Prof. Dr. Joern Fischer (Leuphana University, RESTORE coordination – SP1, SP8), Prof Dr. Stefan Sieber (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin/ZALF – SP7) and Dr. Katharina Löhr (ZALF/HUB – SP4) jointly chaired two sessions on social-ecological restoration in the Global South at the landscape2024 conference in Berlin (16.-20.09.2024).

The first session kicked off with a keynote by Joern Fischer on the pathway towards social ecosystem restoration research and was followed by a mix of presentations on diverse aspects of restoration and sustainable land use in different countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. This included for example presentations on sustainable land management practices in the context of ICRAF’s work in Tanzania, the Great Green Wall, and in the Oronoquia region of Colombia, as well as a presentation on grazing landscapes of the Gran Chaco, relating to research by RESTORE members Matthias Baumann and Tobias Kümmerle (SP2). Later presentations highlighted how a social-ecological perspective can also help to focus on factors related to communities and their diverse members – including issues like social cohesion, equity, and inclusion of frequently marginalised groups such as migrants or women. We learned that a landscape approach is very much compatible with a social-ecological systems approach. And that how we think about interactions within a particular place shapes how we deal with the place.

Overall, the session highlighted that understanding social-ecological connections can help us on the one hand to understand and solve problems in specific places or landscapes. And on the other hand, it can help us understand the big-picture problems that characterise our current era. Although a social-ecological systems lens cannot directly solve these problems, it sheds a new light on them, such that concrete recommendations for decision-makers can be made. In the same vein, then, our collaborative and integrating works and dialogue meetings need to continue to jointly learn and carry on fruitful discussions such as those at landscape2024 and in other RESTORE activities. 

  

Half-year Meeting on May 2nd

On May 2nd, members of the research unit gathered at Leuphana University in Lüneburg to discuss the state of their work, including successes and setbacks. To this end, participants shared what they have accomplished in the initial project phase and coordinated further steps. At the centre of the meeting were updates from all eight subprojects. This also provided a valuable opportunity for PhD students to get in-depth feedback on their dissertation projects and sparked lively discussions on methodology and more. The presented updates were certainly impressive, including even the first drafts of manuscripts to be submitted for publication in the coming months. One of those will be a paper on the KickOff in Kigali and the three horizons approach used therein.

Another theme of the workshop was the finetuning of collaboration between different subprojects, e.g., through data sharing. This is especially relevant for the spatial data which is currently being analysed and compiled in a database. Here, a lot of synergies became apparent which will help further interdisciplinary collaboration between natural and social science research.

After a long day of academic exchange with some organisational discussions, there is a shared sense of excitement to get more deeply into the research. Accordingly, there are already many plans from the various subprojects to return to the field in the coming months to gather data as well as engage with local stakeholders.

As always, stay tuned for more updates on this website!

Impressions from the KickOff in Kigali

Ecosystem restoration is now centre-stage in terms of providing potential options for restoring biodiversity as well as mitigating or adapting to climate change. It is also a global challenge given multiple demands on limited land, particularly in Rwanda, a country that is currently facing serious climatic pressures in a face of economically limited capacity of local communities to build resilience. The German Research Foundation is funding a new research project that is investigating the social and ecological outcomes of ecosystem restoration in Northwestern Rwanda, in in collaboration with many Rwandan stakeholders, including scientists from academic institutions, practitioners from governmental and private organizations, the civil society and representatives from local communities.

During their stay in Rwanda, researchers also had the opportunity to go to the field and further explore the study area. This now proves useful for the research design.

To get the research project off the ground, the consortium organised and led two important kick-off workshops in Kigali-Rwanda at the end of January (30th and 31st January 2024) to explore key concepts in social-ecological restoration to review the past, present and future of restoration science and practice with emphasis, as well as focussing on how the future could be shaped so that ecosystem restoration in western Rwanda could increasingly benefit both human well-being and ecological integrity and biodiversity in the long run. The first workshop focussed on scientific aspects of restoration in Rwanda (and participants were local scientists from Rwanda as well as the German team involving Leuphana University Lüneburg, Humboldt-University Berlin and University of Göttingen) also enabled initial networking to start within the broader collaboration in the context of the project. During the science-focussed kick-off workshop, the research team as well as the research were introduced to the participants at the workshop, and aside from an overview of the Restore Rwanda project, different methods typically applied in social ecological systems science were introduced and discussed in breakout groups and their scope applied to the Rwandan situation.

The second day was under the auspices of restoration practice, and many local and national practitioners, including local and national government officials from Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA), Rwanda Forestry Authority (RFA), Rwanda Water Board (RWB) and Rutsiro, Rubavu, Ngororero and Nyabihu districts, World Resource Institute (WRI). Albertine Rift Conservation Society (ARCOS), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Rwanda Space Agency (RSA), World Agroforestry (ICRAF), Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture (RICA) and the Internation Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Here the group used the 3 Horizons method to analyse in smaller groups Horizon 1 (the current situation regarding restoration in Rwanda), Horizon 3 (where do we want to get to in the future) and then came up with key transformational tasks and paths needed to move from Horizon 1 to 3.  The exercise proved very successful, enabling a deep exchange between local and international participants as well as the compilation of a list of key transformation steps. Publications are being prepared based on the two workshops, with coauthors from Rwanda partners as well as the German-based consortium (that includes scientists from Rwanda and Burundi).

The nearly complete team of the research unit at the kick-off workshop – two newly hired members from Rwanda had not yet arrived in Germany, and two other members were sick and therefore could not attend. test

Our KickOff on Dec 14 & 15, 2023

In December 2023, a kick-off workshop took place at Leuphana University Lueneburg, and this marked the official start of the work of our research unit funded by the German Research Foundation which will specifically approach ecosystem restoration from a social-ecological systems perspective. Rwanda was chosen as the study area because of its ambitious efforts in ecosystem restoration over the last decades. The research unit involves 20 core members from four different research institutions in Germany, as well as collaborations with many additional researchers (and other stakeholders) from Rwanda.

An agroforestry landscape in western Rwanda (photo by Dula Wakassa Duguma).

Over the two workshop days, the project team had ample opportunity to get to know each other and set a roadmap for the research process. A presentation of impressions from a recent scoping trip helped to familiarise everyone with the study area and Rwanda’s unique landscapes. Following that, the teams of the various subprojects had the chance to connect and discuss methodological questions. The workshop’s positive and productive atmosphere fostered a lively exchange and will form the basis for future collaboration.

Dula Wakassa Duguma sharing findings and impressions from the field.
The team at dinner.


An ambitious agenda has been set for the following four years, including multiple PhD projects and workshops with government and NGO stakeholders in Rwanda. The next step will be a team visit to Rwanda at the end of January. To learn more about the research unit and to receive regular updates, follow this blog!