The Laboratory for the Analysis of Social-Ecological Systems in a Globalised world (LASEG) is a research group at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB). We aim to better understand how local and indigenous knowledge can contribute to environmental sustainability, and how to better reconcile biodiversity conservation and the provision of ecosystem services with human wellbeing.
We conduct our research in a large range of societies (i.e., indigenous peoples, urban and rural communities) and we pay attention to temporal scales (i.e. contemporary and archival work). We employ a variety of quantitative and qualitative research techniques from the social and natural sciences, and the combination of different types of data and disciplinary backgrounds enriches our work and makes it potentially more relevant to multiple disciplinary audiences.
Researching on how Indigenous Peoples and local communities’ knowledge is affected by environmental change and how such knowledge can contribute to understand environmental change impacts.
Researching environmental governance processes in the areas of climate change and the conservation of biodiversity, from international to national and local levels.
Studying and applying new policy and resource management approaches founded upon the concept of ecosystem services.
Advancing co-management research through a systematic review and case study research, the dissertation shows that co-management can indeed deliver positive social and ecological outcomes and it highlights the importance of social equity and social diversity in delivering such outcomes.
NICHES will demonstrate the capacity of nature-based solutions to mitigate stormwater runoff, flooding and sewer overflow events and highlight transformation pathways to deliver this potential. The project will simultaneously enhance social-ecological qualities and ecosystem services at source and in receiving water bodies.
The effects of roads on indigenous people’s well-being and use of natural resources. A natural experiment in lowland Bolivia