The Synthesis and Solutions Labs are a new format in the “Anthropocene Biodiversity Loss” special topic. In close cooperation with the Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOE), a platform is being set up as a permanent structure to strengthen transdisciplinary research at Senckenberg. Activities within the platform are intended to create incentives for engagement with social actors and to stimulate exchange between the various locations of the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung.
The intended effects of the Synthesis and Solutions Labs platform are
a mutual understanding between science, the public and institutional stakeholders and the building of trust
new strategic alliances – both with stakeholders who pursue the same goals and with those who have conflicting interests
joint learning and capacity building across stakeholder groups and generations
a living research museum
the thematization of conflicting goals in biodiversity conservation.
For Senckenberg, transdisciplinary cooperation also means the opportunity to
open up new networks and identify research gaps in these networks
increase the practicability of research results
to create impulses for the Senckenberg research program, in particular to strengthen the practical relevance of research.
Activities of the Synthesis and Solutions Labs platform
The platform supports the individual labs, which build on existing research at Senckenberg, in the implementation of workshops with social actors, offers support in communication and communication of results, and thus increases the effectiveness / impact of the individual labs. It also offers activities that enable an exchange of experience between the labs and thus support learning processes. In cooperation with ISOE, workshops and training courses are also offered for interested researchers in which transdisciplinary skills are taught. These workshops will be offered from May 2025 at the various SGN locations, dates to follow.
Pilot Labs
The labs themselves are designed as innovative, transdisciplinary think tanks that work nationally or internationally. Based on existing research projects, they bring together data and knowledge and work together with social and political actors to develop options for action to promote biodiversity.
In the start-up phase of the Synthesis and Solutions Labs platform, the Pilot Labs in particular support the implementation of the conceptual idea in practice. They contribute to the development of workflows and work processes, the planning of workshops to expand transdisciplinary skills and competencies and the design of communication and mediation.
Two pilot labs have been selected for the first phase, one at the Natural History Collections in Dresden (SNSD) and the other at the Biodiversity and Climate Research Center Frankfurt (SBiK-F). Four more labs are to be added in the second half of 2025, with the call for proposals opening in June 2025.
The aim of this pilot lab is to identify and overcome obstacles to the successful implementation of biodiversity promotion measures in urban areas. In cooperation with representatives of municipalities and authorities as well as private individuals
develop measures that promote insect diversity in green spaces in urban areas
identify obstacles to the realization and implementation of cost-effective measures to promote biodiversity
Initiate changes in behavior through (open) spaces for learning and experimentation
Improved recommendations for action for biodiversity-promoting maintenance of green spaces in urban areas are developed
In collaboration with secondary schools in Hesse and São Paulo (Brazil), the links between our food system and biodiversity loss are being made visible. Together with a wide range of stakeholders (pupils, teachers, curriculum developers, canteen operators), the aim is to
use the supply chain to look at how food production depends on biodiversity, but can also jeopardize it
develop teaching units that take into account pupils’ everyday eating habits and encourage them to think about possible impacts
support learning and capacity building across generations and cultures, and create new partnerships to regularly adapt teaching materials.
Mein allgemeines Forschungsinteresse gilt der Ermöglichung nachhaltiger Lebensmittelsysteme. Genauer gesagt, wie sich die Landwirtschaft auf die biologische Vielfalt auswirkt und von ihr abhängt, wie sich der Handel und Konsum landwirtschaftlicher Produkte auf die biologische Vielfalt auswirkt und von ihr abhängt und wie die Wissenschaft die Politikgestaltung für nachhaltige Lieferketten unterstützen kann. Ich interessiere mich auch für naturwissenschaftliche Ausbildung und gemeinschaftliche Agroforstwirtschaft/Gartenarbeit.
My main research interests are the systemic relations between biomass use, international trade, land use change and species decline; long-term changes in land use systems and in the use of land-based resources; impacts on dietary patterns on land demand and on biodiversity and the role of land use in climate-change mitigation.
Dalin, Carole, Yoshide Wada, *Thomas Kastner*, Michael J. Puma. “Groundwater depletion embedded in international food trade. ” /Nature/ (2017): forthcoming. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature21403
Chaudhary, Abhishek, L. Roman Carrasco, and *Thomas Kastner*. “Linking national wood consumption with global biodiversity and ecosystem service losses.” /Science of The Total Environment/ 586 (2017): 985-994.
Erb, Karl-Heinz, Christian Lauk, *Thomas Kastner*, Andreas Mayer, Michaela Clarissa Theurl, and Helmut Haberl. “Exploring the Biophysical Option Space for Feeding the World without Deforestation.” /Nature Communications/ 7. (2016): 11382.
Henders, Sabine, U. Martin Persson, and *Thomas Kastner*. “Trading forests: land-use change and carbon emissions embodied in production and exports of forest-risk commodities.” /Environmental Research Letters/ 10, no. 12 (2015): 125012.
*Kastner, Thomas*, Karl-Heinz Erb, and Helmut Haberl. “Rapid Growth in Agricultural Trade: Effects on Global Area Efficiency and the Role of Management.” /Environmental Research Letters/ 9, no. 3 (2014): 034015.
*Kastner, Thomas*, Maria Jose Ibarrola Rivas, Wolfgang Koch, and Sanderine Nonhebel. “Global Changes in Diets and the Consequences for Land Requirements for Food.” /Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences/ 109, no. 18 (2012): 6868–6872.
*Kastner, Thomas*, Michael Kastner, and Sanderine Nonhebel. “Tracing Distant Environmental Impacts of Agricultural Products from a Consumer Perspective.” /Ecological Economics/ 70, no. 6 (2011): 1032–1040.
Your donation for the Senckenberg Society
With your donation, you help the Senckenberg Society to conduct natural scientific research and make our results accessible to the public through publications, exhibitions, educational projects, and many other initiatives.
