Institute of Geography and Sustainability of the University of Lausanne
Research projects
ValPar.CH – Values of the ecological infrastructure in Swiss parks
Research fields |
Urban matters Political ecologies Margins, environment, landscapes |
Keywords |
Values of ecological infrastructure Swiss parks Ecosystem services Social Economic and ecologic values |
Funding | Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), and participating universities |
Duration | October 2020 - August 2024 |
Website | https://www.valpar.ch |
Researchers |
Reynard Emmanuel (Supervision) [web] [email] Salomon Cavin Joëlle (Scientific collaborator) [web] [email] Walters Gretchen (Project co-applicant) [web] [email] Cracco Marina (Doctoral student) [web] [email] |
Commissioned by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), the interdisciplinary research team in charge of the research project ValPar.CH examines the benefits and added values of the ecological infrastructure (EI) in parks of national importance. This network of ecologically valuable areas forms the basis of ensuring the social, economic and ecological values of nature's contributions to people (NCP, ecosystem services). The ValPar.CH research project is one of three sub-measures of the pilot project "Valorisation of the ecological infrastructure in the parks of national importance" as part of the "Action Plan for the Swiss Biodiversity Strategy (AP SBS)".
In the framework of sustainable resource use, the research team analyses the values of the EI from a social, economic and ecological perspective. Using different scenarios, it assesses the potential development of a functioning ecological infrastructure and examines which instruments are necessary to ensure its sustainable use.
When valuing the EI, the different perspectives of the stakeholders concerned, such as farmers and foresters, the general population, the municipal, cantonal and federal authorities or the environmental protection organisations, play a decisive role. Their perspectives and interests are integrated from the outset through participatory methods in the different research regions.