Sustainable use of ecosystem services under uncertainty

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Project period: 01.02.2007 - 31.01.2010

People benefit from nature in many ways - for example, from the natural cleansing and regeneration of air, water and soil, or from the control of pests and pathogens through natural mechanisms. The use of natural ecosystems (ecosystem services) has, directly and indirectly, an enormous economic importance that is not understood in its entirety even today.
This project is examining if and to what extent intact ecosystems can act as 'insurance' for their users by buffering and lessening unforeseen fluctuations such as the development of new diseases or changes in the climate. The economists and ecologists working on this project are therefore examining in particular the interaction between ecological uncertainty, the socio-economic mechanisms at work in dealing with uncertainty, and the ways ecosystems are used and managed. Taking the pastoral use of selected areas in Namibia as the focus for its study, the project aims to identify basic principles for the sustainable use of ecosystem services and, based on this, develop policy recommendations for corresponding management systems.

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