Landscape PhD students from all over Europe met in Alnarp

The participating PhD students are working on projects in most parts of the world – ranging from urban to rural landscapes, and from planning, design and management to organizational and participating aspects of the relatively new concept of Nature-Based Solutions (NbS). Thus, the course provides an in-depth exploration of landscape governance, with a focus on the emerging role of NbS.

During the course, researchers from SLU and the University of Copenhagen have discussed hands-on experiences, critical insights, and valuable opportunities to contribute to the discourse of landscape governance through theoretical and methodological research, with the intention of reducing the gap between theory and practice.

In this course, landscape governance and NbS have been critically discussed from conceptual, organizational and participatory perspectives. These discussions are designed to help students explore how these themes relate to their own research and promoting transformative change within the context of climate change, biodiversity loss and sustainable development.

- Landscape Governance encompasses diverse perspectives, addressing both organizational structure and development, as well as strategies for engaging and involving external stakeholders in addressing complex public issues. This year, we relate to Nature-Based Solutions or NbS. Not only because NbS is increasingly being used in practice and intensively addressed and promoted by funding agencies. We also see the need to combine governance with NbS due to the importance of understanding and integrating the local context—including local stakeholders when planning, designing and managing NbS, says course leader, Professor Thomas B. Randrup.

- During the course we have discussed what the term ‘nature’ in NbS really means in theory and practice. What does it mean to be ‘nature-based’, and what are the pitfalls in applying – or being inspired – by nature as a solution when it comes to stakeholder engagement and transformative change? says Professor Kes McCormick. 

This is the third course in the Landscape Governance PhD series, with previous courses held in 2021 and 2023, all funded by the LTV Faculty and NOVA University Networks. The course is coordinated by the Landscape Governance and Management Theme Group, this year in close collaboration with the Department of People and Society under the umbrella of the newly established SLU Nature-Based Solutions Network, and in close cooperation with the Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management at the University of Copenhagen.