___________________________________________________________________
TIME | 26 March 2009, 4pm onwards
LOCATION | Seminar Room, Centre for Innovation, 87 St. David St.
SPEAKER | Markus Gradwohl
This presentation will show empirical results from two regional case studies of long term socio-ecological research in the Upper Austrian Eisenwurzen region. Based on statistical data, it will demonstrate how patterns of land use change are shaped and regional disintegration happened from the late 19th century until 2000. During this period, Austrian agriculture underwent a transition from an agrarian to an industrial mode of production, inducing fundamental changes in the relation between natural and social systems including economic, social and political aspects. The research investigates how general trends of agricultural modernization such as intensification, mechanization and increasing market integration have affected both regions, but led to quite different development pathways by assessing indicators of material and energy flow analysis for the regional agricultural production systems. The current situation is dependent on the material and immaterial inheritance of these long term processes and an integrated understanding is vital for the tackling of today’s sustainability problems as the co-evolutionary trajectories of societies and their environments are shaped by these legacies.
Markus Gradwohl has a background in Ecology (MSc, University of Vienna) and specialises in research on the interaction between human societies and their environment. His Research PhD project with support of the New Zealand International Doctoral Research Scholarship Programme investigates the Co- Evolution of New Zealand’s socio-ecological system during the last 160 years using the methods of historical material and energy flow analysis.