ALFAwetlands consists of a team of experts from 14 different organisations and 1 affiliated entity spanning 10 EU countries. One of them is Stockholm University’s international hub for sustainability science, Stockholm Resilience Centre.
About Stockholm Resilience Centre
Founded in 2007 as a joint initiative between Stockholm University and the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Stockholm Resilience Centre is funded by the Swedish foundation for strategic environmental research (MISTRA).
Since its foundation, the centre has evolved into a world-leading science centre dedicated to addressing the complex challenges facing humanity. The centre’s mission is to advance research for the governance and management of social-ecological systems, aiming to achieve a thriving and resilient biosphere that enables well-being for all – people and other species alike.
Around 140 members of staff make up the team of researchers and administrators who explore new frontiers in sustainability science and continuously confirm the centre’s position as an internationally recognized reference point for resilience thinking.
The ALFAwetlands team from the Stockholm Resilience Centre is studying when and how collaboration can enable ecosystem-based adaptation. Their primary case study site is Öland, an island situated in the Baltic Sea just off the south-east coast of Sweden.
Over the past years, Öland has experienced droughts and water scarcity which put strain on already limited water resources. With global temperatures on the rise, these challenges are expected to become more acute, thereby requiring effective water management strategies.
The Stockholm Resilience Centre’s role within the ALFAwetlands project
The Stockholm Resilience Centre’s primary task in ALFAwetlands is to lead Work Package 2 and develop the project’s approach to co-creation and inclusive wetland restoration.
Through a designed and facilitated series of workshops with local actors, ALFAwetlands will explore how different perspectives and knowledge of the current situation can jointly enhance the collective capacity for understanding climate challenges and identifying and implementing innovative solutions.
Meet the team
The ALFAwetlands team at the Stockholm Resilience centre is led by professor Erik Andersson and professor Maria Tengö. Erik Andersson has an interest in understanding and promoting sustainable use and governance of different landscapes and the many different functions they may carry, while Maria Tengö’s research focuses on human-nature connections and their implications for biosphere stewardship.
Tengö and Andersson are supported by Carolin Seiferth, a PhD student investigating the role of knowledge co-production in fostering transformative capacity towards landscape-level climate action. The group is further supported by Cora Cunningham, a research assistant and masters student interested in how local actors navigate institutional barriers to wetland restoration.
Tackling wetland restauration and management at the European level will require context sensitive policies and processes. What we can do is to establish a platform and then support what emerges
Help us to save wetlands! Stay tuned!
Content:Cora Paulina Conningham