TRANSECT
Agrarian Transformations and Social-Ecological Complexities
Local Bioeconomy Scenarios in Central and South Asia

The junior research group TRANSECT investigates the social-ecological effects and interdependencies of agrarian transformations in Central and South Asia. Based on an in-depth understanding of past developments, we evaluate potential pathways towards a bioeconomy in the agrarian sector. Bioeconomy – or bio-based economy – is understood as comprehensive utilisation of agrarian and other renewable biological resources to secure food, industrial production, and bioenergy. This approach follows the long-term goal to reduce dependency on fossil fuels. The concept of bioeconomy has increasingly been adopted in policy strategies for sustainable development. Its strong emphasis on technological innovation and production growth, however, raises a number of questions. Based on the evaluation of previous experiences, we ask what kinds of social and ecological consequences can be projected from further intensifying agricultural production schemes? What types of technologies are beneficial for whom? How to make efficient use of agricultural residues in a locally adapted and sustainable manner? 

These and other questions will be scrutinised in empirical case studies in Pakistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan, thereby focusing on regions, which have been subjected to vast agricultural interventions in the past. Moreover, the growth of China’s bioeconomy sector and the progress of the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ are expected to shape future agricultural developments in the region. The research group provides in-depth analyses of local effects, opportunities and risks of agricultural intensification and other transformation pathways. Furthermore, we aim to generate a practice-oriented, integrative and participatory methodology in order to develop policy scenarios towards more socially just and ecologically sustainable bioeconomy pathways. 

Funding and Host Institutions

TRANSECT is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with a grant of 2.62 million euros. The project is being carried out over a period of five years, from May 2019 to April 2025. Projektträger Jülich Research Centre is entrusted with managing the BMBF grant for the TRANSECT research project within the research scheme “Bioeconomy as Societal Change.” The research team is hosted by the Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management at the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (HNEE).
TRANSECT –
Agrarian Transformations and Social-Ecological Complexities.

Local Bioeconomy Scenarios in Central and South Asia


The junior research group TRANSECT investigates the social-ecological effects and interdependencies of agrarian transformations in Central and South Asia. Based on an in-depth understanding of past developments, we evaluate potential pathways towards a bioeconomy in the agrarian sector. Bioeconomy – or bio-based economy – is understood as comprehensive utilisation of agrarian and other renewable biological resources to secure food, industrial production, and bioenergy. This approach follows the long-term goal to reduce dependency on fossil fuels. The concept of bioeconomy has increasingly been adopted in policy strategies for sustainable development. Its strong emphasis on technological innovation and production growth, however, raises a number of questions. Based on the evaluation of previous experiences, we ask what kinds of social and ecological consequences can be projected from further intensifying agricultural production schemes? What types of technologies are beneficial for whom? How to make efficient use of agricultural residues in a locally adapted and sustainable manner? 

These and other questions will be scrutinised in empirical case studies in Pakistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan, thereby focusing on regions, which have been subjected to vast agricultural interventions in the past. Moreover, the growth of China’s bioeconomy sector and the progress of the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ are expected to shape future agricultural developments in the region. The research group provides in-depth analyses of local effects, opportunities and risks of agricultural intensification and other transformation pathways. Furthermore, we aim to generate a practice-oriented, integrative and participatory methodology in order to develop policy scenarios towards more socially just and ecologically sustainable bioeconomy pathways. 





Funding and Host Institutions

TRANSECT is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with a grant of 2.62 million euros. The project is being carried out over a period of five years, from May 2019 to April 2024. Projektträger Jülich Research Centre is entrusted with managing the BMBF grant for the TRANSECT research project within the research scheme “Bioeconomy as Societal Change.” The research team is hosted by the Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management at the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (HNEE).



Research Design 

Central to the project is the collection of empirical data from three case studies, with the aim of investigating local manifestations of agricultural change. Inspired by assemblage theory and theories of complex adaptive systems, agriculture is conceptualised as dynamic social-ecological arrangement. Agricultural change is always co-produced by a variety of social, natural, technical and political constituents, our research draws therefore strongly on integrative methods.

Three local case studies are being conducted in the Punjab (Pakistan), Khatlon (Tajikistan) and Almaty (Kazakhstan) regions, and the study is complemented by two cross-cutting research modules, one investigating the ecological dimension of agricultural transformations in more detail, and the other focusing on China’s role as an emerging stakeholder in the region, particularly in the realm of its growing bioeconomy sector. Departing from empirical analyses of past and current trends, we explore potential future pathways: through a series of participatory workshops in the three study regions, the research group is developing local bioeconomy scenarios that will reveal possible social-ecological risks and identify potential leverage points for proactive management strategies.


Research Design 

Central to the project is the collection of empirical data from three case studies, with the aim of investigating local manifestations of agricultural change. Inspired by assemblage theory and theories of complex adaptive systems, agriculture is conceptualised as dynamic social-ecological arrangement. Agricultural change is always co-produced by a variety of social, natural, technical and political constituents, our research draws therefore strongly on integrative methods.

Three local case studies are being conducted in the Punjab (Pakistan), Khatlon (Tajikistan) and Almaty (Kazakhstan) regions, and the study is complemented by two cross-cutting research modules, one investigating the ecological dimension of agricultural transformations in more detail, and the other focusing on China’s role as an emerging stakeholder in the region, particularly in the realm of its growing bioeconomy sector. Departing from empirical analyses of past and current trends, we explore potential future pathways: through a series of participatory workshops in the three study regions, the research group is developing local bioeconomy scenarios that will reveal possible social-ecological risks and identify potential leverage points for proactive management strategies.


Research Goals 

Theory

Gain more systemic knowledge of local manifestations of agricultural transformation processes in fragile social-ecological systems

Gain new insights into the social-ecological risks and opportunities of agricultural transformations towards a bioeconomy




Methodology

Develop and test an integrative and participatory methodology of analysis, scenario development and risk-sensitive management of local bioeconomic transformation pathways

Utilise this methodology for rural planning and development practice




Region

Gain a deeper understanding of current pathways of agricultural change and their local implications in Central and South Asia

Compile local knowledge on ecologically adapted, socially sustainable production systems and practices, and make them available to academia and development practice

Gain new insights into regional implications of China's growing bioeconomy sector in the context of the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’


Research Goals 


Theory

Gain more systemic knowledge of local manifestations of agricultural transformation processes in fragile social-ecological systems

Gain new insights into the social-ecological risks and opportunities of agricultural transformations towards a bioeconomy

Methodology

Develop and test an integrative and participatory methodology of analysis, scenario development and risk-sensitive management of local bioeconomic transformation pathways

Utilise this methodology for rural planning and development practice


Region

Gain a deeper understanding of current pathways of agricultural change and their local implications in Central and South Asia

Compile local knowledge on ecologically adapted, socially sustainable production sys tems and practices, and make them available to academia and development practice

Gain new insights into regional implications of China's growing bioeconomy sector in the context of the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’



 Publications



Zakirova, Aksana; Alff, Henryk and Matthias Schmidt (accepted): Cash crop or food crop? Socioeconomic and geopolitical factors affecting smallholder farmer crop selection in times of crisis in southwestern Tajikistan", Frontiers in Agronomy. DOI: 10.3389/fagro.2023.1228165.



Alff, Henryk &Michael Spies (accepted): Introduction: Coexistence or competition for resources? Transboundary transformations of natural resource use in China’s neighbourhood. In: Special issue in Eurasian Geography & Economics



Alff, Henryk (accepted): Maize-farming forever? Path dependency and friction in South-east Kazakhstan’s ‘post-Soviet’ borderland agriculture. Central Asian Affairs. Special issue on ‘Life in the Province: Socioeconomic and Cultural Transformations outside the Capital Cities – A ‘Global Province’ in Central Asia’


 

Spies, Michael; Alff, Henryk; Missall, Siegmund & Martin Welp (accepted): Path dependencies of (un-)sustainable land use in Central Asia. Central Asian Affairs. Special issue on ‘Life in the Province: Socioeconomic and Cultural Transformations outside the Capital Cities – A ‘Global Province’ in Central Asia’



Zakirova, Aksana; Alff, Henryk & Matthias Schmidt (accepted): Is the new path a modified old path? Smallholder farmers’ perspectives to cotton farming in Khatlon, Tajikistan. Central Asian Affairs. Special issue on ‘Life in the Province: Socioeconomic and Cultural Transformations outside the Capital Cities – A ‘Global Province’ in Central Asia’



Alff, H. (2022) Post-Soviet Decline or China-Induced Prosperity? Agricultural and Socio-Economic Change in the Kazakhstan-China Borderlands. In: von Löwis, S. and B. Eschment (eds.): Post-Soviet Borders: A Kaleidoscope of Shifting Lives and Lands, Routledge Borderland Series. Routledge: London.



Spies, M. (2022) Der chinesisch-pakistanische Wirtschaftskorridor. Versprechen und Widersprüche für den Agrarsektor Pakistans, Geographische Rundschau 75/4, 16-19.



Zuberi, M., Raab, C., Spies, M. (2022) Landnutzungswandel im Baumwollgürtel Pakistans. Gen-Baumwolle, Agrardiversifizierung und ökologische Herausforderungen im Süden des Punjab, Geographische Rundschau 75/4, 20-25.



Spies, M.; Zuberi, M.; Mählis, M.; Zakirova, A.; Alff, H.; Raab, C. (2022) Towards a participatory systems approach to managing complex bioeconomy interventions in the agrarian sector. Sustainable Production and Consumption.

PDF     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2022.03.020



Spies, M. (2021) Promises and perils of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor: Agriculture and export prospects in northern Pakistan, Eurasian Geography and Economics. 

https://doi.org/10.1080/15387216.2021.2016456



Zuberi, M. (2021) Between Disconnects and Flows: Reflections on Doing Fieldwork in Rural South Punjab during the Covid-19 Pandemic, In: Südasien-Chronik - South Asia Chronicle 11/2021, pp. 521-540, Südasien Seminar der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, pp. 521-540.   PDF     https://www.iaaw.hu-berlin.de/de/region/suedasien/publikationen/sachronik/sachronik



Spies, M., Schick, A., Karomatov, S., Bakohodzha, B., Zikriyohon, K., Jobirov, S., Bloch, R., Ibisch, P.L. (2021) Adapting a participatory and ecosystem-based assessment impacted by the pandemic: Lessons learned with farmers in Tajikistan. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems.

https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2021.750252



Schmidt, M., Steenberg, R., Spies, M. & Alff, H. (eds.) (2021) Beyond Post-Soviet: Layered Legacies and Transformations in Central Asia. (Geographica Augustana 33), Augsburg.


https://opus.bibliothek.uni-augsburg.de/opus4/frontdoor/deliver/index/docId/89035/file/Beyond_Soviet_pdf_a.pdf



Spies, M. and Welp, M. (2021): Stakeholder-based knowledge mapping for re-establishing agroforestry systems in Central Asia. In M. Schmidt, R. Steenberg, M. Spies & H. Alff (eds.), Beyond Post-Soviet: Layered Legacies and Transformations in Central Asia. (Geographica Augustana 33). Augsburg. pp. 38-48.



Luo, A., Zuberi, M., Liu, J., Perrone, M., Schnepf, S., Leipold, S. (2021) Why common action and interest are not enough for environmental cooperation. Lessons from the Chine-EU cooperation discourse on circular economy. In: Global Environmental Change, 71.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102389



Spies, M., Schick, A., Karomatov, S., Bakohodzha, B., Zikriyohon, K., Jobirov, S., Bloch, R., Ibisch, P.L. (forthcoming) Adapting a participatory and ecosystem-based assessment impacted by the pandemic: Lessons learned with farmers in Tajikistan, Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems.



Alff, H. (forthcoming) Post-Soviet Decline or China-Induced Prosperity? Agricultural and Socio-Economic Change in the Kazakhstan-China Borderlands. In: von Löwis, S. and B. Eschment (eds.): A Kaleidoscope of Re-bordering and De-bordering of the Post-Soviet Space. Routledge Borderland Series. Routledge: London.



Alff, H., & Spies, M. (2020) Pfadabhängigkeiten in der Bioökonomie überwinden? Landwirtschaftliche Intensivierungsprozesse aus sozial-ökologischer Perspektive. PERIPHERIE 159/160, 334-359.
https://doi.org/10.3224/peripherie.v40i3-4.06



Spies, M., & Alff, H. (2020) Assemblages and complex adaptive systems: A conceptual crossroads for integrative research? In: Geography Compass 14 (10): e12534.

https://doi.​org/10.1111/gec3.12534



Spies M. (2020) Mixed manifestations of climate change in high mountains: insights from a farming community in northern Pakistan. Climate and Development. 12(10): 911–922.
https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2019.1701974



Ruppert D., Welp M., Spies M., Thevs N. (2020) Farmers’ perceptions of tree shelterbelts on  gricultural land in rural Kyrgyzstan. Sustainability. 12(3): 1093.
https://doi.org/10.3390/su12031093



Spies M. (2020) Agrarwandel und sozial-ökologische Nachhaltigkeit.

https://www.wissenschaftsjahr.de/2020-21/aktuelles-aus-der-biooekonomie/koepfe-des-wandels/agrarwandel-und-sozial
oekologische-nachhaltigkeit



Alff H. (2020) Review of: Thomas, Alun (2018) Nomads and Soviet Rule: Central Asia under Lenin and Stalin. London et al.: Bloomsbury. Nomadic Peoples 24(2): 352-54.



Alff H. (2020) Belts and roads every- and nowhere: conceptualizing infrastructural corridorization in the Indian Ocean. Environment & Planning C: Politics and Space. Special issue on ‚Politics and spaces of China's Belt and Road Initiative‘

https://doi.org/10.1177/2399654420911410



Alff H. (2020) Re-assembling the Silk Road(s) from a heritage perspective. In: Review forum on Winter, Tim (2019): Geocultural Power: China's Quest to Revive the Silk Roads for the Twenty-First Century. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. In: Political Geography.



Zuberi M. (2020) Agriculture in flux: Insights into agricultural transformations and possible scenarios in South Punjab, Pakistan.  In: Follmann, Alexander, Müller, Judith und Falk, Gregor C. (Hrsg.): Aktuelle Forschungsbeiträge zu Südasien, 10. Jahrestagung des AK Südasien, 24./25. Januar 2020, Freiburg, Heidelberg; Berlin: CrossAsia-eBooks, 2020, Geographien Südasiens, Band 12), 31-34.
https://doi.org/10.11588/xabooks.796



Publications



Spies, M. (2024): Agriculture and Chinese Agribusiness Investments in the Context of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. In P. Abb, F. Boni & H. H. Karrar (eds.), China, Pakistan and the Belt and Road Initiative: The Experience of an Early Adopter State. London: Routledge, pp. 33-51. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781032633411-3


Zuberi, M., Spies, M., Ø. Nielsen, J.Ø. (2024): Is there a future for smallholder farmers in Bioeconomy? The case of ‘improved' seeds in South Punjab, Pakistan. Forest Policy and Economics Volume 158. Special issue on ‘Bioeconomy Governance in the Global South: State of the Art and the Way Forward’.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2023.103100

 

Spies, Michael; Alff, Henryk; Raab, Christoph; Zakirova, Aksana and Mehwish Zuberi (eds.)(2023): Sustainable Food and Biomass Futures? Localised Approaches to Agricultural Change and Bioeconomy. Eberswalde. https://doi.org/10.57741/opus4-837.


Alff, Henryk & Michael Spies (2023): Introduction: Coexistence or competition for resources? Transboundary transformations of natural resource use in China’s neighbourhood. In: Eurasian Geography & Economics 64 (7-8): 797-810. (Special issue ‚Coexistence or competition for resources? Transboundary transformations of natural resource use in China’s neighborhood‘)

https://doi.org/10.1080/15387216.2023.2258150


Alff, Henryk; Konysbayev, Talgarbay, and Ruslan Salmyrzauly (2023): Old stereotypes and new openness: Discourses and practices of trans-border re- and disconnection in south-eastern Kazakhstan’s agricultural sector. In: Eurasian Geography and Economics 64 (7-8): 896-918. (Special issue ‚Coexistence or competition for resources? Transboundary transformations of natural resource use in China’s neighborhood‘)

https://doi.org/10.1080/15387216.2023.2169184


Alff, Henryk (2023): Maize-farming forever? Path dependency and friction in South-east Kazakhstan’s ‘post-Soviet’ borderland agriculture. Central Asian Affairs 10 (2023): 270-292. (Special issue on ‘Life in the Province: Socioeconomic and Cultural Transformations outside the Capital Cities – A ‘Global Province’ in Central Asia’).

DOI: 10.30965/22142290-bja10040.


 

Spies, Michael; Alff, Henryk; Missall, Siegmund & Martin Welp (2023): Path dependencies of (un-)sustainable land use in Central Asia. Central Asian Affairs 10 (2023): 239-269. (Special issue on ‘Life in the Province: Socioeconomic and Cultural Transformations outside the Capital Cities – A ‘Global Province’ in Central Asia’).

doi:10.30965/22142290-bja10039.


Zakirova, Aksana; Alff, Henryk and Matthias Schmidt (2023): Cash crop or food crop? Socioeconomic and geopolitical factors affecting smallholder farmer crop selection in times of crisis in southwestern Tajikistan", Frontiers in Agronomy.

DOI: 10.3389/fagro.2023.1228165.



Zakirova, Aksana; Alff, Henryk & Matthias Schmidt (2023): Is the new path a modified old path? Smallholder farmers’ perspectives to cotton farming in Khatlon, Tajikistan. Central Asian Affairs 10 (2023): 213-238. (Special issue on ‘Life in the Province: Socioeconomic and Cultural Transformations outside the Capital Cities – A ‘Global Province’ in Central Asia’). DOI: 10.30965/22142290-bja10038.


Alff, H. (2022) Post-Soviet Decline or China-Induced Prosperity? Agricultural and Socio-Economic Change in the Kazakhstan-China Borderlands. In: von Löwis, S. and B. Eschment (eds.): Post-Soviet Borders: A Kaleidoscope of Shifting Lives and Lands, Routledge Borderland Series. Routledge: London.



Spies, M. (2022) Der chinesisch-pakistanische Wirtschaftskorridor. Versprechen und Widersprüche für den Agrarsektor Pakistans, Geographische Rundschau 75/4, 16-19.



Zuberi, M., Raab, C., Spies, M. (2022) Landnutzungswandel im Baumwollgürtel Pakistans. Gen-Baumwolle, Agrardiversifizierung und ökologische Herausforderungen im Süden des Punjab, Geographische Rundschau 75/4, 20-25.



Spies, M.; Zuberi, M.; Mählis, M.; Zakirova, A.; Alff, H.; Raab, C. (2022) Towards a participatory systems approach to managing complex bioeconomy interventions in the agrarian sector. Sustainable Production and Consumption.

PDF | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2022.03.020



Spie
s, M. (2021) Promises and perils of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor: Agriculture and export prospects in northern Pakistan, Eurasian Geography and Economics.

https://doi.org/10.1080/15387216.2021.2016456



Zuberi, M. (2021) Between Disconnects and Flows: Reflections on Doing Fieldwork in Rural South Punjab during the Covid-19 Pandemic, In: Südasien-Chronik - South Asia Chronicle 11/2021, pp. 521-540, Südasien Seminar der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, pp. 521-540. 
PDF | https://www.iaaw.hu-berlin.de/de/region/suedasien/publikationen/sachronik/sachronik



Spies, M., Schick, A., Karomatov, S., Bakohodzha, B., Zikriyohon, K., Jobirov, S., Bloch, R., Ibisch, P.L. (2021) Adapting a participatory and ecosystem-based assessment impacted by the pandemic: Lessons learned with farmers in Tajikistan. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems.

https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2021.750252



Schmidt, M., Steenberg, R., Spies, M. & Alff, H. (eds.) (2021) Beyond Post-Soviet: Layered Legacies and Transformations in Central Asia. (Geographica Augustana 33), Augsburg.

https://opus.bibliothek.uni-augsburg.de/opus4/frontdoor/deliver/index/docId/89035/file/Beyond_Soviet_pdf_a.pdf



Spies, M. and Welp, M. (2021) Stakeholder-based knowledge mapping for re-establishing agroforestry systems in Central Asia. In M. Schmidt, R. Steenberg, M. Spies & H. Alff (eds.), Beyond Post-Soviet: Layered Legacies and Transformations in Central Asia. (Geographica Augustana 33). Augsburg. 38-48.


Alff, H. and Spies, M. (2020) Pfadabhängigkeiten in der Bioökonomie überwinden? Landwirtschaftliche Intensivierungsprozesse aus sozial-ökologischer Perspektive. PERIPHERIE 159/160, 334-359.

https://doi.org/10.3224/peripherie.v40i3-4.06



Spies, M. and Alff, H. (2020) Assemblages and complex adaptive systems: A conceptual crossroads for integrative research? In: Geography Compass 14 (10).

https://doi.​org/10.1111/gec3.12534



Spies, M. (2020) Commercialization versus de-intensification? Markets, livelihoods and agricultural change in northern Pakistan. ASIEN.

https://doi.org/10.11588/asien.2020.156/157.15352



Ruppert, D., Welp, M., Spies, M., Thevs, N. (2020) Farmers’ perceptions of tree shelterbelts on  gricultural land in rural Kyrgyzstan. Sustainability. 12(3): 1093.
https://doi.org/10.3390/su12031093



Spies, M. (2020) Agrarwandel und sozial-ökologische Nachhaltigkeit.

https://www.wissenschaftsjahr.de/2020-21/aktuelles-aus-der-biooekonomie/koepfe-des-wandels/agrarwandel-und-sozial
oekologische-nachhaltigkeit



Zuberi, M. (2020) Agriculture in flux: Insights into agricultural transformations and possible scenarios in South Punjab, Pakistan.  In: Follmann, Alexander, Müller, Judith und Falk, Gregor C. (Hrsg.): Aktuelle Forschungsbeiträge zu Südasien, 10. Jahrestagung des AK Südasien, 24./25. Januar 2020, Freiburg, Heidelberg; Berlin: CrossAsia-eBooks, 2020, Geographien Südasiens, Band 12), 31-34.
https://doi.org/10.11588/xabooks.796





Selected Posters



Zuberi, M., Spies, M., Mählis, M., Alff, H., Zakirova, A., Raab, C. (2021) Participatory knowledge mapping as a basis of decision making for sustainable agrarian land use systems, poster presented at Landscape 2021 - Diversity for Sustainable and Resilient Agriculture , Berlin, 20-22 September 2021. 

(PDF)



Raab, C and Spies, M. (2019) Object-based characterisation of agricultural land use

trajectories in Central Asia, poster presented at 9th Advanced Training Course on Land Remote Sensing: Agriculture, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, 16-20 September 2019.

(PDF)




Research Team

Research Team

Neuer Text

   

   Professor Dr Muhammad Asif Raza


   Guest Fellow, March to June 2022

   

   Pengshan Pan


   Guest Fellow, June to September 2022


Research Team


Madlen Mählis


Project Coordinator


Professor Dr M. Asif Raza


Guest Fellow 3-5/2022


Pengshan Pan


Guest Fellow 6-9/2022

Institutional Afilliations

TRANSECT is affiliated with the Department of Socioeconomics & Communication and member of the  Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management at the Faculty of Forest and Environment of Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development. Professor Martin Welp, Chair of Socioeconomics & Communication, is principal advisor to the TRANSECT research project. Professor Pierre Ibisch, Co-director of the Centre for Econics, advises on our scenario-building methodology.

   

   Professor Martin Welp


   Eberswalde University of Sustainable Development

   

   Professor Pierre Ibisch


   Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development

Partner Institutions

   Muhammad Nawaz Shareef  

   University of Agriculture, 

   Multan, Pakistan


   Professor Asif Ali

   Tajik Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 

   National Republican Centre for Genetic Resources


   Professor Karomatov Sharofiddin Sharifovich 

   Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, 

   Department of Biology and Biotechnology


   Professor Sabir Nurtazin

   Lanzhou University, 

   International Centre for Tibetan Plateau Ecosystem Management


   Professor Long Ruijun

Augsburg University, Institute of Geography, 

Chair of Human Geography and Transition Research


                             Professor Matthias Schmidt


   Humboldt-Universität of Berlin, 

   Integrated Research Institute on 

   Transformations of Human-Environment 

   Systems (IRITHESys)


   Professor Jonas Østergaard Nielsen


External Advisors

   

   Dr Ralf Bloch


   Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development

   

   Dr Andrei Dörre


   Freie Universität Berlin


   Dr Irna Hofman


   University of Oxford

   

   Dr Ulan Kasymov


   Technische Universität Dresden

   

   Professor Hermann Kreutzmann


   Freie Universität Berlin

   

   Dr Daniel Müller


   Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies

   

   Professor Jonas Østergaard Nielsen


   Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin


   

   Professor Martin Petrick


   Giessen University

   

   Dr Fabricio Rodríguez


   Friedrich Schiller University, Jena 

   

   Professor Matthias Schmidt


   Augsburg University

Partner Projects

A number of projects work in research areas related to the TRANSECT project, many of whom we regularly collaborate and exchange ideas with: 

   "Bioeconomy as Societal Change" 

   Network of Junior Research Groups

   

                               German Federal Ministry of Education and Research 

  


This webpage is maintained by social science oriented junior research groups, including TRANSECT, supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) under the Program „Bioeconomy and Societal Change“. It aims at sharing research results and at informing about ongoing research activities and related events. For detailed information please also visit our individual project websites.


   “Environing Infrastructure: Communities, Ecologies, and 

   China’s 'Green' Development in Contemporary Southeast Asia” 

   

   Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, 

   Ludwig Maximilians University Munich



Environing Infrastructure: Communities, Ecologies, and China’s “Green” Development in Contemporary Southeast Asia is a five-year research project (2020-2025) funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. It is carried out by a team of researchers based at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, LMU Munich. It focuses on the environmental components of Chinese large-scale infrastructure development in Southeast Asia. 


Southeast Asia, a major target for Chinese investments, is on the brink of numerous ecological crises. There is rising awareness across the region of the potentially devastating environmental impact of Chinese infrastructure projects. On the other hand, China is a crucial economic partner and a model of development. 


Environing Infrastructure studies these dynamics by engaging with local communities and Chinese planners through long-term, comparative ethnographic research. Rooted in Social Anthropology and the Environmental Humanities, it explores the nexus of infrastructure development, local ecologies, and China's "green" framing of its global ambitions. 



   

   "Roadwork: An Anthropology of Infrastructure at China's Inner Asian Borders"

   

   University of Zurich




‘ROADWORK: An Anthropology of Infrastructure at China’s Inner Asian Borders’ is a four-year research project (2018-2022) funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and based at the Department of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies at the University of Zurich. The project team conducts ethnographic fieldwork along roads that have been designated as key links at the Sino-Inner Asian interface of the China-initiated Silk Road Economic Belt. Archival research and GIS analysis, two further research methods employed by the team, will help to identify social relations and temporalities that are difficult to capture through ethnography, but which nonetheless powerfully affect roads and travel in this region of Asia. The conceptual aim of the project is to propose a novel framework to theorize the social life of roads through a dialogue with the concepts of place and time, and to bring decay and maintenance to the centre of anthropological enquiry.


   "China Made: Asian Infrastructures and the 'China Model' of Development"

   

   Center for Asian Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder 

   and the Hong Kong Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences 

   at the University of Hong Kong 




Over the past decade, China has invested tremendously in infrastructure development, resulting in dramatic social and cultural changes in both rural and urban regions.  It has also promoted an infrastructural development model beyond its borders as part of a newly aggressive foreign policy. China Made is a partnership between the Center for Asian Studies (CAS) at the University of Colorado, Boulder and the Hong Kong Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong (HKIHSS), and is supported by an Asian Responsive Grant from The Henry Luce Foundation. China Made will explore both of domestic and international dimension of China’s infrastructure development. The project is also meant to shift the academic focus from broader geopolitical and international relations perspectives to a finer grained analysis of the infrastructures themselves and the on-the-ground social and cultural dimensions of their construction. It will involve three academic conferences – two hosted by CAS and one hosted by HKIHSS – postdoctoral and graduate research positions, and the development of online scholarly resources for project participants and the broader academic community.



  "ÖkoFlussPlan"


   Eberswalde University of Sustainable Development



Preservation of Selected Ecosystem Services in the Floodplains of Naryn / Kyrgyzstan Through Renewable Energies and Short Rotation Plantations, Including Sustainable Land and Water Management and Capacity Building,


In the semi-arid and arid climate of Central Asia, rivers and floodplains constitute important regional biodiversity hotspots and provide relevant ecosystem services. The floodplain ecosystems along the Naryn river in Kyrgyzstan are still in a largely natural state. Over a stretch of more than 600 km, its upper and middle reaches still preserved a completely unregulated dynamic river regime fostering riparian forests of rich biodiversity. The forests provide ecosystem services important for local inhabitants, such as the provision of pasture and fuel wood, recreation areas, and erosion protection. Yet, the persistence of the forests is compromised by overgrazing and excessive fuel wood extraction. In addition to that, planned hydropower plants threaten to disrupt the natural dynamics. 


The overarching goal of ÖkoFlussPlan (BMBF 2019-2022) is to preserve the floodplain forests along the Naryn River and to offer and implement sustainable solutions for the local population. The present state of biodiversity will be recorded in one project area. The current use pressure will be reduced by offering alternatives for removing wood: On the one hand, short rotation plantations will be established that can replace the wood from the forests, on the other hand modern technologies for the generation of renewable energies will be displayed as pilot facilities. The project strives for a close dialogue with the local population in order to integrate local knowledge and to communicate the project results back to the local stakeholders. Embedded in a big partner setting covering a multitude of research disciplines and implementation approaches, the activities of the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (HNEE) will focus on stakeholder analysis, stakeholder workshops, and capacity building.



Institutional Affiliations

TRANSECT is affiliated with the Department of Socioeconomics & Communication and member of the Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management at the Faculty of Forest and Environment of Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development. Professor Martin Welp, Chair of Socioeconomics & Communication, is principal advisor to the TRANSECT research project. Professor Pierre Ibisch, Co-director of the Centre for Econics, advises on our scenario-building methodology.


Professor Martin Welp


Eberswalde University of Sustainable Development


Professor Pierre Ibisch


Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development


Partner Institutions

Muhammad Nawaz Shareef University of Agriculture,  Multan, Pakistan

Professor Asif Ali


Tajik Academy of Agricultural Sciences, National Republican Centre for Genetic Resources

Professor Karomatov 

                                Sharofiddin Sharifovich 

Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, 

Department of Biology and Biotechnology

Professor Sabir Nurtazin

Lanzhou University, 

International Centre for Tibetan Plateau Ecosystem Management

Professor Long Ruijun

Augsburg University, Institute of Geography, 

                             Chair of Human Geography &
                             Transition Research

                             Professor Matthias Schmidt

Humboldt-Universität Berlin, Integrated Research Institute on Transformations of Human-Environment Systems 

                               (IRITHESys)

                                 Professor Jonas Østergaard 

                                 Nielsen

External Advisors 


Dr Ralf Bloch


Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development


Dr Andrei Dörre


Freie Universität Berlin


Dr Irna Hofman


University of Oxford


Dr Ulan Kasymov


Technische Universität Dresden


Professor Hermann Kreutzmann


Freie Universität Berlin


Dr Daniel Müller

Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies


Professor Jonas Østergaard Nielsen

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin



Professor Martin Petrick


Giessen University


Dr Fabricio Rodríguez


Friedrich Schiller University, Jena 


Professor Matthias Schmidt


Augsburg University

Partner Projects

A number of projects work in research areas related to the TRANSECT project, many of whom we regularly collaborate and exchange ideas with: 

"Bioeconomy as Societal Change" 


Network of Junior Research Groups

German Federal Ministry of Education and Research 

  

This webpage is maintained by social science oriented junior research groups, including TRANSECT, supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) under the Program „Bioeconomy and Societal Change“. It aims at sharing research results and at informing about ongoing research activities and related events. For detailed information please also visit our individual project websites.

“Environing Infrastructure: Communities, Ecologies, & China’s 'Green' Development in Contemporary Southeast 

                             Asia” 

   

Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, Ludwig Maximilians University Munich


Environing Infrastructure: Communities, Ecologies, and China’s “Green” Development in Contemporary Southeast Asia is a five-year research project (2020-2025) funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. It is carried out by a team of researchers based at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, LMU Munich. It focuses on the environmental components of Chinese large-scale infrastructure development in Southeast Asia. 


Southeast Asia, a major target for Chinese investments, is on the brink of numerous ecological crises. There is rising awareness across the region of the potentially devastating environmental impact of Chinese infrastructure projects. On the other hand, China is a crucial economic partner and a model of development. 


Environing Infrastructure studies these dynamics by engaging with local communities and Chinese planners through long-term, comparative ethnographic research. Rooted in Social Anthropology and the Environmental Humanities, it explores the nexus of infrastructure development, local ecologies, and China's "green" framing of its global ambitions. 

"Roadwork: An Anthropology of Infrastructure at China's Inner Asian Borders"

   

University of Zurich


‘ROADWORK: An Anthropology of Infrastructure at China’s Inner Asian Borders’ is a four-year research project (2018-2022) funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and based at the Department of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies at the University of Zurich. The project team conducts ethnographic fieldwork along roads that have been designated as key links at the Sino-Inner Asian interface of the China-initiated Silk Road Economic Belt. Archival research and GIS analysis, two further research methods employed by the team, will help to identify social relations and temporalities that are difficult to capture through ethnography, but which nonetheless powerfully affect roads and travel in this region of Asia. The conceptual aim of the project is to propose a novel framework to theorize the social life of roads through a dialogue with the concepts of place and time, and to bring decay and maintenance to the centre of anthropological enquiry.

"China Made: Asian Infrastructures and the 'China Model' of Development"

   

Center for Asian Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder and the Hong Kong Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong 


Over the past decade, China has invested tremendously in infrastructure development, resulting in dramatic social and cultural changes in both rural and urban regions.  It has also promoted an infrastructural development model beyond its borders as part of a newly aggressive foreign policy. China Made is a partnership between the Center for Asian Studies (CAS) at the University of Colorado, Boulder and the Hong Kong Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong (HKIHSS), and is supported by an Asian Responsive Grant from The Henry Luce Foundation. China Made will explore both of domestic and international dimension of China’s infrastructure development. The project is also meant to shift the academic focus from broader geopolitical and international relations perspectives to a finer grained analysis of the infrastructures themselves and the on-the-ground social and cultural dimensions of their construction. It will involve three academic conferences – two hosted by CAS and one hosted by HKIHSS – postdoctoral and graduate research positions, and the development of online scholarly resources for project participants and the broader academic community.

"ÖkoFlussPlan"



Eberswalde University of Sustainable Development


Preservation of Selected Ecosystem Services in the Floodplains of Naryn / Kyrgyzstan Through Renewable Energies and Short Rotation Plantations, Including Sustainable Land and Water Management and Capacity Building,


In the semi-arid and arid climate of Central Asia, rivers and floodplains constitute important regional biodiversity hotspots and provide relevant ecosystem services. The floodplain ecosystems along the Naryn river in Kyrgyzstan are still in a largely natural state. Over a stretch of more than 600 km, its upper and middle reaches still preserved a completely unregulated dynamic river regime fostering riparian forests of rich biodiversity. The forests provide ecosystem services important for local inhabitants, such as the provision of pasture and fuel wood, recreation areas, and erosion protection. Yet, the persistence of the forests is compromised by overgrazing and excessive fuel wood extraction. In addition to that, planned hydropower plants threaten to disrupt the natural dynamics. 


The overarching goal of ÖkoFlussPlan (BMBF 2019-2022) is to preserve the floodplain forests along the Naryn River and to offer and implement sustainable solutions for the local population. The present state of biodiversity will be recorded in one project area. The current use pressure will be reduced by offering alternatives for removing wood: On the one hand, short rotation plantations will be established that can replace the wood from the forests, on the other hand modern technologies for the generation of renewable energies will be displayed as pilot facilities. The project strives for a close dialogue with the local population in order to integrate local knowledge and to communicate the project results back to the local stakeholders. Embedded in a big partner setting covering a multitude of research disciplines and implementation approaches, the activities of the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (HNEE) will focus on stakeholder analysis, stakeholder workshops, and capacity building.











TRANSECT
Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development
Faculty of Forest and Environment
Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management
Schicklerstr. 5 (Haus 22.1)
16225 Eberswalde, Germany


info@transect.de  | +49 (0) 3334 657 539















TRANSECT
Eberswalde University
for Sustainable Development
Faculty of Forest and Environment
Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management
Schicklerstr. 5 (intern Haus 22.1)
16225 Eberswalde
Germany


info@transect.de  | +49 (0) 3334 657 539











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