Ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation play an important role in transformation processes, i.e. processes of political, economic and societal change. With our projects we support transformation processes of different kinds.

We work in transformation countries in a conventional sense, e.g. the successor states of the former Soviet Union who are in transition (transformation) from the centrally planned economy to a market economy system and are often marked by the fundamental change or replacement of the political regime. The framework and challenges for natural resource protection are influenced by economic and political upheaval, while worsening as well as improving the environmental situation in relation to selected parameters.

We also work to contribute to a regional and global transformation towards sustainability (see for example the flagship report of the WBGU/German Advisory Council on Global Change). Especially with regard to the scarcity of fossil energy sources, global climate change as well as an accelerating environmental degradation and loss of biodiversity the need for societal, economic and perhaps even political changes has become inevitable to ensure and enhance human well-being for now and in future. The active participation of the civic society is a fundamental part of this transformation. Ecosystem-based approaches in land and resource management and of climate change adaptation are also important contributions to transformation processes that we pursue in our projects.

Introductory lecture with reflections on natural resource and ecosystem management in transformation countries (with special reference to Ukraine)

Projects in the course of the DAAD East-West-Dialogue programme

More projects related to and supporting transformation processes: