20th International Symposium on Society and Resource Management

Jun 9, 2014 | Leibniz University of Hannover
Hannover, Germany

For centuries, one of the visible signs of the interdependence of natural resource management and societal processes was the relationship between urban and rural areas. Natural products and services were provided by rural areas, in exchange for labor, trade and cultural services offered by the urban areas.

Current megatrends such as climate change, urbanization, energy demand and an increasing land-use competition lead to spatial transformation all around the globe and to a state of transition. This transformation affects both rural and urban areas and requires changes on all levels of society, economy and politics.

The 20th ISSRM will put a focus on these changes, their societal impacts and the potential to mitigate their effects on natural resources and humankind.

Organized Sessions

  • Spatial implications of renewable energy siting
  • New perspectives on infrastructures
  • Transformation through planning? The role of urban, regional and environmental planning in shaping (or not) urban and regional changes
  • Grounded Analytical Approaches to Stakeholder Interaction in Large-Scale Land Acquisitions in Africa
  • Food security and local development in Eastern Africa
  • Migration, Rural Livelihoods and Natural Resource Management: Taking examples from Asian countries
  • Ecosystem certification: Overcoming the physical, social and economic barriers
  • Human Dimensions of Sustainable Urban Forests: Focussing the Research Agenda
  • Coupled Natural and Human Systems in Fire-Prone Landscapes: Interactions, Dynamics, and Adaptation
  • The involvement of stakeholders in ski development and resource management in mountain environments
  • Participatory monitoring of visitors and visitor impact
  • Social change and wildlife management
  • Impact of invasive species on ecosystem services in large protected areas
  • Public Participation GIS (PPGIS): Applications for Environmental and Urban Planning
  • Innovation groups for sustainable land management
  • Doing Integrative Multidisciplinary (IMD) research on ecohealth & wellbeing in Bekkersdal (Westonaria), South-Africa: Sharing processes and experiences in urban challenges

Focus Areas

  • social impacts and human dimensions of natural resource management
  • conflicts from  climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies, land-use changes and renewable energies
  • ecosystem services and their evaluation
  • recreation and tourism
  • protected area management
  • smart resource management
  • local and regional development (ecological, economic and social impacts)
  • building culture and urban planning
  • incorporating uncertainties and risk management into environmental planning and resource management
  • governance models for spatial transformation
  • collaborative stakeholder processes