Thomas Breu
Biographic Data
| ID | 195408 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Thomas Breu |
| GIVEN NAMES | Thomas |
| FAMILY NAME | Breu |
| SIGNATURE | BREU T |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Bern |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2348-504X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 38 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 41 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 37 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2003 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Religion, spirituality and faith of Swiss farmers in relation to biodiversity-linked farming behaviour
Biodiversity promotion schemes often have limited impact because they fail to connect with farmers’ personal values and beliefs. The effectiveness of such schemes could be enhanced by understanding how farmers’ value systems, including religio-spiritual beliefs, influence their biodiversity-promoting decisions. The aim of this contribution is to explore relationships between farmers’ religio-spirituality and faith and biodiversity-supporting farm…
Boosting intra-African timber trade
Africa has substantial timber trade deficit • Momentum for continental trade due to unstable international trade relationships • Adding value locally can support Pan-African inclusive and sustainable green growth Forest cover in Africa is declining, and new strategies are needed to foster sustainable forest management. At the same time, unstable international trade relationships are challenging Africa’s timber trade model. This creates momentum f…
Dealing with the cost of Eudr compliance data and potential monetisation
Citizens ditching cars
In light of climate change, urbanization and worldwide mobility trends, the requirements for transforming urban transport systems towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are twofold. First, understanding the systemic interactions underlying sustainable development as envisioned in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is key. In the context of urban transport systems, this includes understanding what hinders or fosters reduced c…
Researchers’ roles in the (dis)empowerment of societal actors
Sustainability researchers increasingly guide and/or actively participate in transdisciplinary sustainability transition processes. Their concrete roles and activities create an empowering or disempowering context for the societal actors with whom they collaborate. Reflecting on these effects is essential, as in the end the societal actors are responsible for successfully implementing sustainability transitions in practice. This article proposes …
Time for change
The added value of including citizen perspectives in a transition management process towards climate neutrality. Insights from an experience in the Swiss Alps
When citizens do not feel included in transition processes, implementation can become very difficult. Hence, we used a survey to include the perspective of citizens in one such transition process towards climate neutrality in the Swiss Alps, and analysed how this enhanced its legitimacy.Initiatives that foster transformative change often adopt a transdisciplinary approach by involving stakeholders from various sectors of society. Although transdi…
A multi‐methods approach for assessing how conserving biodiversity interacts with other sustainable development goals in Nepal
Achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) requires a context‐specific understanding of how actions to achieve one goal interact with others. We analyzed statistical data, and conducted online surveys and interviews with conservation professionals to understand how terrestrial conservation goals (SDG 15: Life on land) influence and are influenced by other goals in Nepal. Our findings suggest that SDG 15 synergized with economic growth (SD…
Research−implementation organisations and their role for sustainable development
Over the past decade, considerable progress has been made by higher education institutions (HEIs) to align with sustainable development goals. Specifically, aspects of sustainable development have been integrated into the existing mandates of HEIs – education, research and operations. The main objective of the current study was to assess a sub‐group of African HEIs that have an explicit mandate for implementation science and pursue development as…
Mountain Research and Development Embarks on Its Fifth Decade
Editorial
Changes in MRD's Team of Editors-in-Chief
Editorial
On which common ground to build? Transferable knowledge across cases in transdisciplinary sustainability research
To support societal problem solving, transdisciplinary research (TDR) uses knowledge co-production focusing on relevance and validity in a studied case and its particular social-ecological context. In the first instance, the resulting situated knowledge seems to be restricted to these single cases. However, if some of the knowledge generated in TDR could be used in other research projects, this would imply that there is a body of knowledge repres…
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Focus Issue
Editorial
Where to begin? Defining national strategies for implementing the 2030 Agenda
Five years after adoption of the 2030 Agenda, there is a general lack of progress in reaching its Sustainable Development Goals—be it on national, regional, or global scales. Scientists attribute this above all to insufficient understanding and addressing of interactions between goals and targets. This study aims to contribute to the methodological conceptualization of the 2030 Agenda’s implementation at the national level. To this end, taking th…
The Commons in a Glocal World
This volume focuses on how, in Europe, the debate on the commons is discussed in regard to historical and contemporary dimensions, critically referencing the work of Elinor Ostrom. It also explores from the perspective of new institutional political ecology (NIPE) how Europe directly and indirectly affected and affects the commons globally. Most of the research on the management of commons pool resources is limited to dealing with one of two topi…
Leveraging research partnerships to achieve the 2030 Agenda
Creating an interconnected, transnational knowledge society that provides equal opportunities for everyone could prove a powerful way of moving towards sustainable development. Having experienced decades of North-South cooperation, the authors believe that with more transdisciplinary research and support from funders, governments, the private sector and civil society, research partnerships can help forge a path towards a more balanced production …
Theories of change in sustainability science
Science-based initiatives generate particular changes towards sustainable development. But why and how does this work? Theories of change (ToCs) can help in understanding the theoretical assumptions and modes of knowledge production associated with these initiatives: ToCs trigger debate among the stakeholders and evaluators of an initiative regarding the hypothesized and observed effects of actions as well as regarding underlying assumptions abou…
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Editorial
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Conceptualizing the transfer of knowledge across cases in transdisciplinary research
Transdisciplinary (TD) research is increasingly suggested as a means of tackling wicked problems by providing knowledge on solutions that serve as pathways towards sustainable development. In contrast to research striving for generalizable findings, TD research produces insights for a particular case and context. TD researchers, who build on other TD projects’ results, need to know under what conditions knowledge gained from their case can be tra…
From ‘land grabbing’ to sustainable investments in land
This paper assesses possible contributions of land change science to the growing body of knowledge about large-scale land acquisition. Despite obvious commonalities, such as a problem-oriented and interdisciplinary approach to land change, there seems to be little overlap between the two fields thus far. We adopt a sustainability research perspective — an important feature of land change science — to review research questions about large-scale la…
Socio-Economic Perspectives on Shifting Cultivation Landscapes in Northern Laos
A multi‐methods approach for assessing how conserving biodiversity interacts with other sustainable development goals in Nepal
Achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) requires a context‐specific understanding of how actions to achieve one goal interact with others. We analyzed statistical data, and conducted online surveys and interviews with conservation professionals to understand how terrestrial conservation goals (SDG 15: Life on land) influence and are influenced by other goals in Nepal. Our findings suggest that SDG 15 synergized with economic growth (SD…
Research−implementation organisations and their role for sustainable development
Over the past decade, considerable progress has been made by higher education institutions (HEIs) to align with sustainable development goals. Specifically, aspects of sustainable development have been integrated into the existing mandates of HEIs – education, research and operations. The main objective of the current study was to assess a sub‐group of African HEIs that have an explicit mandate for implementation science and pursue development as…
On which common ground to build? Transferable knowledge across cases in transdisciplinary sustainability research
To support societal problem solving, transdisciplinary research (TDR) uses knowledge co-production focusing on relevance and validity in a studied case and its particular social-ecological context. In the first instance, the resulting situated knowledge seems to be restricted to these single cases. However, if some of the knowledge generated in TDR could be used in other research projects, this would imply that there is a body of knowledge repres…
Where to begin? Defining national strategies for implementing the 2030 Agenda
Five years after adoption of the 2030 Agenda, there is a general lack of progress in reaching its Sustainable Development Goals—be it on national, regional, or global scales. Scientists attribute this above all to insufficient understanding and addressing of interactions between goals and targets. This study aims to contribute to the methodological conceptualization of the 2030 Agenda’s implementation at the national level. To this end, taking th…
Soils, agriculture and food security
The Challenge of Applying Geographic Information Systems to Sustainable Mountain Development
In recent years, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have increasingly been used in a wide array of application contexts for development cooperation in lowlands and mountain areas. When used for planning, implementation, and monitoring, GIS is a versatile and highly efficient tool, particularly in mountain areas characterized by great spatial diversity and inaccessibility. However, the establishment and application of GIS in mountain regions gen…
Watershed Classification in the Lower Mekong Basin
Knowledge for Sustainable Development in the Tajik Pamir Mountains
Initiating a process of informed decision-making for sustainable development requires the following: a) the values and objectives to be pursued need to be negotiated among all concerned stakeholders of a specific territorial unit; b) these stakeholders should have access to a comparable level of knowledge; and c) the decisions taken and the subsequent actions initiated should have a positive impact on all dimensions of sustainability. In the remo…
From ‘land grabbing’ to sustainable investments in land
This paper assesses possible contributions of land change science to the growing body of knowledge about large-scale land acquisition. Despite obvious commonalities, such as a problem-oriented and interdisciplinary approach to land change, there seems to be little overlap between the two fields thus far. We adopt a sustainability research perspective — an important feature of land change science — to review research questions about large-scale la…
Socio-Economic Perspectives on Shifting Cultivation Landscapes in Northern Laos
The geography of large-scale land acquisitions
This paper analyses local geographical contexts targeted by transnational large-scale land acquisitions (>200 ha per deal) in order to understand how emerging patterns of socio-ecological characteristics can be related to processes of large-scale foreign investment in land. Using a sample of 139 land deals georeferenced with high spatial accuracy, we first analyse their target contexts in terms of land cover, population density, accessibility, an…
Soils, agriculture and food security
Focus Issue
Editorial
Focus Issue
Editorial
Conceptualizing the transfer of knowledge across cases in transdisciplinary research
Transdisciplinary (TD) research is increasingly suggested as a means of tackling wicked problems by providing knowledge on solutions that serve as pathways towards sustainable development. In contrast to research striving for generalizable findings, TD research produces insights for a particular case and context. TD researchers, who build on other TD projects’ results, need to know under what conditions knowledge gained from their case can be tra…
Focus Issue
Editorial
The Commons in a Glocal World
This volume focuses on how, in Europe, the debate on the commons is discussed in regard to historical and contemporary dimensions, critically referencing the work of Elinor Ostrom. It also explores from the perspective of new institutional political ecology (NIPE) how Europe directly and indirectly affected and affects the commons globally. Most of the research on the management of commons pool resources is limited to dealing with one of two topi…
Leveraging research partnerships to achieve the 2030 Agenda
Creating an interconnected, transnational knowledge society that provides equal opportunities for everyone could prove a powerful way of moving towards sustainable development. Having experienced decades of North-South cooperation, the authors believe that with more transdisciplinary research and support from funders, governments, the private sector and civil society, research partnerships can help forge a path towards a more balanced production …
Theories of change in sustainability science
Science-based initiatives generate particular changes towards sustainable development. But why and how does this work? Theories of change (ToCs) can help in understanding the theoretical assumptions and modes of knowledge production associated with these initiatives: ToCs trigger debate among the stakeholders and evaluators of an initiative regarding the hypothesized and observed effects of actions as well as regarding underlying assumptions abou…
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Focus Issue
Editorial
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Focus Issue
Editorial
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Focus Issue
Editorial
Geography (20 works) · Computer Science (19 works) · Political science (15 works) · Economics (13 works) · Environmental resource management (13 works) · Sustainable development (13 works) · Environmental planning (10 works) · Environmental Science (10 works) · Ecology (9 works) · Diverse Scientific and Economic Studies (8 works)