Polyproject 'PRIMALP — Sustainable agriculture and forestry in the Alpine region': methodological concept and organisational needs of a transdisciplinary research project at ETH Zurich ‡

Abstract

Since the 1992 Earth Summit, there is a broad consensus among agricultural policy-makers that the requirements of sustainable development must be taken into account when developing and implementing new concepts for agricultural land-use. It is generally agreed that changes in the economic, ecological and social dimensions must be considered simultaneously when assessing the impact of land-use strategies and policy measures on sustainable development. The complexity of this task demands co-operation between environmental and social sciences and the humanities. Jaeger and Scheringer (1998) suggest transdisciplinary research as an approach to deal with cross-disciplinary problems. The need for adequate policy analyses and measures in the sense described here is undisputed for the agricultural sector in general. If marginal rural regions are defined as those exhibiting reduced opportunities for income generation, it becomes evident that the development and assessment of new policy concepts is even more pressing for these regions. Swiss mountain regions have significant topographic, climatic and structural disadvantages compared with lower regions. The agrarian and industrial sectors are at a disadvantage in terms of production and transportation costs. In addition, the liberalisation of the world markets will increase these differences. This economic pressure increases the risk of unsustainable exploitation of natural resources and land-use patterns. Various research programmes place emphasis on the development of tools and models for the development and assessment of concepts for sustainable agricultural land-use in marginal regions within the scope of transdisciplinary research. Our contribution presents the scope and structure as well as the organisation and management of a transdisciplinary research project at ETH Zurich which develops strategies and concepts for future sustainable agriculture and forestry in the Swiss Alpine region.