Reconciling land system changes with planetary health

September 10 - 12, 2025
organised by
University of Bonn / ZEF, Bonn, Germany

 

 

 

Title of presentation: Building sustainable bridges between Scientists, Politicians and Stakeholders in order to establish sound policies for global natural resource management and rural development

 

Franz Fischler, Dr. studies of Agriculture at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna.
1989-1994: Federal Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Austria; 1995-1999: European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development; 1999- 2004 also responsible for Community Fisheries Policy; 2012-2015, Chairman of the RISE-Foundation, Brussels; 2014/2015: Chairman of the Steering Committee of the EU scientific programme for Expo Milano 2015; since 2015: President of the Board of Trustees to the Austrian Institute of Advanced Studies (IHS); from 2012 - 2020 President of the think tank “European Forum Alpbach”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title of presentation: The role of science and innovation in delivering the SDG – nature based solutions with trees (abstract)

 

Anja Gassner is the Director of the European Region for CIFOR-ICRAF. Over the last 6 years her main focus and interest has been in supporting governments in mainstreaming biodiversity within the agricultural sector. Anja jointed the ICRAF in 2010 as the Head of the Research Methods Group in Nairobi. From 2018 to 2020 she worked in the ICRAF Philippines office in Los Banos. Before joining ICRAF Anja ran a sustainable land management consultancy in Sabah, Borneo and lectured in statistics at the University of Malaysia. She also worked for several years in the Agricultural Research Institute under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in Germany. Anja has a PhD in Agroecology from the University of Braunschweig, Germany and a Masters in Environmental Geochemistry from the University of Capetown, South Africa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title of presentation: Can biodiversity conservation provide a better life for conservation labourers? (abstract)

 

Lerato Thakholi is a lecturer at the Sociology of Development and Change Group at Wageningen University and Research. Her research investigates the historical development of property rights in land and environmental resources and how this has evolved in tandem with shifts in labour regimes. Empirically, she has studied this in southern Africa using ethnographic and archival methods which have enabled her to capture the impacts of conservation land use on waged and unwaged workers. Theoretically, she is inspired by critical geographers and thus begins her work from the premise that capital produces spaces and labour regimes that are integral for its expansion and intensification. Themes that have been central to her work include: racial capitalism, spatial justice and social reproduction. Lerato is also a senior researcher in the Living Landscapes in Action project at the Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, South Africa. The multi-year project seeks to create the basis for systemic redesign of the conservation sector in Southern Africa.

 

 

 

 

 

Title of presentation: Is cooperations and partnerships, the transformation recipe to sustainable development in times of crises? (abstract)

 

Nzula Kitaka is an associate professor and a researcher of Aquatic/Water Science at Egerton University, Kenya. Currently she is the Vice President of Africa-UniNet; a Research consortium of African and Austrian Universities. She is the former director Board of Postgraduate Studies (BPGS), Egerton University.

Prof Kitaka has been involved in several collaborative research projects; Team Leader of the Kenyan case Study on “Trans-Path-Plan: Water Transformation Pathways Planning project”; a Transdisciplinary consortium of 16 partners from Africa, Asia, Europe & South America focusing on Water for foods & River Basins & Deltas. Funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs under DUPC 3 under Water and Development Partnership Programme, Large-scale projects from 2022 among others.

Similarly, she has been involved in several capacity development initiatives; “Three weeks Tropical Limnology Course – Influence of Activities & Processes in the Watershed on Inland Water Ecosystems” from 2004 to 2008, organized by Egerton University and Austrian Academy of Sciences Institute for Limnology, Mondsee. This course evolved to become a major regional training programme for water scientists and managers initially as Limnology of Wetland Ecosystems (LWE) from 2009 to the International Joint Degree in Limnology and Wetland Management (LWM) from 2012 between Egerton University-Kenya, BOKU, Austria and IHE-Delft former UNESCO-IHE, The Netherlands.

Prof Kitaka is a member of the Joint Management Committee (JMC) of the Joint Master’s Degree in Ecosystem Aquatic & Ecosystem and Environment Management (AEEM) between Addis Ababa University, Bahir Dar University both in Ethiopia and Egerton University, Kenya funded by Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC). She is also the Egerton University coordinator of Erasmus Students Mobility between BOKU and Egerton and a member of the steering committee of the Nile Students Exchange Project coordinated by Nile Basin Capacity Building Network (NBCBN), Egypt, IHE- Delft, and Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands. She has been a member of several Advisory Boards; Scientific Advisory Council (SAC) member for the European Union Water Initiative European Research Area Network (ERA-Net) “SPLASH” project in water and sanitation (2007-2014), Council member of the Kenyan National Council for Science and Technology (NCST) between 2010-2013 which transformed to current “National Commision for Science & Technology (NACOSTI), a member of the National Steering Commitee for NETFUND Green Innovations Award. (NETFUND-GIA) under the Kenyan Ministry of Environment, Water and Natural Resources in 2014. Currently Prof Kitaka is a member of the Independent Advisory Board (IAB) of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Water and Waste Infrastructure Systems Engineered for Resilience (Water-WISER) which is a consortium of University of Leeds, Loughborough University and Cranfield University in the UK since 2019 among many more.

 

 

 

 

Title of presentation: Rainfed agriculture - an essential pillar of sustainable and climate resilient food system (abstract)

 

I am professor in ‘Agricultural Water Management’ at Department of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala Sweden since October 2017. My research interests are in agriculture, soil health and water management, such as soil physical properties and functions, drainage, irrigation and storage for sustainable intensification in tropical and temperate regions. I currently explore agro-climatic trends about soil physical properties in rainfed systems, to better understand rainfed systems potential in future climate and food supplies, with empirical and modelling approaches. I hold an MSc Ag.Eng., SLU, and PhD in NRM, Stockholm University. Over the last 25 years, I have worked with interdisciplinary agricultural, water and land management-related research, policy and development in sub-Sahara Africa and Asia with explicit outcome-impact orientation IWMI,SEI, Stockholm University and ICRAF among others. My work regularly contributes to international and national research and policy processes incl., including EU Mission Soil projects, the Swedish Environmental Advisory Council, FAO, and CG System institute on water, agricultural development and sustainability.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title of presentation: Beyond sustainable development in the era of planetary crises: Challenges and insights from Latin America towards deep green transformation (abstract)

 

As current Assistant Professor at IPW in the field of International Environmental Politics, and Climate Change Advisor for Brot für die Welt/Diakonie-ACT Austria, Johannes' work is concerned with international cooperation in the field of climate action and humanitarian aid, as well as academic research in these fields through the interdisciplinary Latin America Research Network at the University of Vienna. Previously, he was Senior Expert in Green Transition Politics at the Centre for Social Innovation (ZSI) Austria. In this position, he collaborated in evaluating the Horizon Europe Framework Programme for the European Commission in the light of the European green transition. Between 2016 and 2021, he was Full Professor in Environmental and Development Politics at the Universidad de Las Américas in Quito, FLACSO and Polytechnic University of Ecuador. After graduating with a PhD in Development Studies from the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, and Master's degrees in Philosophy and International Development from the University of Vienna, he was a postdoc at the New York University (2015-20216).

 

 

 

 

Title of presentation: Agroecology and living well: Towards agri-food systems within the ‘doughnut’ (abstract)

 

Johanna Jacobi leads the Agroecological Transitions research group at ETH Zürich. She studied Geography, Biology and Social Anthropology at the University of Freiburg. For her PhD studies at the University of Bern, she researched with the organic cooperative El Ceibo on the resilience of cocoa farms in Bolivia to climate change. After a postdoctoral project at the University of California, Berkeley, on agroforestry, she lived and worked in Bolivia for several years, researching food system sustainability and resilience in Latin America and Africa. Her research focuses on agroecology as a transformative science, a practice and a social movement using participatory action research, transdisciplinary methods and approaches from political ecology.

 

 

 

 

Title of presentation: Are non-timber forest products (NTFPs) the alternatives to overcome sustainable development challenges in Africa? (abstract)

Achille Ephrem Assogbadjo is born on 03rd May 1974 at Savalou in the Republic of Benin. He is an agronomist and forester interested in non-timber forest products and orphan crops. He holds a PhD in Applied Biological Sciences (Ghent University, Belgium). He is a Full Professor of Conservation genetics, Forest ecology and Ethnobotany at the University of Abomey-Calavi in Benin. He doubles as a visiting Professor at Université Félix Houphouët Boigny in Côte d’Ivoire, University of Costa Rica in Costa Rica, University of Florianopolis in Brasil and Chuo University in Japan. Professor Achille Ephrem Assogbadjo has earned international renown for his outstanding contributions to biodiversity conservation and sustainable resource management across Africa. With an H index of 45 on Google Scholar, the research of Professor Assogbadjo encompasses a broad spectrum, among others, utilizing ethnobotanical and conservation genetics methodologies in ecosystems ranging from natural settings to agroforestry and intensive farming practices. As a globally recognised expert in the diversity and utilisation of the African baobab (Adansonia digitata L.), he has revealed the intricate interplay between genetics and morphology across varying climatic zones. Professor Assogbadjo's innovative approaches to managing underutilised plants revolve around community engagement and traditional knowledge, emphasising a holistic approach. To date, Professor Assogbadjo has been granted 12 International prizes and awards, including the Georg Forster Research Awards provided by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Germany), and the Young African Research Award provided by the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT) of Egypt. He has been nominated for the honorary title “The Name in Science” by decision of the Socrates Committee (Oxford, United Kingdom), recorded in the World Register of Outstanding Scientists of the 21st Century with awarding a Medal of Frame for Contribution to World Science. Prof Assogbadjo has to date won 25 research grants and 10 regional or international research projects, participated to more than 150 international conferences and 20 training workshops in Africa, Europe, South and North America, Asia and Middle East. He has contributed to 248 peer reviewed papers and 26 books. Prof Assogbadjo is belonging the National Academy of Sciences of Benin and to more than 20 scientific networks and research groups worldwide.