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.
Investigating transformative pathways toward sustainability founded upon the concept of ecosystem services and nature-based solutions.
En España, el cambio climático presenta importantes desafíos, riesgos e impactos que exigen la adaptación y mitigación. Las soluciones basadas en la naturaleza (SBN) son clave para enfrentar estos desafíos debido a su capacidad para proporcionar múltiples beneficios ecológicos, sociales y económicos. Sin embargo, aún no se dispone de un sistema nacional de catalogación de las SBN que contemple las particularidades del territorio, lo que dificulta la implementación del PNACC. Por tanto, el proyecto E:SBN propone la creación de un sistema de identificación, clasificación y catalogación de las SBN en España, que promueva la planificación coherente y maximice su eficacia.
Using systematic ethnobiological place-based data collection in a unique research site in the Bolivian Amazon with an untapped wealth of baseline information, this project will rigorously assess the processes through which Indigenous knowledge systems change over time, and measure different ecological impacts associated with such changes.
Research into existing initiatives of sustainable food procurement in Spain