Project description DEENESFRITPL Land-use changes and biodiversity conservation Land use is a primary cause of biodiversity loss, which is a global crisis threatening human well-being. The ERC-funded SystemShift project will bring about major breakthroughs in our understanding of how land use threatens biodiversity. Specifically, SystemShift will develop novel concepts to identify key combinations of land-use actors and threats, to understand interactions among different land-use-related threats, and to carry out effective conservation planning. The project will empirically validate these concepts for two tropical dry forest regions in South America, the Chaco and Chiquitano forests, and study dry forests globally to provide insights into conservation challenges and opportunities in these endangered forests. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective Biodiversity loss is a global crisis threatening human wellbeing, and the main driver is how we use land. Decisions about land use are made in social-ecological systems, yet conservation science is currently ill-equipped to consider the complex and dynamic interactions between land-use actors and their environment. This translates into conservation failures and missed opportunities. My overarching goal is to develop new, interdisciplinary concepts and approaches that enable a different, social-ecological perspective on land use in conservation. This promises major breakthroughs in our understanding of threats to biodiversity and how to design effective conservation strategies. My project will be organized in three main steps. STEP 1 will develop novel concepts to identify key combinations of land-use actors, practices, and threats to biodiversity, and organize them into a systems typology for conservation. This step will also design innovative indicators to map how threats vary and interact in space and time. I will apply and test these concepts globally, for the poorly studied tropical dry forests. STEP 2 will empirically validate these concepts for two tropical dry forests regions in South America. Comparative social-ecological fieldwork will reveal how threats impact biodiversity, how land-use actors relate to threats, and how conservation actions influence actors. This will enable a major advance in conservation planning methods to consider land-use actors, dynamic threats, and to rigorously evaluate when, where, and at which scale conservation is most effective. STEP 3 will integrate the project results to provide generalized insights into conservation challenges and opportunities in tropical dry forests globally. My project will cross-fertilise between land system science and conservation science and link to international science-policy dialogues, laying the foundation for a new research agenda integrating complex land systems into biodiversity conservation. Fields of science natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencessoil sciencesland-based treatmentnatural sciencesbiological sciencesbiodiversity conservationnatural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2020-COG - ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS Call for proposal ERC-2020-COG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant Host institution HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITAET ZU BERLIN Net EU contribution € 1 999 125,00 Address UNTER DEN LINDEN 6 10117 Berlin Germany See on map Region Berlin Berlin Berlin Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 999 125,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITAET ZU BERLIN Germany Net EU contribution € 1 999 125,00 Address UNTER DEN LINDEN 6 10117 Berlin See on map Region Berlin Berlin Berlin Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 999 125,00