Speaker: Inger Elisabeth Måren, Assistant Professor, Geography, University of Bergen, Norway.
Age-old farming systems have evolved out of the necessity for local food production. In many of these systems, outfield resources have provided vital contributions to the infield production and yields. In these systems secondary succession is manipulated to yield certain desirable ecosystem services. Some of these semi-natural systems go back a long time, e.g. the North-Western European coastal heathlands and the mid-montane forests throughout the Himalayas. In this talk I will describe these two systems in detail and link them to the discussion of sustainable natural resource management. Are these systems out-dated or can systems like these help us develop better food production and food availability?
Inger Elisabeth Måren is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Geography, University of Bergen, Norway. Her research focuses on the dynamics in coupled human and natural systems, including natural resource management, agro-biodiversity, sustainable forest use, and food security. She works with colleagues across the social and natural sciences to elucidate links between anthropogenic activities and the environment, in Europe, as well as in Asia and Africa.