About POLISES

POLISES (short for ‘Policy Instruments and Social-Environmental Systems under Global Change’) is a working group at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ in Leipzig, Department of Ecological Modelling. 

The group was catalysed by the funding for Junior Research Groups “Global Change 4+1” of the BMBF from 2014-2019. We use dynamic socio-environmental modelling, in particular agent-based modelling with a focus on representing human decision-making. We have a strong interest in making models more useful to support policy and management. 

Objectives

  • Make aware of unintended side effects of policy instruments and proposed (risk) management strategies.
  • Advance modelling methods with focus on representation of human decision-making and upscaling of socio-environmental models.
  • Increase real-world impact of socio-environmental modelling for management and policy support related to sustainable land use.
  • Foster transdisciplinary research through a close exchange with empirical experts in ecology, socioeconomics and geography.

BESTMAP

BESTMAP aims to develop a new flexible, interoperable and customizable framework that will take account of farmers' needs and effectively monitor policy impacts on natural, social and cultural assets in rural areas.

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NamTip

The NamTip project strives for a better understanding of desertification tipping points and their ecological and social drivers with a focus on the Greater Waterberg Landscape in Namibia.

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InsuranceGrass

Climate change and the associated extreme weather events - mainly droughts - are causing damage to grasslands. Economic losses for farmers and a loss of ecosystem services are the result. InsuranceGrass aims to investigate how these risks can be covered through the use of financial, natural and social insurance mechanisms.

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SNAg

The project SNAg aims to investigate the trade-offs of Nitrogen related policies between maintaining yields, limiting environmental damage and ensuring economic well-being of farmers.

 

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