Wageningen UR & SENSOR project

Marta Pérez-Soba

ALTERRA Wageningen UR

São Carlo Engineer School, University of São Paulo, 13 April 2010

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Research– Unique chain of knowledge

– From academic to applied

– Top 3: Plant & Animal Sci, Agricultral Sci & Ecology and environment

– Top 100 universities

Wageningen UR

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International orientation

Students and faculty from > 100 countries

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Relevant trends

Increasing world population and wealth– Increasing demand for food

– Growing demand for safe and healthy nutrition

– Reduction of the (pressure) on natural resources such as water

– More pressure on environment, land usage and nature

Scarcity of sweet water and energy

Competing claims: Food of Energy

Growing concern over climatic changes

Concern over global infectious diseases (animals/humans)

Higher life-expectancy of Western population, global high birth-rate

Increasing urbanisation and population density

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The Wageningen approach: biological and social

Individual

Society

Community

Household

Gene/ MoleculeGene/ Molecule

Cell

Organism

Products

Ecosystem

Planet

Policy & limiting conditions

institutions

technologies

peopleprofitplanet

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Themes for society

– Bio-based economy (use of biomass)

– Climate resistent coastal areas

– Food, Health, Behaviour

Investing in new themes

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Themes for society

– Bio-based economy (use of biomass)

– Climate resistent coastal areas

– Food, Health, Behaviour

Enabling science and technology

– Bio-nanotechnology (for food)

– Systems biology (i.r.t. genomics)

– Linking scales and governance

Investing in fields of expertise

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Co-innovation

Research

Education

Entrepreneurs

CO- INNOVATION Stakeholders

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Management Board

Wageningen

University

Dept. of Plant Sience

Dept. of Animal Science

Dept. of Food Science

Dept. of Social Science

3500

staff

5000

students

3000

staffAgricultural

Research Service

Plant Research

International

Inst. of Animal Science

Agrotechnology and Food

Science

Agro-Economics Institute

AlterraDept. of Environmental

Science

Environmental Sciences Group

Wageningen UR

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Directors

Human Resource

Management

Directors Office: Strategy,

Communication, Legal Advisors,

Tender Support

Centre

for

Geo

Information

Centre

for

Ecosystems

Studies

Centre

for

Soil Science

Centre

for

Water

and

Climate

Centre

for

Landscape

Studies

Staff

and

support

Financial and

Economic Affairs

Facility services

Environmental Sciences Group

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Climate change causes and

impact: worldwide

Leemans et al.

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Climate change adaptation:

hotspots in NL

Three rivers

Weak spots in coastal

defense

Schiphol

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Climate change adaptation:

safety

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Adaptation: Floating cities and

greenhouses

Image courtesy www.tuinbouw.nl Image courtesy www.drijvende kas.nl

Image courtesy Dura Vermeer

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Our clients

Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food

Quality

Other ministries

Local and regional governments

Nature conservation organizations

European Union

World Bank and Regional Development

Banks

Private sector

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Education in Environmental

Sciences

6 Bachelor programs

12 Master programs

PhD programs

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MSc programs (in English)

Climate Change (Earth Systems Science)

Environmental Sciences

Forest and Nature Conservation

Geo-Information Science

Hydrology and Water Quality

International Land and Water Management

Landscape Architecture and Planning

Leisure, Tourism and Environment

Meteorology and Air Quality

Soil Science

Urban Environment Management

The SENSOR project

experience

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EU Policy

Impact Assessment Guidelines (2006)

– ‘The decision to develop a policy…….should

be based on sound analysis fed by the best

data available. Impact assessment (IA) is a

key tool ….’

– ‘A formal IA is required for items on the

Commission’s Work Programme. All

regulatory proposals, White Papers,

expenditure programmes and negotiating

guidelines for international agreements….’

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Carbon and nitrogen cycles

agriculture forestry urbanCoastal zones

management

Land use

EU projects under FP6

Taken from presentation EC scientific officer Daniel Deybe

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Taken from presentation EC scientific officer Daniel Deybe

Carbon and nitrogen cycles

agriculture forestry urbanCoastal zones

management

Land use

Carbo-europe Nitro-europe

Carbo-africa

Insea

Seamless

Eforwood Plurel Spicosa

Sensor Lupis

Matisse

Adam

EU projects under FP6

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Two trends in research

“Top down processes”

Impact studies

Evaluation of policies

Objectives are defined

Researchers develop

indicators

Researcher define

normative targets

SENSOR

“Bottom up processes”

Design studies

Regional development

Objectives and indicators

defined interacting with

the researchers

Researcher have a

facilitator role

MATISSE?

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SENSOR in a nut-shell

Multifunctional

Interdisciplinary

Interaction between spatial + time scales

and three dimensions of sustainability

19 member states, 38 research institutions

including Alterra (as second partner) and

EMBRAPA

2004-2009

Budget: 12.6 M €

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SENSOR…

Develops an ex-ante Sustainability Impact

Assessment tool for land use in European

Union

– Impact on economic, environmental and

social aspects

– Multifunctional land use

– EU27 + Norway + Switzerland

– Multi-scale: member states and regions

Makes use of existing datasets

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The project team

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Build a tool that can

support decision

makers to anticipate

the effects of their

policies

Integral weighting of

the three

sustainability

dimensions

SENSOR overall objective

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ECONOMIC

SOCIETAL

ENVIRONMENTAL

Policy makers

Stakeholders

Scientists

TIME

SPACE

Sustainability (3 D)

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Sustainability: integrative concept

Normative

Many assumptions and definitions

Discipline dependent

Region dependent

Cultural dependent

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It refers always to a value that is

offered by a location

Value

Usability

Experience

Future

Monetary, non-monetary

PhD Termorshuizen, Landscape ecology 2009

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Physical structure determines the

functioning that leads to the defined

value

ValuePhysical

structureFunction

objective subjective

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Example

Sustainability

image

Reduction of GHG

emissions; energy

safety

Soil, water,

climate in Sao

Paulo state

agricultural

areas

Production of

sugarcane

Physical

structureFunction Value

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European Regional

Local

The missing link

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Scientific result

Book: Sustainability Impact Assessment of Land Use Changes

20 papers in peer reviewed journals

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Tool: Land Use Functions

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Many indicators

Carbon sequestration

Pesticide use

Verweij and te Roller, Alterra, 2009

Individual indicators –

detailed view but not the integrated picture

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THE NINE LUFs

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Aggregation scheme

Parachinni et al (2009)

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Regional stakeholders

Policy makers

Policy makers and researchers

Researchers

Sustainability Impact Assessment

of EU policies

Indicators

Database based on statistics, model outputs,

case studies

The SENSOR knowledge flow: top-downTo translate the impact that EU policy scenarios have on indicators into a sustainable impact assessment at regional level

Based on the information pyramid (World Resource Institute, 1995)

Valuation

TOP

DOWN

Policy scenarios Policy makers and researchers

LUFs

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Regional stakeholders

Policy makers

Policy makers and researchers

Researchers

Sustainability Impact Assessment

of EU policies

Indicators

Database based on statistics, model outputs,

case studies

The SENSOR knowledge flow: top-down

Based on the information pyramid (World Resource Institute, 1995)

Valuation

TOP

DOWN

Policy scenarios Policy makers and researchers

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Spatial Regional Reference Framework (SRRF)

Clusters

Calculated and edited by:C. Renetzeder, T. Wrbka (UVienna)

0 500 1.000 1.500250Kilometers

Legend

Cluster Regions (SRRF)

0100 MEDFOR

0200 CONFOR

0300 MEDHET

0400 MEDMIX

0500 MNTMIX

0801 MEDSHR1

0802 MEDSHR2

0900 MNTOPE

1200 CONHET

1300 CONMIX

1500 CONAGR

1600 PANAGR

1700 STEAGR

1800 CATARA

1900 CATPAS

2000 CATAGR

2101 CATMIX1

2102 CATMIX2

2300 CATFOR

2400 NATAGR

2501 NATPAS1

2502 NATPAS2

2600 NEMFOR

2700 BORFOR

2800 NEMMIX

2900 NEMAGR

3000 BORSHR

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52Verweij et al (2009)

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540

0

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How did the knowledge affect the

decision making process?

THANK

YOU

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NL compared to other EU27

countries: SOCIAL

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NL compared to other EU27

countries: ECONOMIC

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NL compared to other EU27

countries:ENVIRONMENTAL

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NL: Land Use Functions

baseline 2025