Tobias Plieninger

University of Göttingen | GAUG · Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development

Adaptation to climate change is a social–ecological process: it is not solely a result of natural processes or human decisions but emerges from multiple relations within social systems, within ecological systems and between them. We propose a novel analytical framework to evaluate social–ecological relations in nature-based adaptation, encompassing...

Context Agroforestry plays a crucial role in increasing tree-based food production for healthy and sustainable food systems. However, the potential of farm trees to contribute to farmers' dietary diversity along multiple paths remains under-researched. Objectives This study aimed to fill existing knowledge gaps by investigating the role of native...

Forests supply multiple ecosystem services, categorized into provisioning (e.g. wood), regulating (e.g. climate change mitigation, biodiversity protection) and cultural (e.g. recreation) services. While European policies have set the target for forest management to supply multiple ecosystem services, the literature emphasises that regulating and cu...

Identifying research gaps and priorities is paramount to advance sustainability science and contribute to a sustainable future. This editorial contributes to this effort by contemplating the sustainability science research agenda and aligning it with recent changes in global dynamics. Drawing on consultations with the editorial board members of the...

In view of the multiple challenges faced by agriculture, agroforestry can promote multifunctional farming landscapes. While the law is a decisive factor for the adoption of agroforestry, it is not as yet comprehensively addressed in agroforestry and governance research. We operationalize Ostrom's social-ecological systems framework to analyze agri-...

Understanding and building resilience is critical to responding to the deepening polycrisis. Pathway diversity is a promising approach to resilience that combines individual and systems perspectives, but so far has only been applied to idealized cases. Here, we use a rich case study from the mosaic landscape of Västra Harg, Sweden, to test and adva...

The intensification of resource extractivism around the world poses multiple challenges and fosters the development of new governance structures, especially among communities on the frontlines of resource extraction. Through a narrative inquiry based on narrative interviews with local actors and experts, this article centres on governance as a resi...

Agri-environmental collaboration (AEC) has become a prominent subject to agricultural research and policy-making in the EU. Within the last decades, several initiatives have pioneered landscape-scale approaches to overcome the spatial mismatch between the local implementation of agri-environmental measures and the landscape-scale habitat requiremen...

The Sundarbans mangrove forest in Bangladesh underpins local livelihoods in multiple ways, but its ecological integrity is under threat. In this paper, we seek to explore how local people value the Sundarbans landscapes spatially and how the Sundarbans contributes to their sense of place. To elicit spatially distributed landscape values, we applied...

Vor dem Hintergrund des Klimawandels rückt der Wald immer mehr in den Fokus von Politik und Öffentlichkeit. Dabei werden ganz unterschiedliche Schlussfolgerungen gezogen, die vom Anbau neuer Baumarten bis zu einem weitgehenden Prozessschutz reichen und sich von vermehrtem Holzeinschlag im Zuge der Bioökonomie hin zu striktem Naturschutz erstrecken....

Agri-environment schemes (AES) have so far failed to halt the strong decline in farmland biodiversity. Landscape-scale implementation of AES through collaboration of multiple stakeholders could be a key to substantially improve their ecological effectiveness. However, it remains unclear how to determine the amount of target measures in a landscape,...

Aus der literatur- und erfahrungsbasierten Analyse der Naturschutzverwaltung in den Bundesländern in Teil 1 des Beitrags werden 20 Thesen abgeleitet. Mit diesen Anregungen soll ein grundlegender Reformprozess eingeleitet werden, um die Naturschutzverwaltung für das 21. Jahrhundert zukunftsfähig zu gestalten. Diese betreffen (1) organisationale Stru...

A nationwide survey of opinions, with the participation of scientists and practitioners as well as evaluation of scientific work, shows that nature conservation administration is less and less able to fulfil its mandate. This initially becomes clear when politically set biodiversity targets are missed. Behind this is a bundle of complex challenges,...

Mediterranean agriculture is increasingly threatened by soil degradation and climate change. Conservation agriculture (CA) is a farming approach characterized by reduced soil disturbance, soil cover, and crop rotation that provides agronomic, economic, and environmental benefits to farmers, but which is not yet widespread in the Mediterranean regio...

In the last decades, rapid agricultural commercialization has led to landscape simplification, posing threats to the social and ecological values of agroecosystems worldwide. This paper draws upon the landscape commons concept, advocating for an institutional perspective to comprehensively understand the local governance concerning landscape simpli...

Previous research has shown that products labeled as ‘Protected Designation of Origin’ (PDO) correlate positively with indicators for landscape sustainability. However, specific factors that turn PDO products into sustainable landscape management tools remain vague. We analyze interviews from six European production systems to explore the links bet...

Restoring degraded peatlands is a promising strategy for mitigating carbon emissions. Large‐scale landscape transformations, such as rewetting of land used for intensive agriculture, often lead to conflicts. Elicitation of the relational values acting as barriers to landscape transformation may support the resolution or taming of such conflicts. Th...

Balancing societal demands on forests is a major challenge in current forest management. Small-scale private forest owners are an important ownership group that is rarely addressed directly in this discussion. Our study aims to identify and differentiate between private forest owner groups. Based on this, we take a systemic approach and determine l...

Urban wetlands are well-known to provide multiple ecosystem services and are essential for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The management practices of local institutions are strongly influential on the sustainability outcomes of urban wetlands, yet the beliefs and value systems underlying distinct management approaches have n...

Photovoice is a participatory research method based on participant-led photography and dialogue. It is particularly suited to engaging vulnerable groups to visually document a specific issue that affects their personal lives. Because photovoice is based on images and language alike, it encourages participants to reflect on the issue and elevates ma...

Rural abandonment is a significant process in the Mediterranean region, posing sustainability challenges for rural and urban areas. Although there is an increase in studies focusing on the ecological implications and impacts of land abandonment and the role of rewilding, there is a knowledge gap in the study of the socio-cultural dimension of aband...

Inclusive conservation approaches that effectively conserve biodiversity while improving human well-being are gaining traction in the face of the sixth mass extinction of biodiversity. Despite much theorization on the governance of inclusive conservation, empirical research on its practical implementation is urgently needed. Here, using a correlati...

Conservation agriculture (CA) is the key agricultural soil management approach for Mediterranean rainfed systems facing extreme droughts and soil degradation. Yet, CA uptake and applicability is still marginal and disputed in the Mediterranean region, where smallholder farmers are most representative. Lack of widespread adoption of CA in the Medite...

The Mediterranean region is facing major challenges for soil conservation and sustainable agriculture. Conservation agriculture (CA), including reduced soil disturbance, can help conserve soils and improve soil fertility, but its adoption in the Mediterranean region is limited. Examining farmers’ perceptions of soil and underlying sociocultural fac...

Context The management of Portuguese agroforestry landscapes is currently focused on specialised cork and cattle production. Sustainable landscape management is increasingly discussed as an effective option to foster the multifunctionality of these landscapes. Such management requires consideration of multiple values connected to the landscape and...

Ecosystem services provided by green infrastructure are often discussed for their potential to address the societal challenges of urbanization. However, green infrastructure, particularly small-scale types (e.g. trees), is vulnerable to loss through urbanization and is often passed over during scientific investigations. Studies on the perceptions o...

Small-scale private forests cover large areas in Europe and often contain structures and habitats of high nature conservation value that are increasingly put under pressure due to a rising interest in fuelwood and wood products. We investigate the distribution of variables like living tree and deadwood volumes, management intensity, diversity and d...

Die europäische FFH-Richtlinie (Richtlinie 92/43/EWG) von 1992 soll die Biodiversität in Europa unter anderem durch ein EU-weites Schutzgebietsnetz „Natura 2000“ fördern. Durch den föderalistischen Aufbau in Deutschland hat jedes Bundesland eigene Strategien entwickelt, um die FFH-Richtlinie rechtlich umzusetzen und Betreuungsmodelle für die Gebiet...

Landscape approaches are gaining momentum in both scientific and policy agendas. However, landscape approaches comprise a multitude of concepts, approaches and principles, which are in part similar, in some parts different or even contradictory. In this paper, we used a Q-method questionnaire to explore how landscape approaches are understood and e...

Tobias Plieninger has contributed to framing Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) by his studies in Europe and Asia from forest to agricultural ecosystems. He introduced how the term of CES as a part of ecosystem services was raised by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment but largely neglected at the beginning. From his projects, he explored how to set...

This article sheds light on the complex interaction between humans and the natural world, as well as the significance of Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) in interpreting this bond. CES refers to the non-material and immaterial benefits that nature gives to human society, including nature-based tourism, landscape aesthetics, sense of place, cultura...

The human relationship with nature is a topic that has been explored throughout human history. More recently, the idea of connection to nature has merged as an important transdisciplinary field of study. Despite increased scholarly attention to connection to nature, the notion of disconnection from nature remains undertheorized and understudied. In...

Globally, around 0.78 billion rural people live in close proximity to forests and have been considered “forest-dwelling” and/or “forest dependent”. Forest dependency has so far been mainly studied in material terms, while the non-material relationships to forests have been addressed less frequently. To fill this gap, the general objective of this s...

Against a background of intensifying climate-induced disturbances, the need to enhance the resilience of forests and forest management is gaining urgency. In forest management, multiple trade-offs exist between different demands as well as across and within temporal and spatial scales. However, methods to assess resilience that consider these trade...

Rapid urbanization increases pressure on extracting construction materials through quarrying, which is disrupting and re-making places worldwide. In this study, we examine how people's place making and sense of place are reconfigured through quarrying. Taking a case study approach, we investigate perceptions of sense of place after quarrying and so...

Small-scale private forests cover large areas in Europe and often contain structures and habitats of high nature conservation value that are increasingly put under pressure due to a rising interest in fuelwood and wood products. We investigate the distribution of variables like living wood and deadwood volumes, management intensity, diversity and d...

As Natura 2000 missed challenges of halting biodiversity decline, its' management is being affected by factors of ecological, political, and economic character. To address the shortcomings revealed during the Fitness Check and to facilitate meeting the EU's biodiversity targets, the European Commission developed an "Action Plan for Nature, People a...

Restflächen ehemaliger agroforstlicher Nutzungssysteme im Wald, insbesondere Hutewälder, nehmen durch den Wegfall der historischen Nutzung zusammen mit ihrer schützenswerten Biodiversität an spezialisierten Tier- und Pflanzenarten sowie Alt- und Lichtwaldstrukturen immer weiter ab. Dieser Abnahmeprozess ist weitgehend irreversibel, da die meisten F...

The development of societies, including spiritual development, is closely connected to forests. The larger interrelations among changing societies, transforming forest landscapes, and evolving spiritual values related to forests have yet to be extensively considered. Addressing this research gap is important to avoid the neglect of spiritual values...

Comparing the impacts of future scenarios is essential for developing and guiding the political sustainability agenda. This review-based analysis compares six IPBES scenarios for their impacts on 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 20 biodiversity targets (Aichi targets) for the Europe and Central Asia regions. The comparison is based on a...

Landscape products link to low-input practices and traditional ecological knowledge, and have multiple functions supporting human well-being and sustainability. Here we explore seven landscape products worldwide to identify these multiple functions in the context of food commodification and landscape sustainability. We show that a landscape product...

Trees are key elements of urban green infrastructure and provide multiple ecosystem services that are essential for the quality of life of people in urban environments. Grey infrastructure is made up of buildings or built-up area, generally characterized by imperviousness of the surface. The complexity of urban green and grey infrastructure and the...

Wildfires are increasing in severity, and magnitude in the Mediterranean Basin in recent years, reaching a yearly average of 450 000 ha over the last decade. Drivers include climate change, land-use change, and land abandonment. Wildfire mitigation requires landscape-level action as impact to each parcel is affected by the conditions of the others....

Europe's forest provide multiple ecosystem services for societies, ranging from provisioning (e.g. wood) and regulating (e.g. climate mitigation and biodiversity) to cultural (e.g. recreation) services. In this paper, we assess the state and prospects of forest ecosystem services provision in Europe, introducing new data from the European collabora...

A very severe drought, early in the growing season, engulfed Morocco this year. This is not the first, but one in a series of dry years. Many farmers already used up their financial reserves, and it remains unclear how they will cope yet again. This essay combines photography with short interviews to recognise the implications of drought for Moroc...

In this study, we bring together participatory mapping and analysis of geolocated social media content from the Flickr platform in an assessment of similarities and differences in their utility for landscape value elicitation. We do so in a Pan-European context comparing types of landscape values and their spatial patterns across 19 case sites in 1...

作为在社会 - 生态系统可持续发展研究领域颇具国际影响力的学者,普利宁格教授基于地中海区域对文化景观保护、农业系统变迁、生态系统服务和可持续转型进行了深入的研究。 目前,在全球气候变暖、农村凋敝、农业人口外流、耕地抛荒和土地利用方式变更的背景下,他将人与自然、社会与生态互动的视角运用到农业系统的保护与可持续发展当中,把“人“的角色回嵌于人文干预的生态环境的系统性保护之中。他的学术思想同时兼具对可持续发展科学跨学科的理论探索和社会 - 生态系统保护的现实关照。在不同群体对农业文化遗产研究和保护的关注日益增多的契机下,与相关领域学者的经验交流尤为必要,普利宁格教授因此应邀接受了 2021 年 9 月 13 日的专访及之后的系列讨论,以自身的研究实践来回应可持续发展的时代命题。现将访谈辑录成稿并翻...

Restoring, maintaining, and developing green and blue infrastructure (GBI) in cities is a key strategy to safeguard ecosystem services and human well-being under conditions of rapid urbanization. Developing “blue infrastructure” is a new concept, but there are diverse historically grown water management systems that have the potential to inform con...

This paper analyses the occurrence of governance innovations for forest ecosystem service (FES) provision in the forestry sector in Europe and the factors that influence innovation development. Based on a European-wide online survey, public and private forest owners and managers representing different property sizes indicate what type of governance...

The Geographical Indications (GIs) scheme is the EU's primary policy tool for increasing the market values of geographically distinct food products. Although GIs are linked to the landscapes of food production, little is known about the social-ecological values they represent, mainly due to a lack of spatial data. In this study, we, therefore, mapp...

The Mediterranean Basin is a global biodiversity hotspot, but formal conservation approaches have not been wholly effective to halt species and ecosystem losses in this world region. There is wide agreement that maintaining traditional and diverse land-use systems is key to conserving biodiversity across the Mediterranean region. Biocultural approa...

Long-term livestock grazing has shaped landscapes, biodiversity, societies, cultures, and economies in the North Atlantic over time. However, overgrazing has become a major environmental sustainability challenge for this region, covering the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, and Scotland. The objective of this study was to elicit narrative...

Land abandonment is a process widespread in many regions of the world as a consequence of socio-economic conditions and changes on the use of land. Research has shown that land abandonment can have both positive and negative effects, depending on the local context, location and scale. Research has framed land abandonment either as an opportunity fo...

Participatory mapping is a useful approach to engage the general public and stakeholders to communicate place-based values, behaviour, preferences and observations. The approach informs social-ecological research and land-use planning. In land-use planning, PPGIS is applicable, for example, in initial phases or for assessing project outcomes. This...

Forests are key components of European multifunctional landscapes and supply numerous forest ecosystem services (FES) fundamental to human well-being. The sustainable provision of FES has the potential to provide responses to major societal challenges, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, or rural development. To identify suitable strategies...

The draft Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework commits to achievement of equity and justice outcomes and represents a “relational turn” in how we understand inclusive conservation. Although “inclusivity” is drawn on as a means to engage diverse stakeholders, widening the framing of inclusivity can create new tensions with regard to how to manage...

Social-ecological interactions have been shown to generate interrelated and reoccurring sets of ecosystem services, also known as ecosystem service bundles. Given the potential utility of the bundles concept, along with the recent surge in interest it is timely to reflect on the concept, its current use and potential for the future. Based on our ec...

Studies on cultural ecosystem services (CES) in urban forests using Public Participation GIS mapping are a well-established field of research. However, far fewer studies do exist that also illuminate perceived disservices, thus omitting an important part of human-forest relationships. Advancing knowledge on unpleasant places can promote outdoor rec...

Over the past 25 years, the study of driving forces of landscape change has developed into a central theme in land change science by contributing to theory development, promoting the analysis of causation of change and gaining insights into how landscape development could be steered into a societally more desirable direction. Based on this progress...

Trees are key elements of urban green infrastructure and provide multiple ecosystem services that are essential for the quality of life of people in an urban environment. Grey infrastructure is made up of buildings or built-up area, generally characterized by imperviousness of the surface. The complexity of urban green and grey infrastructure and t...