Professorship for Sustainable Landscapes

Organisational unit: Professoship

Organisation profile

The working group "Sustainable Landscapes" was established in November 2010 by Prof. Joern Fischer and is affiliated to the School of Sustainabilty at Leuphana University.

We are an interdisciplinary team working on human-environment relationships. Much of our work focuses on the landscape scale. We are particularly interested in how people use landscapes, and how land use, in turn, affects biodiversity and ecosystem services. We see people and nature as interdependent.

Main research areas

In addition to our work at the landscape scale, we are interested in the conceptual development of sustainability science at a global scale. Here, too, we are influenced by an ecosystems approach, but we also draw on the insights from the social sciences as appropriate.

Our goal is to contribute to sustainable development through solution-oriented research.

  1. 2024
  2. Published

    “We cannot escape this”: discussing leverage points for sustainability across scales with the example of Ouvéa, Kanaky New Caledonia

    Riechers, M., Baumann, L., Braun, M., Ganachaud, A., Heeg, P. & Sabinot, C., 12.2024, In: Regional Environmental Change. 24, 4, 15 p., 146.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. 2025
  4. Accepted/In press

    ‘Chains of leverage’ as way to identify and foster transformative potential

    Riechers, M., Schaal-Lagodzinski, T., Pereira, L., Loos, J. & Fischer, J., 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: People and Nature. 12 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  5. Accepted/In press

    Participatory mapping of local people's values in restoration landscapes in Western Rwanda

    Ndayizeye, G., Kmoch, L., Baumann, M., Nsengimana, V., Fischer, J. & Plieninger, T., 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: Restoration Ecology. 13 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    Ecosystem service supply and (in)equality archetypes

    Benra, F., Pacheco-Romero, M. & Fischer, J., 02.2025, In: Ecosystem Services. 71, 11 p., 101683.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  7. Published
  8. Published

    Characterising landscape homogenisation: a qualitative approach based on five case studies

    Cortés-Capano, G., Shumi, G., Raatikainen, K. J., Mahdavi-Nezhad, Z. & Loos, J., 04.2025, In: Ecosystems and People. 21, 1, 13 p., 2485282.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  9. Published

    Heterogeneity of demands for nature’s contributions to people and nature’s values by farmers: insights from the Kilimanjaro social-ecological system

    Sanya, J., Gross, M., Mwampamba, T. H., Pearson, J., Sesabo, J. K., Riechers, M., Kinabo, N. R., Krail, V. & Martín-López, B., 05.2025, In: Ecology and Society. 30, 2, 49 p., 25.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  10. Published

    Welcome home! Introducing SocSES: a society for inclusive and impactful social-ecological research

    de Vos, A., Quinlan, A., Biggs, R., Bennett, E. M., Martín-López, B., Norström, A. V., Peterson, G. D., Schoon, M., Allen, C. R., Andersson, E., Baird, J., Berbés-Blázquez, M., Berkes, F., Calderon-Contreras, R., Carpenter, S. R., Castro, A. J., Cumming, G. S., Falardeau, M., Liebrecht Fick, W., Folke, C., Galang, E. I. N. E., Gelcich, S., Gordon, L. J., Grimm, N. B., Hamilton, J., Hodbod, J., Speranza, C. I., Koch, L., Kosanic, A., Lembi, R., Locatelli, B., Malmborg, K., Manyani, A., Mathisonslee, M., Ocampo-Melgar, A., Psiuk, K., Queiroz, C., Riechers, M., Schultz, L., Selomane, O., Sherren, K., Spierenburg, M., Trimble, M., Turkelboom, F. & Wallington, C., 06.2025, In: Ecology and Society. 30, 2, 32.

    Research output: Journal contributionsOther (editorial matter etc.)Research

  11. Published

    Human-wildlife conflict in Rwanda: Linking ecoregion, changing conservation status and the local communities’ perception

    Sun, P., Bariyanga, J. D. & Wronski, T., 01.06.2025, In: Global Ecology and Conservation. 59, 17 p., e03550.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  12. Published

    Dynamics of the polycrisis: Temporal trends, spatial distribution and co-occurrences of national shocks (1970-2019)

    Delannoy, L., Verzier, A., Bastien-Olvera, B. A., Benra, F., Nyström, M. & Jørgensen, P. S., 09.06.2025, In: Global Sustainability. 8, 32 p., e24.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review