FP6 priority

1.1.6   Sustainable Development, Global Change and Ecosystems

1.6.1.1
1.6.3

Title of the proposal

Relationship between man and nature under pressure of global change from sustainable development perspective

Institute

Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geography,
Stefanikova 49, 814 73 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Contact

Research subject for a potential FP6 project

Slovakia like many other European countries is facing the process of transformation of economy with implications to the relationship between man and nature. In the same time Slovakia decided to implement sustainable development concept. Moreover we are confronting with the growing impact of the global change. In this situation is necessary to improve our knowledge of relation-ship between man and nature, among others in following geographically relevant fields:
- relationship among landscape productivity, homeostasis, diversity and sustainability,
- environmental risks/hazards prevention,
- geomorphologic responses to the global change,
- impact of land use changes on the hydrological cycle,
- territorial systems of ecological stability and their role in the landscape management,
- sustainable water, rural landscape and mountain regions management,
- sustainable energy and renewable energy resources,
- current state of the landscape and running processes reflected by a set of sustainable development indicators,
- sustainable development strategies for model territories, at sub-national, national and international levels (international projects and comparative studies).
The main objective of the proposed project is to implement the sustainable development concept in different fields of the environmental research, to develop a set of sustainable development indicators, to assess relevant human activities and to provide a complex approach via sustainable development strategies.

Recent international cooperation of the research team

INSTITUTE OF GEOGRAPHY, PAN, WARSZAWA, POLAND; INSTITUTE OF GEOGRAPHY, RAS, BUCHAREST, ROMANIA, INSTITUTE OF GEONICS, AS CR BRNO, CZECH REPUBLIC; INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, PRAGUE; WUPPERTAL INSTITUTE, WUPPERTAL, GERMANY; UNIVERSITY OF WAGENINGEN, WAGENINGEN, THE NETHERLANDS; THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, TORONTO, CANADA; COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC, BAR HARBOR, MAINE, USA; DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY, THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM, ISRAEL.

Proposer´s relevant publications related to the research subject

GRESKOVA, A., HANUSIN, J., LEHOTSKY, M. (2000). Hydroecological Aspects of Load Assessment of Water Component of Landscape – Example Slovakia. Ekologia, Bratislava, (Supplement) 82-91.
HANUSIN, J. (1996). Evaluation of the Human Impact on Hydrological Cycle in the Slovak Carpathians (Historical and Theoretical Aspects). Geograficky casopis, 48, 189-195.
HUBA, M., HANUSIN, J., IRA, V., LACIKA, J., SZOLLOS, J. (1995). Towards Sustainable Slovakia. STUZ, Bratislava, 36 p.
HUBA, M. (1995). Productivity–Stability (Homeostazis)–Sustainability. Ekologia, Bratislava, 34-42.
HUBA, M., IRA, V. (2000). Sustainable Development Strategies for Model Territories (in Slovak). STUZ, Bratislava, 192 p.