workshops following the interviews, the most vulnerable areas in the communities are identified and opportunities for action are discussed.

Climsave – online learning tools for adaptation measures in European regions
The linkages between ecological and social conditions are highly complex. In combination with the high uncertainty about future developments, it becomes increasingly hard for decision makers to judge which measures are sensible and useful and which might lead to (unexpected) negative outcomes. Climsave aims at providing a learning tool that allows decision makers to explore the possibilities and effects of adaptation measures. Factors influencing the decisions are the pressures that are exerted on the respective region (e.g. certain climatic pressures) and the resources (e.g. human and social capital) that are available to implement certain adaptation measures to deal with those particular pressures. The online tool should help decision makers to learn about complex interactions and the impacts their decisions might have on ecosystems and human well-being.

4. SERI publications

Journals

Omann, I., Stocker, A., Jaeger, J. (2009). Climate change as a threat to biodiversity: An application of the DPSIR approach. In: Ecological Economics. 69(1), pp: 24-31.

Briefing Sheets and Newsletters

KlimaNetz Framework (in german)

KlimaNetz Projekt (in german)

Integrated Sustainability Assessment

Climsave Newsletter No. 2

EcoChange Newsletters

5. Further links and publications

Beckley, T., D. Martz, S. Nadeau, E. Wall, and B. Reimer. 2002. Multiple capacities, multiple outcomes: Delving deeper into the meaning of community capacity. Journal of Rural and Community Development 3:56-75.

McLeman, R. 2010. Impacts of population change on vulnerability and the capacity to adapt to climate change and variability: a typology based on lessons from “a hard country”. Population & Environment 31:286-316.

Porritt, J. 2007. Capitalism as if the World Matters. Earthscan/James & James.

www.maweb.org „The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment assessed the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being. From 2001 to 2005, the MA involved the work of more than 1,360 experts worldwide. Their findings provide a state-of-the-art scientific appraisal of the condition and trends in the world’s ecosystems and the services they provide, as well as the scientific basis for action to conserve and use them sustainably.“

www.teebweb.org „The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) study is a major international initiative to draw attention to the global economic benefits of biodiversity, to highlight the growing costs of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, and to draw together expertise from the fields of science, economics and policy to enable practical actions moving forward.“

www.ecochange-project.eu

www.climsave.eu

www.klimanetz.at

Jäger, J., Bohunovsky, L. and Binder, J. (2008)

In response to the challenge of unsustainability, the MATISSE project was designed to propose procedures, methods and tools for better integrating sustainability into policy development processes and institutions. It did so by developing, testing and refining a conceptual framework for Integrated Sustainability Assessment (ISA).

ISA is a pro-active, strategic and potentially transformative process, defined as: a cyclical, participatory process of scoping, envisioning, experimenting, and learning through which a shared interpretation of sustainability for a specific context is developed and applied in an integrated manner in order to explore solutions to persistent problems of unsustainable development.

The project proceeded by: exploring the potential role of ISA as a complement to existing policy assessment processes in the EU; testing ISA in a number of case studies of unsustainability; extending and linking existing modelling tools in support of ISA, and developing new ones.

The models and scenarios developed within the project were used in a series of case studies which:

• examined sustainability issues within the agriculture, forestry and land use sector;
• explored options to decouple overall levels of resource use from economic growth;
• scrutinised the role that ISA could play in triggering transitions in the water domain using the example of the Ebro River Basin;
• examined the role that environmental technology could play in sustainability transitions in Europe using the examples of transportation and the Czech Republic.

This work was accompanied by extensive capacity building, outreach and stakeholder engagement activities.

MATISSE’s analysis of how policy assessments are currently being used in the EU showed that they are often limited in scope, focusing mainly on the economic impacts of new policy proposals. Furthermore, there are significant political and institutional barriers which prevent assessments from directly influencing new policies. Given the systemic nature of unsustainable development, sustainable development is likely to require broad structural changes (transitions), which depend on revising the institutional setting in which assessments take place, as well as the forms of assessment used.

The MATISSE project showed that while it is important to use conventional policy assessment processes to ensure that sectoral objectives are consistent with one another and with sustainable development, it is also necessary to use ISA to develop more comprehensive policy strategies that embed sustainable development. ISA (operating at the strategic level of policy making) and the more formal processes of policy assessment (covering the more routine levels) are therefore complementary.

The MATISSE case studies provided a real-world context for testing and further developing the ISA methodology and tools. They have shown that using ISA can change how persistent problems are perceived and open up new opportunities for finding and implementing possible solutions. Given that the European Union is increasingly embracing the goal of sustainable development, MATISSE provides a valuable contribution to the evolution of decision making and institutional design in the Union.

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On September 21st , Eva Burger presented results of the EVES project, which dealt with the ecological impacts of the last mile of groceries, textiles and electronic devices in Austria. Her second presentation on September 22nd concerned the project EcoFIT, which calculated the ecological footprint of a data centre to identify hot-spots of energy and resource use.

Additionally, two SERI projects were shown at the poster session. EcoChange, where the process of the Integrated Sustainabilty Assessment has been described, and KlimaNetz, which assesses the role of human and social capital in a changing climate.

Further information on presentations and posters you find here.

You can download Eva Burgers presentations here:

• EVES-project
• EcoFIT

On the second day of the World Resources Forum in Davos one of our Studies was presented in a session on “Assessment Methods, Resource Use Indicators and Targets”. Julia Haslinger’s presentation on “Calculating the Ecological Footprint of a Data Centre to identify Hot-Spots of Energy and Resource use” can be downloaded here.

Sustainable development is increasingly dependent on ideas rather than information. This means that empirical data is often not enough on our way to a sustainable society. Year after year, scientific research creates thousands of pages of environmental data supporting the assumption that our current western lifestyles have reached a level of resource and energy consumption that is far too high for the planet earth to sustain in the long run. But what’s the use of this vast heap of information if there is hardly anyone taking interest in it, let alone who really understands it?

To understand, means …
… to perceive the intended meaning and significance of something said, AND
… to interpret something in a particular way

(Compact Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press 2004)

There might be two reasons why the aspired revolution of behaviour change has not yet arrived: 1) The meaning and the significance of the environmental, social and economic information is not yet clear enough to the broad public, and 2) it is therefore interpreted in different ways that don’t necessarily support a change towards a more sustainable policy, management and lifestyle. Information has no power if it is not understood –  the other side of this medal shows that good communication has the potential to empower people.

Channels of communication
The findings of psychology of the last three decades have shown us that successful learning requires an approach which is oriented on the entire human being. This holistic, action-oriented approach of knowledge transfer is a very successful method since we know that people usually remember only 30% of what they read or see, while a combination of the perceptual channels seeing and hearing increases the level to 50%. Finally, the percentage of remembering rises up to 90% if people get to experience things themselves, by actively involving all their senses and bodies. Taking these findings into account means that good communication always follows more than one track and involves opportunities of practical application.

Levels of communication
Sustainable development is a fundamentally democratic concern – only if all parts of society make their contribution it will be achieved. Politics can provide for the legal frameworks; the economy has to reconsider its basic assumptions about the self regulation of the market and its social and environmental implications. We, the individual citizens and consumers, have to critically reflect on our daily decisions of consumption. Change can only happen if it is all-directional – top-down and bottom-up. Thus it is important that all of us – be it the president or the preschooler – have the opportuntity of taking part in the relevant communication processes.

Current challenges to SERI’s science communication
So far, research findings have mainly been communicated to a very small section of society – the scientific community and some concerned citizens. Not so much because the studies would not be open to the public – many of them actually are. They are available on websites and in journals, but they don’t speak the language of the people. Especially when it comes to communicating sustainability, a concept that can only be filled with life through its application within our individual day by days, there are two points essential which have been mentioned earlier: Significance and interpretation. What do those research findings mean for my own life? Do I interpret them in a way that would lead me to change parts of my behaviour?

Today’s challenge is to widen the communication channels that we are used to as researchers by taking into account other groups of society as well – lay persons, children, teenagers, people with different ethnic backgrounds, old people, people who seemingly have no interest in environmental research at all, etc. We have to meet them were they actually are – using various techniques of communicating not information, but ideas.

All this is a challenge for our work, since communication is more than just part of the company name of the SERI sustainability research and communication GmbH. From 2011 on, we employ a dedicated working group dealing with this challenge. Every week, SERI produces countless pages of reports, articles and other papers meant for publication, but much of this work is specifically produced for certain purposes and often commissioned by particular organisations. Often, communication to a broader audience is part of the deal.

This approach requires new skills additional to our various research-related qualifications. SERI currently works on developing these skills.

SERIs contribution

Highlight
Every 6-8 weeks, SERI features one of its focal points in a condensed text. Readers can learn more about the conceptual backgrounds of our projects and find links with further details.

Infomail
With every new highlight, SERI sends out a new issue of its free infomail to its subscribers. The infomail features latest project news and links to our newest SERI publications which can also be downloaded from the website.

Facebook-Group
„Friends of SERI“ also have the opportunity of following our latest news on FB and starting a conversation with our researchers.

SERI Network
The recently founded non-profit SERI network is a platform for all those who are interested in creating a sustainable future – together and „with our own two hands“. Anyone can become a member and contribute his or her part in the regular personal meetings with our researchers, where current issues of European and global interest are discussed and where there is room for new ideas.

Presentations
SERI researchers regularly give speeches and presentations in various settings, such as, for example, the annual conference of the Belgian Sustainability Council, where Fritz Hinterberger held the keynote speech, or the annual conference of the Austrian Association for Agricultural Economy, where Eva Burger was honored with the Best Presentation Award in 2010.

Read more on the Belgian Sustainability Council here.
Read more on the Austrian Association for Agricultural Economy Award here.

SERI teaches at BOKU
SERI researchers regularly hold courses on sustainable developmnet at the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences in Vienna.

Reports on Sustainability Issues
In 2009, SERI proudly presented its report „Overconsumption? Our use of the world’s natural resources“, which provides a compilation of information on current trends in European and global resource use. It is available in German, English and Spanish.

SERI Briefing Sheets
The SERI working groups regularly present their current scientific work in concise Briefing Sheets of four pages. Find our latest Briefing Sheets here.

SERI at GreenID
Finally, SERI takes part in current international conferences on information design such as GreenID in order to intensify its expertise in communicating sustainability.

Our latest info graphic

Link: http://seri.at/communication/

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Over 400 participants gather from 18-21. September 2011 in Davos for the 2nd World Resources Forum.

Together with the Wuppertal Institute für Climate, Envionment, and Energy and two other organisations, SERI organizes a Workshop mainly designed for the business community.

After the short introduction by Fritz Hinterberger and Holger Rohn, examples on how to use material footprint analysis for eco-innovation will be presented by representatives of several European companies, researchers and consultants. This input will serve as a basis for joint efforts in smaller groups to co-develop ideas by the participants for their own field of interest, facilitated by those bringing experience to the workshop in designing new products or services in order to substantially reduce the use of material, water, land, and energy. Special guest of this session is Hubert Rhomberg, Managing Director of the Rhomberg Holding, Austria.

Click here for details.

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This entry is only available in Deutsch.

SERI has moved. You will still find us in the same building but the office changed. The new adress is: Garnisongasse 7/17, 1090 Vienna/Austria

This entry is only available in Deutsch.

This entry is only available in Deutsch.

While the EU FP6 project MELIA (Mediterranean dialogue on integrated water management) is coming to an end Stephan Lutter presented project idea and selected results at the Symposium for European Freshwater Sciences (SEFS 2011) from June 27th to 29th in Girona Spain. In his presentation Mr. Lutter focussed on the topic of the right choice of a set of indicators for water management in the Mediterranean region.

The MELIA project will end in August 2011. The effort to set up a dialogue between scientists, policy makers and the general public has been successful; however, there is still a lot to do, and the consortium compromised itself to use the momentum created in and by the MELIA project to take another step towards sustainable water management in the Mediterranean region.

For more information visit the MELIA website (www.meliaproject.eu).

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