Phase III Projects 2021 - 2024

The URPP GCB achieved many of its primary goals during Phase I and Phase II. We created structural changes at the University of Zurich towards global change and biodiversity research, impacted education and outreach. We made new discoveries via integrative research. We helped the public understand biodiversity and global change and have influenced policy. We have supported and promoted many careers.

In Phase III we will continue to support projects aligned with the strategic goals and vision of the URPP GCB which foster continued high levels of research integration, innovation, creativity and synthesis. The scientific research areas established during Phase I and II will continue in Phase III:
Direct and interactive effects of global change drivers (climate-and land-use change, biological invasions, (chemical) pollution, and (over-) exploitation) on biodiversity, feedback of biodiversity on the environment, and scaling of both aforementioned areas (from local ecosystems to landscapes and beyond) via the use of novel methods ranging from theoretical to participatory observations, experimental, observational and synthesis in ecology, environmental studies and remote sensing.
We will continue to bridge and integrate this research on the physical and biological “Earth” with research on the social, economic,and political “World”. This bridge was successfully established in the conceptual framework for Phase II with the four  research clusters of Essential Biodiversity Variables, Earth System Processes, Ecosystem Services, and Resource Frontiers.