Knowledge fields

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  • Geo-information for the environment

    The environment knowledge node has its primary focus on:

    • biodiversity conservation, carbon cycling and sequestration
    • the environmental impact of land use and land use change
    • restoration of degraded landscapes
    • the development, application and management of innovative image processing and geo-information science techniques and data
    • the design, organization, implementation and management of geodata systems.
  • Geo-information for forestry

    The forestry knowledge node has its primary focus on:

    • biodiversity conservation
    • climate change and carbon cycling
    • sustainable forest and tree resource management.
  • Geo-information for sustainable agriculture and food security

    The sustainable agriculture knowledge node has its primary focus on:

    • food production and food security in rain-fed agricultural systems
    • sustainable management of trees outside the forest (trof)
    • the development, application and management of innovative image processing and geo-information science techniques and data
    • the design, organization, implementation and management of geodata systems.

KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT

All intensities of land use, from conservation (e.g. national parks) to production (e.g.cropping) are considered, with an emphasis on sustainable use of resources. In between these extremes are land uses of varying intensities. The interaction between these land uses, and the often conflicting requirements for space, is the basis of land use planning and land allocation.

A philosophy of treating the landscape as a whole dominates our thinking. Important in this is the role of people in the landscape such as farmers, foresters, tourists, planners, and nature conservation managers.

We focus on five main land cover types:

We aim to understand fundamental landscape processes by using a systems approach, to offer decision makers, managers and local stakeholders (farmers) solutions for natural resource management problems.