Urs Wiesmann
Biographic Data
| ID | 3706755 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Urs Wiesmann |
| GIVEN NAMES | Urs |
| FAMILY NAME | Wiesmann |
| SIGNATURE | WIESMANN U |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Bern |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4647-6122 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 33 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 164 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 32 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1992 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2021 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
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…
Research for Sustainable Development Goals
The 2030 Agenda with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) marks a breakthrough towards more sustainable development at global, regional, national and local levels. At the same time, it fundamentally challenges societies at all levels to reorient and innovatively steer development pathways towards the set goals. This thematic focus on research for SDGs reflects and illustrates some of the challenges faced by science and research supporting …
Addressing sustainability challenges with a broader concept of systems, target, and transformation knowledge
Systems, targets and transformations are guiding metaphors of environmental and sustainability research. Is the framing of these concepts still adequate to address today’s wicked sustainability challenges
Is Economic Growth Increasing Disparities? A Multidimensional Analysis of Poverty in the Lao PDR between 2003 and 2013
The Asian story of miraculous growth and poverty reduction has reinforced mainstream views of development that equate high and sustained economic growth with progress in human wellbeing. But understanding development only in terms of economic growth is not sufficient. This paper offers a different perspective on possible effects of Laos’s transition from a subsistence-oriented economy to a market-oriented economy. We used a multidimensional pover…
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…
Differences Between Monetary and Multidimensional Poverty in the Lao PDR
This study compares monetary and multidimensional poverty measures for the Lao People's Democratic Republic. Using household data of 2007/2008, we compare the empirical outcomes of the country's current official monetary poverty measure with those of a multidimensional poverty measure. We analyze which population subgroups are identified as poor by both measures and thus belong to the category of the poorest of the poor; and we look at which subg…
Gendered division of labour and feminisation of responsibilities in Kenya; implications for development interventions
Analysing gender roles as a social organisation element of a community is critical for understanding actors’ rationales and agency with regard to allocation and use of resources. This article discusses gender relations and how they determine development outcomes, based on a highland-lowland case-study of participants of Farmer Field Schools in Kakamega Central Sub-County (highland) and Mbeere South Sub-County (lowland). The gender relations at st…
A Different Perspective on Poverty in Lao PDR
Protecting the South—Promoting the North? World Natural Heritage Status in the Global North and South
Since the World Heritage (WH) Convention was established in 1972, many sites have attained this prestigious conservation label. Today, World Natural Heritage (WNH) status is no longer only about conservation, but raises additional expectations in regard to tourism and regional development. Yet on a global scale, little is known about the effects of having WNH status. This article presents the results of a global survey carried out in 2012 of more…
Transdisciplinarity in Practice. Experience from a Concept-based Research Programme Addressing Global Change and Sustainable Development
Our twelve-year North-South research programme aimed at better understanding global change and contributing to sustainable development in local to regional contexts. As this required collaboration among numerous disciplines, work with non-scientific stakeholders, and time for learning, we designed a long-term, flexible, and participatory research approach that followed a clear concept, was responsive to changing environments and theories, allowed…
An indicator framework for assessing livelihood resilience in the context of social–ecological dynamics
Dynamics of Shifting Cultivation Landscapes in Northern Lao PDR Between 2000 and 2009 Based on an Analysis of Modis Time Series and Landsat Images
Small-scale farming in semi-arid areas
Researchers' roles in knowledge co-production
Co-production of knowledge between academic and non-academic communities is a prerequisite for research aiming at more sustainable development paths. Sustainability researchers face three challenges in such co-production: (a) addressing power relations; (b) interrelating different perspectives on the issues at stake; and (c) promoting a previously negotiated orientation towards sustainable development. A systematic comparison of four sustainabili…
Mountains and Climate Change
Editor's note: The text of this article originally appeared as the final chapter of a brochure entitled Mountains and Climate Change—From Understanding to Action, prepared at the Centre for Development and Environment, University of Bern, Switzerland, for presentation by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) at a side event at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen on 12 December 2009. Chapters of the brochure…
Linking a World Heritage Site to Sustainable Regional Development—Contested Natures in a Local Negotiation Process
Based on the candidature of a region in the Swiss Alps as a World Natural Heritage Site (WHS), this article outlines the negotiation process as reflected in the local media. Discussions of the World Heritage issue over a time span of 4 years revealed how the region concerned was discursively constructed and that discursive constructions implied specific views of nature. By elaborating on these conflicting views of nature, we intend to reflect on …
Social learning processes and sustainable development
Handbook of Transdisciplinary Research
The Dynamics of Secondary Forest Landscapes in the Lower Mekong Basin
Secondary forests in the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB) are increasingly recognized as a valuable component of land cover, providing ecosystem services and benefits for local users. A large proportion of secondary forests in the LMB, especially in the uplands, are maintained by swidden cultivation. In order to assess the regional-scale status and dynamic trends of secondary forests in the LMB, an analysis of existing regional land cover data for 1993 a…
Droughts and famines
Implications of transdisciplinarity for sustainability research
Moving from sustainable management to sustainable governance of natural resources
Between Conservation and Development
This article presents an empirical interdisciplinary study of an extensive participatory process that was carried out in 2004 in the recently established World Natural Heritage Site “Jungfrau–Aletsch–Bietschhorn” in the Swiss Alps. The study used qualitative and quantitative empirical methods of social science to address the question of success factors in establishing and concretizing a World Heritage Site. Current international scientific and po…
Assessing and Managing Scarce Tropical Mountain Water Resources
Mountains play a crucial role in the supply of freshwater to humankind, in highland and lowland areas alike. Increasing demand urgently requires careful management of mountain water resources in order to mitigate growing water crises and conflicts. Monitored river flow was analyzed for 3 selected catchments (Timau, Burguret, and Likii) on the slopes of Mount Kenya from 1960 to 2004. In the 10 years from 1995 to 2004, the extreme low flow (Q95) of…
The Mountain and Highland Focus of the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) North–South
Moving from sustainable management to sustainable governance of natural resources
An indicator framework for assessing livelihood resilience in the context of social–ecological dynamics
Small-scale farming in semi-arid areas
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…
Droughts and famines
Gendered division of labour and feminisation of responsibilities in Kenya; implications for development interventions
Analysing gender roles as a social organisation element of a community is critical for understanding actors’ rationales and agency with regard to allocation and use of resources. This article discusses gender relations and how they determine development outcomes, based on a highland-lowland case-study of participants of Farmer Field Schools in Kakamega Central Sub-County (highland) and Mbeere South Sub-County (lowland). The gender relations at st…
A Different Perspective on Poverty in Lao PDR
Dynamics of Shifting Cultivation Landscapes in Northern Lao PDR Between 2000 and 2009 Based on an Analysis of Modis Time Series and Landsat Images
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…
Differences Between Monetary and Multidimensional Poverty in the Lao PDR
This study compares monetary and multidimensional poverty measures for the Lao People's Democratic Republic. Using household data of 2007/2008, we compare the empirical outcomes of the country's current official monetary poverty measure with those of a multidimensional poverty measure. We analyze which population subgroups are identified as poor by both measures and thus belong to the category of the poorest of the poor; and we look at which subg…
Linking a World Heritage Site to Sustainable Regional Development—Contested Natures in a Local Negotiation Process
Based on the candidature of a region in the Swiss Alps as a World Natural Heritage Site (WHS), this article outlines the negotiation process as reflected in the local media. Discussions of the World Heritage issue over a time span of 4 years revealed how the region concerned was discursively constructed and that discursive constructions implied specific views of nature. By elaborating on these conflicting views of nature, we intend to reflect on …
Socioeconomic Viewpoints on Highland-Lowland Systems
The District of Laikipia on the northwest piedmont of Mt. Kenya has undergone rapid population growth through immigration of large numbers of subsistence farmers. Most of these small-scale farmers have retained the traditional land-use practices that evolved in a more moist and therefore more productive homeland. This is resulting in severe environmental pressure. Household strategies attempt to balance crop-farming, livestock production, off-far…
Mitigating Conflicts Over Scarce Water Resources in the Highland-Lowland System of Mount Kenya
The Mount Kenya region offers a great deal of beautiful scenery and attracts tourists from all over the world. What these tourists may not see, however, is the crucial function of Mount Kenya as a water tower for its footzones and adjoining lowland areas. This function is becoming ever more crucial, as populations in these areas are growing at a rapid pace and new land use systems require far more water. These developments have set the stage for …
The Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), University of Berne
Research on mountains and global change
No abstract available
The Role of Social Learning Processes in the Emergence and Development of Aymara Land Use Systems
A typical traditional Andean land-use system was analyzed as the outcome of long-term social learning processes. From this perspective the land-use system is the result of coevolution between society and nature, representing a successive embodiment of ethical principles corresponding to different periods in history. Ethical principles, understood in this study as the main values in which social and spiritual life is rooted, emerge from and are sh…
CDE's Integrative Approach to Research and Development in Mountain Regions
The Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) is a university institution that conducts resource- and people-oriented research and development activities in Switzerland and abroad. It is part of the Institute of Geography at the University of Berne and is the lead institution for the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) North–South
La contribution des biens naturels du Patrimoine Mondial au développement régional durable
Les sites naturels du Jungfrau- Aletsch-Bietschhorn et du Mont Kenya, tous deux inscrits au Patrimoine Mondial de l'Unesco, diffèrent l'un de l'autre sur le plan économique et socioculturel ainsi que par la dynamique écologique de leur région avoisi- nante. Dans le cas de Grindelwald, le paysage culturel est plus menacé que le paysage naturel protégé du patrimoine mondial, alors que dans le cas du système des hautes et basses terres du Mont Kenya…
The Contributions of World Natural Heritage Sites to Sustainable Regional Development - Two Case Studies from the North and the South
The Jungfrau-Aletsch-Bietsch- horn and Mount Kenya World Natural Heritage Sites differ in terms of the economic, socio-cultural and ecological dynamics of their surrounding regions. In the case of the Grindelwald region, the cultural landscape is more endangered than the protected natural landscape of the World Heritage Site, whereas in the case of the highland-lowland system of Mt. Kenya, the pressure on the high-potential resources of the World…
Between Conservation and Development
This article presents an empirical interdisciplinary study of an extensive participatory process that was carried out in 2004 in the recently established World Natural Heritage Site “Jungfrau–Aletsch–Bietschhorn” in the Swiss Alps. The study used qualitative and quantitative empirical methods of social science to address the question of success factors in establishing and concretizing a World Heritage Site. Current international scientific and po…
Assessing and Managing Scarce Tropical Mountain Water Resources
Mountains play a crucial role in the supply of freshwater to humankind, in highland and lowland areas alike. Increasing demand urgently requires careful management of mountain water resources in order to mitigate growing water crises and conflicts. Monitored river flow was analyzed for 3 selected catchments (Timau, Burguret, and Likii) on the slopes of Mount Kenya from 1960 to 2004. In the 10 years from 1995 to 2004, the extreme low flow (Q95) of…
The Mountain and Highland Focus of the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) North–South
Implications of transdisciplinarity for sustainability research
Moving from sustainable management to sustainable governance of natural resources
Social learning processes and sustainable development
Handbook of Transdisciplinary Research
The Dynamics of Secondary Forest Landscapes in the Lower Mekong Basin
Secondary forests in the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB) are increasingly recognized as a valuable component of land cover, providing ecosystem services and benefits for local users. A large proportion of secondary forests in the LMB, especially in the uplands, are maintained by swidden cultivation. In order to assess the regional-scale status and dynamic trends of secondary forests in the LMB, an analysis of existing regional land cover data for 1993 a…
Droughts and famines
Researchers' roles in knowledge co-production
Co-production of knowledge between academic and non-academic communities is a prerequisite for research aiming at more sustainable development paths. Sustainability researchers face three challenges in such co-production: (a) addressing power relations; (b) interrelating different perspectives on the issues at stake; and (c) promoting a previously negotiated orientation towards sustainable development. A systematic comparison of four sustainabili…
Mountains and Climate Change
Editor's note: The text of this article originally appeared as the final chapter of a brochure entitled Mountains and Climate Change—From Understanding to Action, prepared at the Centre for Development and Environment, University of Bern, Switzerland, for presentation by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) at a side event at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen on 12 December 2009. Chapters of the brochure…
Linking a World Heritage Site to Sustainable Regional Development—Contested Natures in a Local Negotiation Process
Based on the candidature of a region in the Swiss Alps as a World Natural Heritage Site (WHS), this article outlines the negotiation process as reflected in the local media. Discussions of the World Heritage issue over a time span of 4 years revealed how the region concerned was discursively constructed and that discursive constructions implied specific views of nature. By elaborating on these conflicting views of nature, we intend to reflect on …
Small-scale farming in semi-arid areas
Dynamics of Shifting Cultivation Landscapes in Northern Lao PDR Between 2000 and 2009 Based on an Analysis of Modis Time Series and Landsat Images
Transdisciplinarity in Practice. Experience from a Concept-based Research Programme Addressing Global Change and Sustainable Development
Our twelve-year North-South research programme aimed at better understanding global change and contributing to sustainable development in local to regional contexts. As this required collaboration among numerous disciplines, work with non-scientific stakeholders, and time for learning, we designed a long-term, flexible, and participatory research approach that followed a clear concept, was responsive to changing environments and theories, allowed…
An indicator framework for assessing livelihood resilience in the context of social–ecological dynamics
Protecting the South—Promoting the North? World Natural Heritage Status in the Global North and South
Since the World Heritage (WH) Convention was established in 1972, many sites have attained this prestigious conservation label. Today, World Natural Heritage (WNH) status is no longer only about conservation, but raises additional expectations in regard to tourism and regional development. Yet on a global scale, little is known about the effects of having WNH status. This article presents the results of a global survey carried out in 2012 of more…
Geography (25 works) · Political science (17 works) · Sociology (16 works) · Ecology (13 works) · Economics (12 works) · Computer Science (11 works) · Environmental resource management (11 works) · Social science (10 works) · Engineering (9 works) · Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management (8 works)