The Future Okavango
 
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TFO Projects




Subproject

SP09.2 - GIS-based landscape analyses, environmental modeling, and decision support for integrated resource management



Contact

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Böhner
University of Hamburg
Department of Geography
Bundesstraße 55 (Geomatikum)
20146 Hamburg
Germany

Phone: +49 40 42838 4960
 boehner@geowiss.uni-hamburg.de
Dr. Jan Wehberg
University of Hamburg
Department of Geography
Bundesstraße 55 (Geomatikum)
20146 Hamburg
Germany

Phone: +49 40 42838 4950
 wehberg@geowiss.uni-hamburg.de

Participants


Introduction

The task of Subproject SP09.2 i.e. the working group of Prof. J. Böhner at the Department of Geography in Hamburg is the development and implementation of an integrated geospatial data analysis and decision support system within a GIS environment, featuring landscape analyses, modelling applications and an integrated assessment and optimization of landscape and resource management strategies for alternative climate and land use scenarios. The applications will integrate and aggregate methods, results and information from different subprojects.


Tasks

To achieve these goals, Subproject SP09.2 will contribute to the following tasks:

  • Task 1: Geodata compilation and supplementation - In close cooperation with the Coordination Project, available geodata sources will be evaluated and important gaps identified. Based on remotely sensed data and topographic data sources, we will provide site specific information for the selective supplementation of available data sets by a minimum but representative set of field surveys and monitoring sites (representative with respect to overreaching project aims, environmental settings and land use intensities).

  • Task 2: Landscape analysis. - The main objective of this task is to provide a baseline analysis of the current state of the Okavango catchment. Based on land use/land use change data (provided by Subproject SP09.1) and continuous layers of regionalized abiotic and biotic parameters (estimated from local test site data and available point source data), we will analyze the spatial variation of state factors and the distribution pattern, extension, fragmentation and topological relation of (natural and managed) ecosystems and values of ecosystem services and functions.

  • Task 3: Environmental modeling. - The third task aims to analyze and model climate and land use determined environmental processes and its implications for environmental resources and ESF&S at commensurate spatial scales. We will enhance the climate model ensemble of Subproject SP01 by a statistical downscaling scheme, to provide spatiotemporal high resolution topoclimatic parameters for case studies, degradation risk assessment and ESF&S modeling for alternative climate and land use scenarios.

  • Task 4: Decision support for integrated landscape and resource management. - Task 4 aims to define optimized land management strategies, which ensure a maximum preservation of ecosystem services and functions even under the assumption of increasing pressures, accelerated by global warming and land use change. In cooperation with all relevant partner SPs and selected stakeholders, we will develop and implement operational decision support tools, which aggregates methods and results from the previous tasks within an easily to handle GIS environment based on the free- and open source software SAGA (System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses), applicable in integrated land and resource management at different decision-making levels.