Project description
Looking to the past to grow sustainable agriculture
Global warming and the unchecked expansion of drylands threaten agricultural sustainability, particularly in arid regions. These changes impact biodiversity and disrupt traditional farming practices. As resources become scarcer, understanding how ancient farmers managed their landscapes is crucial for future resilience. The loss of heritage horticulture knowledge further exacerbates challenges to food security. In this context, the ERC-funded BOSTAN TREE project will investigate the ecological history and cultivar diversity of heritage horticulture in four distinct arid regions of southern Israel. By integrating interdisciplinary scientific methods from the humanities and natural sciences with a citizen science framework, the project aims to develop models that apply ancient agricultural wisdom to modern socioeconomic contexts.
Objective
Engaging with the myriad challenges linked to global warming and the unchecked expansion of drylands, the project seeks to develop models for implementing past agricultural know-how in modern socioeconomic contexts. Our novel methodology fuses cutting-edge interdisciplinary scientific approaches from the humanities and natural sciences with an inclusive citizen science framework to examine the ecological history and cultivar diversity of relic ‘heritage horticulture’ in four distinct arid regions in southern Israel. Focusing on the bioarchaeology of trees, we will define the historical, biological and environmental principles of dryland heritage horticulture systems and create a method for the exploration, analysis and ultimate dissemination of the crucial data they contain. When combined, this exceptional compendium of perspectives—coupling broad socio-geographical scientific viewpoints with more precise biogenetic, archaeological, and natural science analytics—can expand our understanding of the factors that drove the sustainability of heritage horticulture in marginal areas. The outcome of our study—an archaeologically informed grasp of ancient agrarian resilience—can transform the field of environmental history and impact present-and-future agricultural dynamics. Indeed, viewing trees as a singular analytical unit is unprecedented, as is our interdisciplinary survey of both the dormant and living artifacts contained within these archaeological contexts. Hence, deep knowledge of how bygone farmers related to the landscape and managed their limited resources, particularly the terrain, soil and water, holds vital implications for climate change adaptation and current-day food security. Moreover, the unique history of dryland farming and its remarkable development in marginal regions can inspire landscape policy management initiatives and community engagement programs that promote cultural heritage restoration and landscape reclamation.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- humanities history and archaeology history
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture horticulture
- humanities history and archaeology archaeology bioarchaeology
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2022-ADG
See all projects funded under this callHost institution
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
31905 Haifa
Israel
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.