Research News
Rice terraces in Banaue, North Luzon, Philippines. Photo: Josef Settele/UFZ
Targeting Rice Terraces
The significance of artificially irrigated rice terraces for maintaining diversity is one of the subjects addressed by the research project LEGATO. The aim of the subsidy programme, which is coordinated by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ and is funded with a total of 7.5 million Euro over five years, is to develop strategies for action, technologies and system solutions for sustainable land management. In this context the researchers also investigate as to how the traditional cultivated landscape in South East Asia can be maintained and in how far sustainable utilisation of land can profit from the experience on part of rice farmers. "The wider population is included in obtaining long-term data. For instance, dragonflies are good indicators regarding the condition of ecosystems. We want to offer a solution by which the population can easily identify the species by way of their mobile phones and thus support the scientific work. Our goal is the ongoing sustainable utilisation of land given the background of changes in the climate and in the way land is used", explains project coordinater Dr Josef Settele from the UFZ. On the basis of the data obtained some 80 researchers on the Philippines, in Vietnam and in Malaysia intend to further develop the evaluation of ecosystem services. These include in addition to the production of comestible goods, pollination and biological pest control also culture and aesthetics.
