Andreas Heinimann

Wyss Academy for Nature at the University of Bern

Many social-ecological systems are in an unsustainable state. Bringing together disjunct published findings on complex interactions in social-ecological systems may enable the identification of leverage points for transformations towards sustainability. However, such interdisciplinary synthesis studies on specific regional social-ecological systems...

Scientific knowledge is needed to shape transformative pathways toward sustainable development in mountains. During the past four decades, the journal Mountain Research and Development (MRD) has contributed significantly to increasing the global knowledge base on mountain social–ecological systems, publishing evidence-informed agendas for research...

Shifting cultivation remains an important land system in many tropical landscapes, but transitions away from shifting cultivation are increasingly common. So far, our knowledge on the social–economic and environmental drivers and consequences of such shifting cultivation transitions is incomplete, focusing on certain transitions, drivers, consequen...

Forest-frontier landscapes in the humid tropics display distinct land use change dynamics compared to other world regions, providing useful examples of current global environmental and development challenges. In northwestern Laos, part of the former Golden Triangle region, investments in value chains for commercial crops—mainly to fulfill Chinese m...

Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) are prominent governance instruments that define and verify sustainable agricultural land use at farm and supply chain levels. However, agricultural production can prompt spillover dynamics with implications for sustainability that go beyond these scales, e.g., through runoff of chemical inputs or long-dista...

Forest-frontier landscapes in the humid tropics show specific and distinct land-use change (LUC) dynamics compared to other world regions, while offering insightful examples of current global environmental and development challenges. Social-ecological systems (SES) in these contexts not only have to meet the livelihood needs and development aspirat...

Land use is central to addressing sustainability issues, including biodiversity conservation, climate change, food security, poverty alleviation, and sustainable energy. In this paper, we synthesize knowledge accumulated in land system science, the integrated study of terrestrial social-ecological systems, into 10 hard truths that have strong, gene...

Mapping ecosystem service (ES) supply, demand, and flow-and identifying supply/demand mismatches-has become a focus of ES research and has benefitted from recent advances in modelling techniques and their combination with Geographic Information Systems. But few studies have been done in data-scarce tropical forest frontiers and these were limited i...

Heatwaves have been the deadliest weather extreme events in Europe in the last decades. People living in cities are especially prone to such events due to the urban heat island (UHI) effect which increases the heat stress in urban surroundings especially during calm, steady, and radiation intensive synoptic situations. Since official measurement st...

It is often asserted that secondary forests (SF) provide inferior forest-based ecosystem services (ES), but there is limited research to generalize this claim. Here, we review comparisons between ES provision in SFs and other land uses in shifting cultivation landscapes. We searched the peer-reviewed literature and selected only studies that compar...

Tropical mountain forest frontier landscapes are increasingly target of protected areas (PAs) implementation, in many cases to secure the supply of globally demanded ecosystem services (ES). However, whether PAs manage to achieve their objectives is not always clear, nor are the implications of PA establishment for the supply of ES relevant for loc...

Growing demand for agricultural commodities like rubber or oil palm is causing rapid change in Southeast Asia's biodiversity-rich forested landscapes. This change is particularly pronounced in Myanmar, whose economy is developing at great speed after the end of decades-long economic and political isolation and armed conflicts. Interventions are nee...

Telecoupling is an integrative social-ecological framework that has made important contributions to understanding land change processes in a hyperconnected world. Visualizations are a powerful tool to communicate knowledge about telecoupling phenomena. However, little is known about current practices of telecoupling visualization and the challenges...

In complex tropical forest frontier landscapes, ecosystem service (ES) models are essential tools to test impacts of different land schemes on people. Considering several factors of supply, demand and flow and focusing on local stakeholders, we developed nine ES models using Bayesian networks and applied them in different land scenarios in Myanmar'...

The Mountain Research Initiative (MRI) promotes basic and applied research to understand how drivers and processes of global change present challenges and opportunities in mountain social-ecological systems. It convenes a global network that collectively generates and synthesizes knowledge on global change in mountains that also supports decisions...

In the uplands of Laos, high poverty and insecure land tenure prevail. At the same time, traditional agriculture is being rapidly transformed into large-scale operations for commodity production and resource extraction. In this context, how can equitable economic development be achieved that both benefits family farmers and protects the environment...

Human land use activities have resulted in large changes to the biogeochemical and biophysical properties of the Earth's surface, with consequences for climate and other ecosystem services. In the future, land use activities are likely to expand and/or intensify further to meet growing demands for food, fiber, and energy. As part of the World Clima...

Presents key results of the integrated analysis of the 2017 national land concession inventory (LCI), assessment of quality of investment (QI), and other national socio-economic and environmental datasets in Lao PDR. The analysis reveals key characteristics, trends, and contexts of land leases and concessions in Lao PDR as well as their impacts on...

Abstract. Human land-use activities have resulted in large changes to the biogeochemical and biophysical properties of the Earth surface, with consequences for climate and other ecosystem services. In the future, land-use activities are likely to expand and/or intensify further to meet growing demands for food, fiber, and energy. As part of the Wor...

Key Messages: 1. NTFP sales play a crucial but under-recognized role in the rural economy, on average contributing up 4 to 30 percent of household income. The sustainable commercialization of the NTFP economy constitutes a promising alternative to current modes of development that emphasize land-sparing and agricultural intensification. 2. While po...

Background Anthrax caused by Bacillus anthracis is a zoonotic disease mainly affecting herbivores. The last Swiss outbreak was over 20 years ago. We describe a recent anthrax outbreak involving two cows from the same herd. One cow was designated as a peracute clinical case with sudden death and typical lung lesions, while the other cow presented wi...

Archetypes are increasingly used as a methodological approach to understand recurrent patterns in variables and processes that shape the sustainability of social-ecological systems. The rapid growth and diversification of archetype analyses has generated variations, inconsistencies, and confusion about the meanings, potentials, and limitations of a...

This document contains the draft of Chapter 4 of the IPBES Global Assessment on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Chapter 4 focuses on scenarios and models that explore the impacts of a wide range of plausible future changes in social, economic and institutional drivers on Nature, Nature's Contributions to People and Good Quality of Life.

Land is at the core of our planet’s sustainable development challenges. Different actors have contesting claims on ecosystem services provided by local land systems. Land-use changes therefore always entail trade-offs in terms of ecosystem service provision. The United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development offers a normative frame for la...

Extensive land use changes in forest frontier landscapes are leading to trade-offs in the supply of ecosystem services (ES) with, in many cases, as yet unknown effects on human well-being. In the Tanintharyi Region of Myanmar, a forest frontier landscape facing oil palm and rubber expansion, little is known about local perspectives on ES and the di...

This study investigates the effects of improved market accessibility on agricultural land use and basic wellbeing, defined by income and rice sufficiency, in Xayaburi province, Lao PDR through a meso-scale and actor-oriented approach with data collection at both district and household level. It also investigates farmers’ decision-making as it relat...

Supplementary statistic data on land use and land use change. This file contains tables providing statistical data derived from government documents (MAF, Xayaburi PAFO and DAFOs) regarding land use change in Xayaburi province and the study area. (DOCX)

Selection of sample villages for the household survey. The file explains the criteria for selecting sample villages for the household survey. It also contains a table that reveals the different characteristics of sample villages along the criteria and a figure that illustrates the locations of sample villages. (DOCX)

Data from Lao Government. This file contains the table showing the information of data obtained from the government which include the name of the data sets, the exact government unit, obtained format and period for which the data were obtained. (DOCX)

Household Interview Form. This file is the household interview form that is translated from the original version written in Laos. (DOC)

Summary results of land use change from satellite image analysis and document analysis. This file contains the study of land use change of the study area from satellite image analysis done by Boris Führer (unpublished work for Centre of Development and Environment, University of Bern, 2012) and document analysis from MAF and DAFOs. (DOCX)

Data from household survey. This excel file contains raw data of the household survey regarding personal, agricultural and market data of 121 household samples from 15 different villages in the study area. (XLS)

Agricultural large-scale land acquisition (LSLA) is a process that is currently not captured by land change models. We present a novel land change modeling approach that includes processes governing LSLAs and simulates their interactions with other land systems. LSLAs differ from other land change processes in two ways: (1) their changes affect hun...

Tropical forests are under pressure from both commercial and smallholder agriculture. Forest frontiers are seeing dynamic land use changes that frequently lead to land system regime shifts, posing challenges for the sustainability of entire local social-ecological systems. Monitoring highly dynamic land use change and detecting land system regime s...

Recent advances in land system science and in institutional analysis provide complementary, but still largely disconnected perspectives on land use change, governance, and sustainability in social-ecological systems, which are interconnected across distance. In this paper we bring together the emerging concept of telecoupled land systems and the es...

Soil and Water Conservation (SWC) structures have been constructed on cultivated land for nearly 40 years to reduce soil loss and improve crop yields and people's livelihoods in the Ethiopian highlands. However, the success of this huge effort has been mixed, and the main constraints have not been investigated in detail. This study was undertaken t...

Land cover data is widely used for the design and monitoring of land use policies despite the incapability of this type of data to represent multiple land uses and land management activities within the same landscape. In this study, we operationalized the concept of land systems for the case of the Lao PDR (Laos). Distinct land systems like shiftin...

Mosaic landscapes under shifting cultivation, with their dynamic mix of managed and natural land covers, often fall through the cracks in remote sensing–based land cover and land use classifications, as these are unable to adequately capture such landscapes’ dynamic nature and complex spectral and spatial signatures. But information about such land...

Complied results of expert survey responses. (PDF)

Forest-frontier landscapes in the humid tropics show specific and distinct land-use change (LUC) dynamics compared to other world regions, while offering insightful examples of current global environmental and development challenges. Social-ecological systems (SES) in these contexts not only have to meet the livelihood needs and development aspirat...

Recently, the integrated landscape approach has gained increasing interest of the scientific community, as well as of organizations active in the field of sustainable development. However, the enthusiastic welcome is challenged by little consensus on theory, terminology and definitions. Moreover, the operationalization of the approach into practice...

Abstract In East Africa, charcoal and firewood will remain the main sources of energy for cooking for the next two to three decades. Corresponding energy policies are needed that set proper priorities and improve the sustainability of the biomass energy sector. In this paper, we assess the supply potentials of wood-based and non-woody biomass fuels...

enlarge figure The crucial role mountain ecosystems play for mountain communities and people living in the lowlands is emphasized by the 3 mountain-specific targets of Agenda 2030 (targets 6.6, 15.1, and 15.4). To achieve these targets, sound and integrated knowledge is needed for policy- and decision-making that fosters sustainable management of...

Currently, tilapia are the second most important group of farmed fish worldwide, wherein Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) is the foremost cultured species (FAO 2005). In 2014, the global tilapia production was valued at 4.5 million tons and is expected to surge to 7.3 million tons by 2030 (FAO 2014). Specifically, Egypt represents over 90% of t...

We performed a multi-date composite change detection technique using a dense-time stack of Landsat data to map land-use and land-cover change (LCLUC) in Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA) with a focus on the expansion of boom crops, primarily tree crops. The supervised classification was performed using Support Vector Machines (SVM), which are supervis...

An efficient and reliable automated model that can map physical Soil and Water Conservation (SWC) structures on cultivated land was developed using very high spatial resolution imagery obtained from Google Earth and ArcGIS®, ERDAS IMAGINE®, and SDC Morphology Toolbox for MATLAB and statistical techniques. The model was developed using the following...

The Asian story of miraculous growth and poverty reduction has reinforced mainstream views of development that equate high and sustained economic growth with progress in human well-being. But understanding development only in terms of economic growth is not sufficient. This paper offers a different perspective on possible effects of Laos's transiti...

Sudden and gradual land use changes can result in different socio-ecological systems, sometimes referred to as regime shifts. The Lao PDR (Laos) has been reported to show early signs of such regime shifts in land systems with potentially major socio-ecological implications. However, given the complex mosaic of different land systems, including shif...

This study compares monetary and multidimensional poverty measures for the Lao People's Democratic Republic. Using household data of 2007/2008, we compare the empirical outcomes of the country's current official monetary poverty measure with those of a multidimensional poverty measure. We analyze which population subgroups are identified as poor by...

This study examines the validity of the assumption that international large-scale land acquisition (LSLA) is motivated by the desire to secure control over water resources, which is commonly referred to as 'water grabbing'. This assumption was repeatedly expressed in recent years, ascribing the said motivation to the Gulf States in particular. Howe...

Regression analysis for the water risk indices (WRIs) of investor and host country categories. This file contains a table showing statistical data for the regression analysis of the WRIs of investor country categories (WRIinv) and host country categories (WRIhost). (XLSX)

Pearson’s correlation coefficient for the water risk indices (WRIs) of investor and host country categories. This file contains a table showing Pearson’s correlation coefficients for the WRIs of investor country categories (WRIinv) and host country categories (WRIhost), weighted by the area of investment. (XLSX)

Supplementary data on large-scale land acquisition and its effects on the water balance. This Excel file contains key figures characterizing the 475 large-scale land acquisitions analysed in this paper and their water consumption. (XLSX)

Water consumption induced by large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs), by host country. This Excel file contains various key figures characterizing water consumption induced by the 475 large-scale land acquisitions examined in this paper, as well as the water risk index, for each of the 59 host countries. (XLSX)

Water consumption induced by large-scale land acquisitions (LSLAs), by investor country. This Excel file contains various key figures characterizing water consumption induced by the 475 large-scale land acquisitions examined in this paper, as well as the water risk index, for each of the 54 investor countries. (XLSX)

This paper presents an indicator for measuring multidimensional poverty in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic applying the Alkire–Foster methodology to the Lao Expenditure and Consumption Survey 2002/2003 and 2007/2008. We calculated a multidimensional poverty index (MPI) that includes three dimensions: education, health, and standard of living....

This paper investigates the direct and cascading land system consequences of a Chinese company's land acquisition for rubber cultivation in northern Laos. Transnational land acquisitions are increasingly acknowledged as an important driver of direct land use conversion with implications for local land-based livelihoods. The paper presents an empiri...

Land systems are the result of human interactions with the natural environment. Understanding the drivers, state, trends and impacts of different land systems on social and natural processes helps to reveal how changes in the land system affect the functioning of the socio-ecological system as a whole and the tradeoff these changes may represent. T...

Land use science has traditionally used case-study approaches for in-depth investigation of land use change processes and impacts. Meta-studies synthesize findings across case-study evidence to identify general patterns. In this paper, we provide a review of meta-studies in land use science. Various meta-studies have been conducted, which synthesiz...