Wolfgang Wende

• Prof Dr
• Head of Department at Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development

Urban tree canopies are a vital component of green infrastructure, especially in the context of the accelerating urban heat island effect and global climate change. Quantifying urban canopy cover in relation to land use and land cover changes is therefore crucial. However, accurately evaluating visual changes remains a challenge. In this study, we...

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated in drastic fashion the inextricable link between human well-being and healthy ecosystems. Today, however, ecosystems and biodiversity around the world are facing considerable societal pressures and are moving dangerously close to critical tipping points: ecosystems and their services are being degraded to such an...

In recent years, awareness has grown of the vital importance of ecological systems, provoking increased research into how to improve their resilience. Here, one popular new technical/management solution is the creation of greenways along riversides. In practice, however, the practical outcomes of such greenways have sometimes been disappointing due...

This study proposes the use of light detection and ranging (LiDAR) remote sensing (RS) to support morphometric research for estimating the aerodynamic roughness length (z0 ) of building placement on various scales. A LiDAR three-dimensional point cloud (3DPC) data processing graphical user interface (GUI) was developed to explore the z0 and related...

"There are no scientifically justified obstacles to protecting biodiversity in all its beauty and diversity. There are only six years left to achieve the biodiversity targets by 2030. We must work together now to get there in time." In the 10 Must Knows from Biodiversity Science 2024, 64 scientists have further developed their well-founded and div...

Community gardens are growing in popularity worldwide, especially in densely populated urban areas. They provide semi-public spaces for joint gardening activities and serve as social and ecological retreats. The COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions in movement and leisure activities led to a changed demand for urban green spaces, but it re...

Reaching the goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework requires commitment at all political levels and in all sectors. The State of Saxony also has to contribute its share. Saxony has a great potential, but also faces particular challenges. Almost half of the land area is used for agriculture, mainly for arable farming. However, o...

For spatial practices such as architecture, urban design and planning, degrowth remains an abstract concept, as there is no clear alignment of its principles into spatial strategies. To bridge this gap, this paper examines how degrowth can be operationalised into sustainable spatial practices. Through a review of more than 200 sustainable spatial p...

Low-carbon energy requires more land than the non-renewable resources. This paper balances holistic assessments of the land demands for biomass heating and their ecosystem services. It is predicted that biomass will continue to play an important role in the heating sector in Germany by 2050, as it is one way to increase the use of renewable energy...

The paper considers the emerging concept of geosystem services (GS), highlights its importance for sustainable urbanization, and the use of urban underground space specifically. A theoretical framework to enable the incorporation of GS into urban planning has been suggested. GS complement ecosystem services (ES) by focusing on abiotic components an...

Urban sprawl and associated land use changes have been referred as primary drivers of environmental change. Yet it is unclear in detail how land use changes impact vegetative structures or ecosystem services and what the specific drivers of change are, especially in urban-rural interfaces in medium-sized Chinese cities. Our future contribution is i...

Because of its location in the Indian Himalayas, the mountainous state of Uttarakhand is prone to multiple natural hazards and climate change extremes. At the same time, Uttarakhand is experiencing unprecedented population growth and undergoing rapid urbanization. Urban planning instruments like land use plans and building regulations allow disaste...

Die DG Umwelt der EU Kommission hat vor kurzem und auf Grundlage der EU Biodiversitätsstrategie 2020 einen Leitfaden zu einem "No Net Loss/Net Gain" of Biodiversity (kein Nettoverlust/ Nettogewinn von Biodiversität) veröffentlicht. Die Umsetzung und Anwendung des Leitfadens ist freiwillig. Dennoch stellt sich die Frage, ob dies nicht ein erster off...

"10 Must Knows from Biodiversity Science”, ranging from climate stress for forests to the corona virus that has jumped from animals to humans, are now published for the first time. More than 45 experts from the German Leibniz Research Network Biodiversity and colleagues have compiled this inventory on the preservation of nature as the basis of huma...

Uns Autorinnen und Autoren geht es darum Wissen zu vermitteln. Wissen um Wandel, um politisches und gesellschaftliches Handeln für einen gesunden Planeten, den Erhalt und die nachhaltige Nutzung der Biodiversität zu unterstützen. Wissenschaft und Forschung zur Begleitung eines komplexen und systemaren Prozess wird angeboten. For us as contributors...

Understanding the spatial patterns of ecosystem service (ESs) supply and their multiscale associations are prerequisites for optimizing blue-green space planning and sustainable management in metropolitan areas. This study selected Shanghai as a typical metropolitan area in the plain river network region, and five key ESs were mapped. Based on ESs...

Urban green spaces, like community gardens, received increased attention during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing from an ethnographic study on participating in community garden activities in Edmonton, Canada and inputs from 194 gardeners and 21 garden coordinators, this paper captures the experiences of creating community during a pandemic. Garden co...

The subject of this article (in German language) is the monitoring obligation for projects introduced by the UVPG-Modernisierungsgesetz (EIA Modernisation Act) in 2017. In this respect, a distinction must be made between the monitoring of the environmental requirements as laid out in the approval decision (art. 28 para. 1 UVPG) and the monitoring o...

Against the background of global problems such as climate change, biodiversity loss and marine pollution, political confrontation can frustrate joint action to the point of non-implementation of already reached agreements. Consequently, we consider the role that environmental policy transfer driven by non-governmental experts can play at an informa...

Geothermal energy is a collective term referring to Earth heat extraction and use of the ground capacity to absorb and store thermal energy to supply heat or cold. Thermal ground exchange or shallow geothermal energy has been increasingly used in the housing sector to sustain comfortable room temperature. Increasing utilization of geothermal energy...

The present status of public participation in EIA particularly concerning biodiversity in West Bengal, India was studied. The issues raised in 50 public hearings were analyzed and chapters on biodiversity in 20 EIA reports were studied. Areas needing improvement were identified. Scientific literature was studied to gather best practices/concepts. I...

Urban greenery affects the quality of life of local residents through a wide range of ecosystem services, determined not only by the quantity of green space but also by its type and structure (height and density). To ensure that all residents benefit equally from ecosystem services, planning procedures should aim for an optimal quality and structur...

PROVISION OF TECHNICAL SUPPORT RELATED TO TARGET 2 OF THE EU BIODIVERSITY STRATEGY TO 2020 –MAINTAINING AND RESTORING ECOSYSTEMS AND THEIR SERVICES ENV.B.2/SER/2016/0018 Guidance on achieving no net loss or net gain of biodiversity and ecosystem services

Large area visual landscape quality assessment, especially at the national level is needed to answer the demand from strategic planning. In our paper, we describe and compare two recent modelling approaches for this task regarding their theoretical and empirical basis, resolution, model configuration and results. To compare the outcomes of the two...

This publication is the first issue of the new Urban Rural Assembly (URA) Periodical series. In the future, this series will regularly discuss ongoing research and development results throughout a Chinese-German project. Issue 1 addresses the notion of “interfaces”, related to both the multi-disciplinary conception of the URA project and its trans-...

Urban gardening contributes to society in various ways such as by enhancing communities, ensuring food security, improving health, providing places for recreation as well as by raising environmental awareness. Although urban gardening initiatives have been spreading, the challenge remains to include vulnerable communities, especially in developing...

In this paper we examine the question of whether and how municipal landscape plans exert a positive influence on and/or correlate with selected aspects of the landscape. To this end, a representative sample of municipal landscape plans in Germany and a statistical-quantitative evaluation approach are used to uncover correlations between planning an...

The third Dresden Nexus Conference a Circular Economy in a Sustainable Society.

Cities and urban regions have become central to ensuring a sustainable future. Many regions employ strategic spatial planning, a transformative and integrative public-sector-led activity, to create a coherent spatial development strategy in order to pursue sustainable development. Due to its encompassing, cross-sectoral qualities, landscape science...

Mit deutscher Unterstützung wurden in der Russischen Föderation, der Ukraine und weiteren Staaten Osteuropas verschiedene Projekte zur Landschaftsplanung, der Strategischen Umweltprüfung und zu Eingriffs-Ausgleichs-Ansätzen zum Schutz der biologischen Vielfalt durchgeführt. Um einen systematischen Austausch zwischen den Projekten der Umweltplanung...

При поддержке Германии в России, Украине и других государствах Восточной Европы были реализованы проекты по ландшафтному планированию, стратегическои экологической оценке и по методам компенсации нарушений окружающей среды для охраны биологического разнообразия. С целью обеспечения систематического обмена между проектами в сфере экологического план...

Seit Einführung der Strategischen Umweltprüfung in Deutschland gibt es inzwischen eine Reihe von Bundesplänen und -programmen, die SUP-pflichtig sind. Dabei ergeben sich mit der Bundesebene ver- bundene besondere Herausforderungen, z. B. in Bezug auf die Handhabung internationaler Umweltziele, Alternativenprüfung, Öffentlichkeitsbeteiligung, hetero...

Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) emerged from Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and was developed based on the procedural steps and understanding thereof, but with the goal to fulfil a more ‘strategic’ function. Federal level plans and programmes constitute the highest planning levels in Germany subject to SEA, as SEA for policies is no...

Highlights • There has been a paradigm change from a one-way transfer of science information to a paradigm of exchange that demands adequate science communication. • Communication in citizen science projects is key to motivating and retaining participants and exchanging information. • Stories can play an important role in translating the abstract a...

This contribution explains important amendments introduced by the recent Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Modernisation Act and the amendments to the Federal Building Code (BauGB) in 2017 regarding environmental assessment from the viewpoint of biodiversity conservation. The introduction of the new protected asset 'land' (German: Fläche) is re...

Ausgangspunkt dieses Beitrags ist die Frage, welche Wirkung die kommunale Landschaftsplanung auf die landschaftliche Ausprägung/Struktur hat. Dazu wurden in einem von der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft finanzierten Projekt (WE 3057/3-1 und WA 2131/2-1) bundesweite Untersuchungen auf der Basis von räumlichen Daten zum Zustand der Landschaft und au...

Green infrastructure is a concept aimed at realizing a strategically planned network of valuable natural and semi-natural areas, designed and managed to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services and to protect biodiversity in rural and urban settings. In the general post-mining context of China and Germany, this paper suggests and outlines an appr...

The Federal Republic of Germany lies at the heart of Europe. It is encircled by nine other countries: Denmark to the north, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France to the west, Switzerland and Austria to the south and the Czech Republic and Poland to the east. Germany’s natural boundaries are the Baltic Sea to the north as well as the North...

A broad and intensive discussion has been ongoing within the EU and at the level of its Member States on how to achieve no net loss of biodiversity by the year 2020. This European discussion is embedded in a wider and at times controversial global debate on whether and how to implement new tools such as biodiversity offsets for managing impacts on...

As has been emphasized throughout this book, EU law provides much of the legal framework that underpins biodiversity offsetting. In the case of Spain, the transposition of EU Directives into national environmental legislation is not complete until regional legislative bodies approve their own law. This is because each Autonomous Community (formal r...

In addition to the approaches discussed in detail in previous chapters, there exist other concepts of biodiversity offsets in various EU member states. Clearly, not all of these approaches can be scrutinized in this book and, indeed, not all approaches are well known. For these reasons we hope that the reader appreciates the impossibility of provid...

It is clear that Europe is still far from its target to halt the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services (EEA 2010a, b; European Commission 2015), and this is in large part due to biodiversity impacts in the wider environment, i.e. outside protected areas. Many such impacts are the result of multiple small, scattered developments that individua...

One of today’s great challenges is to safeguard biodiversity for future generations. An increasing number of countries and economic sectors are adopting strategies to slow and stop biodiversity loss. In this book, we examine existing approaches to achieve no net loss of biodiversity in selected EU countries. Adopting an explicitly European perspect...

With the adoption of the 2020 Biodiversity Strategy, the EU has made a commitment to halting the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem services in the EU by 2020. EU-wide actions include the development of an initiative to ensure that there is no net loss of biodiversity, ecosystems and their services e.g. through compensation or of...

This book deals with the new concept of biodiversity offsets. The aim of offsetting schemes is to achieve no let loss or even net gain of biodiversity. Offsets obey a mitigation hierarchy and reflect the precautionary and polluter-pays principle in regard to project impacts. Readers gain insights into current debates on biodiversity policies, with...

Green infrastructure (GI) is a new concept for Eu-rope as contained in political documents from the EU Commission. GI comprises a strategically planned network of high-quality natural and semi-natural areas, not only in the countryside but also in cities. This paper aims to show initial approaches to-wards combining the concept of GI with individua...

The paper introduce the Sino-German ‘Green Cities Study’. In the last decades China and Germany have experienced a rapid urbanization process caused by rural-urban migration flows, re-densification and population growth. Against this background current developments, different approaches and future challenges in the competition of green spaces and u...

Die örtliche Landschaftsplanung ist das Instrument des Naturschutzes und der Landschaftspflege auf gleicher Ebene zur vorbereitenden Bauleitplanung. Dieser Beitrag präsentiert einen aktuellen Stand der örtlichen Landschaftsplanung in Deutschland und geht der Frage nach, inwieweit dieses Planungsinstrument räumlich wirksam wird und steuernd auf die...

Dieses Buch befasst sich mit Leitfragen in der Landschaftsplanung. Aufgabe der Landschaftsplanung ist es, die im Bundesnaturschutzgesetz genannten Ziele des Naturschutzes und der Landschaftspflege in Deutschland umzusetzen. Derzeit erlebt die örtliche Landschaftsplanung eine Renaissance, da die Kommunen mit ihr unter anderem die Auswirkungen der Ge...

Die Publikation "Citizen Science für alle“ ist eine praktische Ressource für Initiierende, Beteiligte und Interessierte an Citizen Science-Projekten. Die Handreichung liefert praktische Tipps für die Planung und Umsetzung von Citizen Science- Projekten und schafft einen Überblick zur Citizen Science-Praxis in Deutschland. Welche Punkte muss ich be...

Ten years ago, the goal of implementing strategic environmental assessments (SEA) has been to consider environmental issues at a strategic decision-making level. Alternatives and cumulative effects are to be better addressed than within an environmental impact assessment. Based on literature analysis and the authors’ involvement in many planning pr...

Anyone wants to analyze and evaluate ecosystem services is necessarily challenged by the question after the suitable methodology. Due to the complexity of the issue «services of nature for society«, it is not simply a matter of simple recipes. Generally valid methodical requirements refer to the scientific foundations, intersubjective comprehensibi...

The ecosystem service concept is closely linked to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity (MEA 2005a, b). By focusing on the direct and indirect benefits humans derive from nature the concept may bridge the gap between nature conservation and economic development and help mainstreamthe sustainable management of ecosystems and their se...

Recently, in addition to the popular concept of “ecosystem services” (ES), the term “landscape services” (LS) has come into use. We are examining the question of whether a stronger focus on LS would be useful, particularly with regard to case studies carried out in Germany. Important reasons for introducing the term LS include the prominent role of...

Ziele - Repräsentative Dokumentation des Landschaftswandels in Deutschland - Erfassung des Meinungsbildes der Bürger zum Landschaftswandel / zur Biodiversität - Untersuchungen von Landschafts-funktionen / /-dienstleistungen in den gewählten Vertiefungsbereichen - Evaluierung der Methoden und In-formationen für die Verwendung in der Praxis

Die örtliche Landschaftsplanung stellt die Grundlage zur Berücksichtigung von Naturschutzzielen im Rahmen der Bauleitplanung dar und trägt damit zur Sicherung der natürlichen Lebensgrundlage bei. Der Beitrag präsentiert anhand einer Zufallsstichprobe einen repräsentativen und aktuellen bundesweiten Stand der örtlichen Landschaftsplanung. Dabei zeig...

Die örtliche Landschaftsplanung stellt die Grundlage zur Berücksichtigung von Naturschutzzielen im Rahmen der Bauleitplanung dar und trägt damit zur Sicherung der natürlichen Lebensgrundlagen bei. Dies gilt besonders für die Bemühungen im Rahmen der "Nationalen Strategie zur biologischen Vielfalt" zum Erhalt der Biodiversität, der Anpassungsstrateg...

Der Artikel liefert eine kurze Übersicht und Kommentierung der Neuerungen der UVP-Änderungsrichtlinie, die am 15. Mai 2014 in Kraft getreten ist. Zunächst aber wird als kurzer Rückblick noch einmal auf die Chronologie der Novelle eingegangen. Begrüßt wird die Detaillierung der Inhalte des UVP-Berichts, womit aus Umweltsicht künftig qualifiziertere...

Es gibt gute Gründe, das Naturschutz-Ehrenamt in Sachsen zu stärken. Zu diesem Ergebnis kommt eine Studie, in der Erkenntnisse zur Situation des ehrenamtlichen und privaten Naturschutzes in Sachsen zusammengetragen wurden. Der Naturschutz in Sachsen wird demnach zu großen Teilen durch ehrenamtliche Arbeit gestützt. Deutlich werden aber auch die Her...

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been formally applied in Germany since 1990, and has over time developed a methodological and technical routine in environmental planning practice. It can now be considered an established instrument; nonetheless, sub- stantial challenges to the further development of the EIA, and to even stronger implemen-...

Countries are implementing CO2 emission reduction targets in order to meet a globally agreed global warming limit of +2 °C. However, it was hypothesised that these national reduction targets are not translated to regional or state level planning, and are not considered through Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) in order to meet emission reduc...

The concept of “wilderness” has been intensively discussed as an approach for nature protection in Central Europe among managers of protected areas, decision makers, natural and social scientists. This paper discusses the various attempts for physical definitions for Central Europe. It examines, if “wilderness” a suitable expression for communicati...

The knowledge of the effectiveness of local landscape planning in Germany is in the main limited to particular cases and derives mostly from qualitative single case studies. This applies especially to the implementation of measures defined by landscape plans. To fill that gap, the paper focuses on the implementation of those measures. Furthermore,...

Die EU-Kommission hat im Sommer 2010 eine europaweite Umfrage zur UVP vor dem Hintergrund einer möglichen Überarbeitung der UVP-Richtlinie durchgeführt. Dabei steht offenkundig ein breites Spektrum von der Nullvariante (es wird nichts am Richtlinientext verändert) über die mehr oder weniger tief greifende Revision bis hin zur grundlegenden Änderung...

The Caucasus is internationally recognized as a hotspot of biodiversity with global significance. But very few ecologically oriented policies exist in overall regional planning schemes to combat the rising and uncontrolled demand for and pressure on natural resources in the region's main states-Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The goal of the proje...

The paper discusses opportunities for integration of the climate protection strategy declared by the German government into spatial and urban land-use plans in Germany.The paper gives a brief overview of German climate protection related legislation, gives some statistics on energy demand in the housing sector in Germany, and identifies opportuniti...

The paper presented offers empirical evidence about the practical implementation of local landscape plans in Germany. A sample of municipal landscape plans has been investigated, and factors influencing the implementation of nature conservation measures have been tested. Main positive factors for implementation are the local existence of motivated...

The paper presented offers empirical evidence about the practical implementation of local landscape plans in Germany. A sample of municipal landscape plans has been investigated, and factors influencing the implementation of nature conservation measures have been tested. Main positive factors for implementation are the local existence of motivated...

Based on section 18a of the German Regional Planning Act a concept for the spatial structure of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the North Sea and Baltic Sea is being developed. In this context the demands of Marine Nature Conservation have to be prepared and considered. Federal Government is entitled to develop principles of regional planning...

Germany has an important planning instrument with a focus on preserving nature and the landscape: impact mitigation regulation. The planned mitigation and compensation measures are mandatory and legally binding. It is hoped that the way will now be open for innovative solutions by ‘compensation pools’. This paper gives a brief overview of interim r...

Wie geht man bei der Erstellung eines landschaftspflegerischen Begleitplans, einer Umweltverträglichkeitsstudie oder FFH-Verträglichkeitsuntersuchung vor? Hier erhalten Sie eine praktische Anleitung. Alle fachlichen Bearbeitungsschritte werden angesprochen. Auch die richtige Einbettung dieser drei Instrumente in förmliche Entscheidungsverfahren übe...

Der Artikel enthält folgende Kapitel: Einleitung Synopse der Instrumente zur Umweltfolgenabschätzung und -bewältigung Instrumentarium für Umweltfolgenabschätzung und -bewältigung im Kontext mariner Ökosysteme Beurteilung der Beeinträchtigungen mariner Ökosysteme durch Offshore-Windparks - Schnittstellen von Umweltverträglichkeitsprüfung und Umweltf...

This paper presents some preliminary results of a research project started in May 2002 on the German transportation planning system, commissioned by the Federal Environmental Agency. The main aim of this project is to find ways to integrate formal strategic environmental assessment (SEA) and to identify technical and methodological opportunities fo...

This study uses empirical research of 145 projects on environmental impact assessment (EIA). The researchers generated and tested hypotheses based on questions about the effectiveness and quality of EIA. By means of EIA, aspects of proactive thinking have entered into procedural decisions more than previously presumed and modifications in the spati...