Socio-economic Tools for Integrated Conservation Planning in the Multi-Ethnic South Caucasus

Project Completed: February 2012 – November 2013
Coordinator: Georg-August-University Göttingen, Germany
Partners: ICFER, SDASU, ICARE, Tehran University, GABA.

The project is committed to foster the implementation of the BMBF- (Federal Ministry of Education and Research) Strategy on International Co-operation in Science and Research by forming a research partnership with the South Caucasus countries Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, which also facilitates the scientific exchange among these Caucasian countries. The planned research partnership is based on jointly planned and conducted research, accompanied by training and capacity building catering to the specific needs of socio-economically integrative conservation planning. The research team jointly designs and implements studies which (i) use up-to-date socio-economic methods (ii) facilitate an improved integrative conservation planning, and provide these methods in form of a “tool box” for further application to the Caucasian project partners and other participating Caucasian scientists and professionals.
Through the partners from Göttingen, the project ensures participation of internationally renowned scientists and takes care of a suitable intensity and quality of capacity building and scientific exchange component. The Göttingen capacity building component is planned to be implemented in collaboration with the Göttingen Centre for Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture and Forestry (CeTSAF), which has several years of experience in international scientific capacity building – including the organization of Summer Schools. Using this in combination with methodically demanding research in regional pilot studies, the project provides a new, promising approach to scientific co-operation.
Coordinator: Georg-August-University Göttingen, Germany
Partners: ICFER, SDASU, ICARE, Tehran University, GABA.