Research

The goal of the project PAPPUS is to understand how decision-makers affect plant assemblages present in different Urban Green Spaces (UGS), and how their decisions affect the ecological and human benefits that can be realized from UGS in a changing climate. The originality of PAPPUS lies in the strong integration of social, ecological, and climatological theories and methods, together with its use of a mechanistic and predictive modelling approach to assess societal preferences and management practices related to vegetation in different UGS and their effects on biodiversity, microclimate, and human benefits.

Internal Collaborators: Sebastian Ruile, Marco Moretti (WSL) and Jaboury Ghazoul
Duration: 2023-2027
Partners: Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL)
Funder: Swiss National Science Foundation

Serious Games and Forum Theatre as Catalysts for Inclusive & Participatory Green Transition
Internal collaborators: Anne Dray
Duration: 2024-2027
Partners: BirdLife International
Funder: ETH4D

The project focuses on addressing urban challenges arising from global climate change and demographic shifts through a land system science approach. It explores the complex interactions between urbanization and vegetation, aiming to develop sustainable and inclusive urban green space planning strategies. By integrating climate, demographic, environmental, policy, and vegetation remote sensing data, the project bridges the gap between nature and cities. Special emphasis is placed on the dynamic interplay between natural spaces and the climate-society-ecology nexus, considering the needs of climate-vulnerable populations and non-human stakeholders. The project focuses on Switzerland, China, and a global scale, offering a multi-dimensional perspective on green urbanization.

Internal collaborators: Jaboury Ghazoul, Fritz Kleinschroth, Yuyang Chang
Duration: 2022-2025
Partners: Leibniz University Hannover
Funder: ETH Zurich, Swiss Scholarship Programme

Focus Forests
(Anne Dray, Claude Garcia and Fritz Kleinschroth)

Duration: 2020-2022

Partner (and Funded by): 
external page Forest Stewardship Council

external page Landscapes as Carbon Sinks
(Jaboury Ghazoul and Nicole Ponta)

Landscapes as Carbon Sinks, funded by EIT through Climate KIC, is exploring options for the systemic transformation of land use sectors to substantially contribute to Scotland’s 2045 net-​zero carbon target. The initiative brings together research, policy development, business innovation, access to financial investment, and land management expertise to co-​design and deliver low-​carbon economies and landscapes. Landscapes as Carbon Sinks is led by Jaboury Ghazoul, and is a collaboration between ETH Zurich and the University of Edinburgh, drawing on expertise from partners that includes the Scottish Government, a range of public and private actors in Scotland, and academic partners in Europe.

Partner: 
external page University of Edinburgh

Innovative financing mechanisms for scaling-up forest restoration
(Sara Löfqvist)

Mapping the financial, political and social feasibility of forest restoration across the global tropics.

Opportunities And Challenges For Scaling Up Forest Restoration
(Daniella Schweizer)

The projects analyzed the perceptions of a variety of actors across scales engaged in forest and landscape restoration (FLR) on the implementation of FLR principles, the challenges faced, and promising strategies employed. Despite great variation in project socioeconomic and environmental context, we found similar challenges in the implementation of a landscape scale project. Namely, issues of governance and short term project duration were commonly mentioned. To this end, actors are seeking to create a market economy around restored landscapes to attain sustainability of their actions and to further involve government support in the form of legislations and incentives that foster restoration.

• Beyond oil palm: Perceptions among local communities of environmental change (Nur Hasanah)
• Modeling biodiversity in dynamic landscape mosaics (Natalia Ocampo-Penuela)
• Better gardens: Soil quality, biodiversity and social value of urban gardens (David Frey)
  
• Modeling agroforestry pollination services in fragmented forest landscapes (Charlotte Pavageau) 
• Download Managing trade-offs in coffee agroforests (PDF, 1.1 MB) (Maike Nesper)
• Interactions among water stress and micro-topography affecting growth and survival of dipterocarp seedlings (James Margrove)
• Modeling biodiversity in dynamic landscape mosaics (Ainhoa Magrach) 
• Genetic structure in Bornean tropical forests (Claire Tito de Morais) 
• Seed dispersal and spatial distribution of dipterocarps (James Smith) 
• Demographic and genetic processes underlying regeneration in coco-de-mer (Emma Morgan) 
• Interactive effects of CO2 and light conditions on drought resistance of conifer species during early growth (Christoph Bachofen)
• Biodiversity and climate change: a risk analysis (Josephine Haase) 
• Gene flow and niche partitioning of pollinators as a mechanism for species coexistence in important timber species of the Dipterocarps of Sabah (Chris Kettle) 
• Synergies between fragmentation and habitat patch degradation: implications for species and population viability (Sascha Ismail) 
• The effect of fragmentation in urban habitats (Sonja Braaker) 
• Ecosystem connectivity of fragmented habitats in agricultural areas of the Swiss plateau (Daniela Keller) 
• Modelling land use for decision support in the context of biofuel expansion (Janice Lee) 
• Conservation of sacred grove forests: an ecosystem services approach (Smitha Krishnan) 
• Adaptation to local site conditions and phenotypic plasticity may favour peripheral high altitude populations in terms of response to expected future climate change scenarios (Esther Frei)
• Genetic diversity, differentiation and gene flow in low central vs. upper peripheral plant populations in the Alps (Thomas Hahn) 
• Disruption of local adaptation in plant populations via pollen immigration (Philippe Matter)