Mountainous regions are vitally important ecosystems. They are an important storage of fresh water and energy, a rich source of biodiversity and a significant provider of food for the people living there. They are ecologically highly variable, complex and vulnerable and ethnically, socio-culturally and economically extremely heterogeneous. At the same time they are under severe and increasing pressures caused by higher population growth, inmigration, resource exploitation and rising demands and expectations. They also account for a major share of poverty and food insecurity in rural areas. Given their importance, complexity and vulnerability mountainous regions pose a demanding and new challenge for agricultural research, particularly for research that is addressing environmental sustainability, poverty and food insecurity. The University of Hohenheim’s long-term research program “Sustainable Land Use and Rural Development in Mountainous Regions of Southeast Asia” (Sonderforschungsbereich (SFB) 564 der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft, also known as “The Uplands Program”) is taking on that challenge. It is an integrated interdisciplinary research program where sustainable innovations for agricultural production systems, combining fruit trees, crops, livestock and aquacultural production in their interaction with soil, water and agrochemical use are analysed, as well as their impact on landscape diversity and population dynamics of pests and beneficial insects. Further along the value added chain of agricultural production, potentials of product conservation, processing and marketing are studied.
Editors and Affiliations
The Uplands Program (SFB 564), University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
Franz Heidhues,
Ludger Herrmann,
Andreas Neef,
Sybille Neidhart,
Jens Pape,
Valle Zárate
Department Of Horticulture, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Pittaya Sruamsiri
Hanoi Agricultural University, Gia Lam Hanoi, Vietnam
Dao Chao Thu
About the editors
The SFB 564 "Research for Sustainable Land Use and Rural Development in Mountainous Regions of Southeast Asia” (also known as "The Uplands Program”) is a long-term collaborative research program, cooperating with 9 universities and research institutes from Thailand, Vietnam and Germany. The objectives of The Uplands Program are (i) to create the scientific base for developing and testing sustainable production and land use systems with increased productivity in ecologically fragile and economically disadvantaged mountainous regions in Southeast Asia; (ii) to develop concepts for rural institutions that can contribute to a sustainable reduction of rural poverty and food insecurity, and (iii) to advance methods for analyzing complex ecosystems and their interactions with the socio-cultural, economic and institutional environment. The research activities integrate the priorities of stakeholders involved in the management of natural resources and in rural development processes. Participation, sustainability and interdisciplinarity are central components in The Uplands Program
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Sustainable Land Use in Mountainous Regions of Southeast Asia
Book Subtitle: Meeting the Challenges of Ecological, Socio-Economic and Cultural Diversity
Editors: Franz Heidhues, Ludger Herrmann, Andreas Neef, Sybille Neidhart, Jens Pape, Valle Zárate, Pittaya Sruamsiri, … Dao Chao Thu
