Between Europe and the Orient –
A Focus on Research and Higher Education
in/on Central Asia and the Caucasus
amies - Analysing multiple interrelationships
between environmental and societal processes
in mountainous regions of Georgia –
Interdisciplinary research to foster sustainable land use, land development, and quality of life
Motivation: Since its declaration of independence in 1991, Georgia has undergone
dramatic
transformation
processes.
Processes like privatisation of land and
implementation of new organisational
structures for land management and
product delivery have caused environmental problems such as land degradation, soil erosion, and decrease in
biodiversity, and resulted in societal
changes such as pauperisation followed
by migration. Climate change has aggravated the environmental problems.
Given this background, our three-year
(2010-2012) research aims at developing
and applying an interdisciplinary and
multi-scale approach to foster sustainable
land use, land development, and quality
of life in this part of the world, focusing on
two study regions in the Greater and in
the Lesser Caucasus Range of Georgia.
Study regions: The study regions (Fig. 1)
are the ‘Kazbegi region’ in the Greater
Caucasus Range near to the Russian
border, a complex system of mountain
massifs and deep canyons (Fig. 2), and
the the ‘Bakuriani region’, which belongs
the Lesser Caucasus Range in southwest
Georgia (Fig. 3).
Three-step methodological concept:
The project is divided into three main
steps:
(I) the development of a consistent hierarchical classification of landscape patterns,
(II) the analysis of interrelationships
between environmental and societal
processes under consideration of these
patterns, and
(III) the formulation of regionally differentiated recommendations for sustainable land use and land development.
A network of sub-projects (Fig. 4) contributes to the interdisciplinary project.
Fig. 2: Soil erosion in the Aragvi valley (Kazbegi region).
I. Development of a consistent hierarchical classification of
landscape patterns and patches
II. Analysis of environmental characteristics and societal processes
B 1. climate change
D 1. changes in sociosocioeconomic structure
B 2. mass wasting
events
at the landscape scale
A. changes in landscape
structure / land use
at the patch to the
regional scale
C 1. changes in
vegetation
D 2. societal changes
at the regional scale
C 2. rootroot-soil
systems
D 3. changes in sociosocioeconomic structure
concerning sustainable
tourism
III. Formulation of regionally differentiated recommendations
for sustainable land use and land development
Fig. 4: Project structure and network of subprojects.
Kazbegi region
Bakuriani region
Settlement
Pass
Glacier
Peak
River/ Lake
Natural reserve
km
Fig. 1: Study regions in the Caucasus Mountains.
Fig. 3: Bakuriani (1.765 m a.s.l) is situated in a caldera
Appicants and co-applicants:
surrounded by mountainous and alpine forests.
Project Unit A (including steps I and III):
Annette Otte1, Rainer Waldhardt1, George Nakhutsrishvili2, Otar Abdalaze2
Project Unit B:
Lorenz King1, Mariam Elizbarashvili3, Beso Kalandadze3, Eliso King-Narimanidze1
Project Unit C:
George Nakhutsrishvili2, Maia Akhalkatsi2, Nana Shakarishvili2, Annette Otte1,
Rainer Waldhardt1
Project Unit D:
Ute Leonhäuser1, Nodar Belkania3, Simon Gelashvili3
1 Justus-Liebig-University Giessen; 2 Ilia Chavchavadze State University Tbilisi;
3 Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University
Project coordinator / Contact: Prof. Dr. Dr. Annette Otte,
Landscape Ecology and Landscape Planning, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen
Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26-32, D-35392 Giessen, Germany
Phone: +49 (0)641 / 99-37161, Fax: -37169, e-mail: [email protected]
We are indebted to the
VolkswagenStiftung
for their generous funding of the project.