Conceptual Framework

In Kili-SES we will use a fully integrated, interdisciplinary approach to understand major components of the social-ecological system of Kilimanjaro under land-use, climate and governance change.

We address the influence of a broad range of biodiversity components on the supply of regulating, material and non-material nature’s contributions to people. We investigate the supply of nature’s contributions to people in relation to the demand for them by major stakeholder groups, the values they attach to them and their impact on different constituents of human well-being. We consider how institutional and governance systems determine land use and supply of nature’s contributions to people. Finally, we address the direct effect of land-management and conservation measures on biodiversity.

Methods

The research project builds on unique data and knowledge obtained during a first ecological Kilimanjaro research unit and during over 30 years of research by A. and C. Hemp. Data will be obtained with various natural and social science methods. This will include the representative sampling of nature’s contributions to people on 65 established research plots. Beyond that, data from interviews, surveys, and social field experiments will be obtained from various stakeholder groups. Combining spatial attributes of plot and stakeholder data with remote sensing information will allow us to upscale data across the whole study region.

Our approach will allow us to quantitatively describe and integrate the major components of the Kilimanjaro social-ecological system and their interlinkages in a spatially explicit manner. For example, we plan to analyse trade-offs and synergies in nature’s contributions to people supply, match and mismatch between nature’s contributions to people supply and demand, and relationships between governance, nature’s contributions to people demand and human well-being.