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Research Area 4

Sustainable Rangeland Management in Semi-Arid Regions

Ecosystems generate a variety of ecosystem services that are utilized by humans by means of various use strategies. How these services are utilized is decisive for the sustainable development of the coupled ecological-economic system. Furthermore, generation of many ecosystem services is uncertain due to uncertain environmental conditions such as rainfall or stocasticity of the ecological dynamics. A particular challenge for the sustainable use of ecosystem services is thus coping with this uncertainty, i.e. the application of adequate risk management strategies.

 

Our research in this area investigates the ecological-economic dynamics that results from the interaction between ecological uncertainty and socio-economic mechanisms for coping with uncertainty. As a prototypical case we study commercial cattle farming in semi-arid regions of Namibia. This ecological-economic system is characterized by complex interactions of environmental, financial and political risk, with uncertain rainfall as the predominant risk. At the same time, the rangeland suffers from widespread degradation due in part to unsustainable grazing management. Methodologically, our research is based on ecological-economic modelling as well as empirical field-experiments and qualitative and quantitative surveys.

 

Publications

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Baumgärtner, S. and M.F. Quaas (2009), Ecological-economic viability as a criterion of strong sustainability under uncertainty, Ecological Economics 68(7), 2008–2020.

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Engler, J.-O. and S. Baumgärtner (2015), Model choice and size distribution: a Bayequentist approach, American Journal of Agricultural Economics 97(3): 978–997.

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Engler, J.-O., H. von Wehrden and S. Baumgärtner (2019), Determinants of farm size and stocking rate in Namibian commercial cattle farming, Land Use Policy 81: 232-246

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Ingenillem, J., J. Merz and S. Baumgärtner (2014), Determinants and interactions of sustainability and risk management of commercial cattle farmers in Namibia, University of Lüneburg Working Paper Series in Economics, Working Paper No. 304, July 2014.

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Jakoby, O., M.F. Quaas, S. Baumgärtner and K. Frank (2015), Adapting livestock management to spatio-temporal heterogeneity in semi-arid rangelands, Journal of Environmental Management 162: 179-189.

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Jakoby, O., M.F. Quaas, B. Müller, S. Baumgärtner and K. Frank (2014), How do individual farmers’ objectives influence their evaluation of rangeland management strategies under a variable climate? Journal of Applied Ecology 51(2), 483–493.

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Lukomska, N., M.F. Quaas and S. Baumgärtner (2014), Bush encroachment control and risk management in semi-arid rangelands, Journal of Environmental Management 145, 24–34.

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Müller, B., K. Frank and C. Wissel (2007), Relevance of rest periods in non-equilibrium rangeland systems – a modelling analysis, Agricultural Systems 92, 295–317.

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Müller, B., A. Linstädter, K. Frank, M. Bollig and C. Wissel (2007), Learning from local ecological knowledge: modeling the pastoral-nomadic range management of the Himba, Namibia, Ecological Applications 17(7), 1857–1875.

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Müller, B., M.F. Quaas, K. Frank and S. Baumgärtner (2011), Pitfalls and potential of institutional change: Rain-index insurance and the sustainability of rangeland management, Ecological Economics 70(11), 2137–2144.

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Olbrich, R., M.F. Quaas and S. Baumgärtner (2009), Sustainable use of ecosystem services under multiple risks – a survey of commercial cattle farmers in semi-arid rangelands in Namibia, University of Lüneburg Working Paper Series in Economics, Working Paper No. 137, September 2009.

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Olbrich, R., M.F. Quaas and S. Baumgärtner (2011), Risk preferences under heterogenous environmental risk, University of Lüneburg Working Paper Series in Economics, Working Paper No. 208, August 2011.

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Olbrich, R. M.F. Quaas and S. Baumgärtner (2012), A survey of commercial cattle farmers in semi-arid rangelands of Namibia on risk, sustainability and management, Schmollers Jahrbuch / Journal of Applied Social Science Studies 132(3), 463–471.

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Olbrich, R., M.F. Quaas and S. Baumgärtner (2016), Characterizing commercial cattle farms in Namibia: Risk, management and sustainability, African Journal of Agricultural Research, 11(41): 4109–4120.

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Olbrich, R., M.F. Quaas and S. Baumgärtner (2014), Personal norms of sustainability and farm management behavior, Sustainability 6(8), 4990–5017.

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Quaas, M.F. and S. Baumgärtner (2012), Optimal grazing management rules in semi-arid rangelands with uncertain rainfall, Natural Resource Modeling 25(2), 364–387.

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Quaas, M.F., S. Baumgärtner, C. Becker, K. Frank and B. Müller (2007), Uncertainty and sustainability in the management of rangelands, Ecological Economics 62(2), 251–266.

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Reyhanloo, T., S. Baumgärtner, M. Haeni, S. Quatrini, P. Saner, E. von Lindern (2018), Private-sector investors' intention and motivation to invest in Land Degradation Neutrality, PLoS ONE 13(12): e0208813

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Schröter, M., O. Jakoby, R. Olbrich, M. Eichhorn and S. Baumgärtner (2011), Remote sensing of bush encroachment on commercial cattle farms in semi-arid rangelands in Namibia, in: V. Olej, I. Obrsalova and J. Krupka (eds), Environmental Modeling for Sustainable Regional Development: System Approaches and Advanced Methods, IGI Global, Hershey, pp. 327–343.

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