Sustainability - Land use transitions
Nature-based solutions for land use transitions towards more sustainable societies
A project in the Interdisciplinary Sustainable Initiatives at NTNU
Call for applications: 4 PhD positions
Application deadline has expired.
About the project
A reduction and reversal of the loss of nature are prerequisite to solve the ongoing biodiversity crisis that, directly or indirectly, affects all UN Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs). The «battle for land» to meet many SDGs greatly compromises the goals that are primarily related to biodiversity, and underpin all life on Earth.
Transformative changes towards sustainability must address such dilemmas related to land use practices, but providing solutions will first require understanding of the ecological, societal and economic aspects of land use changes and biodiversity loss.
In this project, strong research groups at NTNU from Department of Biology, Department of Geography, Department of Industrial Economics and Technology Management, and Department of Natural History (NTNU University Museum) and leading external institutions in ecological and social sciences will be brought together.
The collaboration will develop an in-depth understanding of the complex and multi-faceted drivers behind, motivations and justifications for land use changes affecting biodiversity. This will contribute to suggest solutions for whether, and how to not only quantify costs of land use changes, but also understanding underlying values for calculating costs in the first place, be it biodiversity or societal costs. This can provide managers, corporations and multiple stakeholders with tools for how to assess and implement costs of land use change into planning and decision-making processes.
Solutions to compensate for the different costs due to land use change causing degradation of nature will be proposed. The outcomes of this project will provide a roadmap for transformation towards sustainable land use that embraces multiple SDGs.
PhD Position in:
Patterns of biodiversity in space and time
Department of Biology
This project will evaluate how different nature types contribute to local and regional biodiversity, as well as the temporal dynamics of species communities. Comprehensive biodiversity data from Trøndelag will be analysed with state-of-the-art statistical tools to explain spatiotemporal variation in biodiversity.
Application deadline has expired.
PhD Position in:
Biodiversity and Land-Use change through time and space
Department of Natural History
This project will integrate natural history collection and spatial data to understand how past land-uses and land-use changes have impacted current and past biodiversity. This is vital to assess baselines for biodiversity changes, and to forecast how current and future changes in land-use will alter biodiversity dynamics.
Application deadline has expired.
PhD Position in:
Impact assessment of biodiversity at a company level
Department of Industrial Economics and Technology Management
In this project existing tools for assessment of area use on an industry or company level, and potential habitat degradation this might cause, will be evaluated and new tools developed and tested on case studies. Such tools will create a foundation for management changes and potential compensatory actions.
Application deadline has expired.
PhD Position in:
Societal and political aspects of land use change and biodiversity loss
Department of Geography
This project focuses on competing and often conflicting interests over land use changes when aspects of biodiversity are at stake. Having in-depth insights into stakeholder values and justifications for land-use changes are vital in order to make informed planning and management decisions.
Application deadline has expired.