18.2.2009: Forschung CH

Umweltwissenschaft sollten Probleme vermehrt transdisziplinär angehen

Les sciences de l’environnement devraient aborder les problèmes plus souvent de façon transdisciplinaire


Christoph Kueffer, Gertrude Hirsch Hadorn

Von den Umweltwissenschaften wird erwartet, dass sie direkt zur Lösung von gesellschaftlichen Problemen beitragen. Problemorientierte Forschung ist dabei mehr als angewandte Forschung. Ein Wissenschafter und eine Wissenschafterin haben die Wirksamkeit der heutigen Forschung am Beispiel der invasiven Arten untersucht. Die Forschenden glauben, dass die Forschung nur dann zur Lösung von Problemen beitragen kann, wenn sie kausale Zusammenhänge analysiert, Interessenskonflikte aufdeckt oder angemessene Massnahmen entwickelt. Dazu ist transdisziplinäres Arbeiten unabdingbar.

On attend des sciences de l’environnement qu’elles contribuent directement à solutionner des problèmes de société. La recherche orientée sur les problèmes est toutefois plus que la recherche appliquée. Deux scientifiques ont analysé l’efficacité de la recherche actuelle à l’aide de l’exemple des espèces invasives. Ils arrivent à la conclusion que la recherche ne peut contribuer à trouver des solutions que lorsqu’elle analyse les relations de causalité, qu’elle démasque les conflits d’intérêts ou qu’elle développe des mesures adéquates. Pour cela, les travaux transdisciplinaires sont incontournables.


It is increasingly expected from environmental research such as landscape research that science directly contributes to the solving of pressing societal problems. However, despite increased efforts to direct research towards societal problems, it is not obvious if science has become more effective in supporting environmental problem-solving. We present in this article a framework that facilitates the analysis and design of problem-orientation in research fields. We then apply the proposed framework to a concrete example of a problem-oriented landscape research field – namely research on biotic invasions. Invasion research addresses the problem that some organisms, that have been introduced by humans to a new geographic area where they were previously absent, spread in the landscape and pose negative impacts.
We argue that problem-oriented research is more than applied research. Besides research on specific questions it also encompasses boundary management, i.e. deliberations among experts and stakeholders on the framing of adequate research questions about processes, values and practices for effective problem-solving. We postulate that such research may assist problem-solving in three ways, by analysing causal relationships (systems knowledge), clarifying conflicts of interests and values (target knowledge), or contributing to the development of appropriate means for action (transformation knowledge).
We show that over the past decades a broad range of different research approaches has emerged in the young field of invasion research in order to produce systems, target and transformation knowledge for invasive species management. Early research in the field was dominated by the development of systems knowledge, but increasingly the three knowledge forms are treated more equally. The research field has also become more interdisciplinary and context-specific.
Boundary management in invasion research is mainly restricted to informal networks (communities of practice), while formal processes such as transdisciplinary research are scarce. We suggest that the paucity of structured and explicit boundary management processes will limit the future development of a more effective science for invasive species management. In particular, we envisage three obstacles that can only be removed through explicit boundary management. First, the existing theoretical frameworks are currently only partly able to integrate natural and social sciences research on the processes underlying invasions. Second, a clarification of the normative thinking about alien plant invasions is needed. Third, research on transformation knowledge has so far not fundamentally challenged the existing conceptual framing and institutional setup of invasive species management.



Keywords:
Transdisziplinäre Forschung, Invasive Arten

Art der Publikation:
Fachpublikation

Literatur:
Kueffer C., Hirsch Hadorn G. (2008). How to Achieve Effectiveness in Problem-Oriented Landscape Research: The Example of Research on Biotic Invasions. Living Reviews in Landscape Research 2 (online journal)



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Kontaktadresse:
Christoph Kueffer
Institut für Integrative Biologie – Pflanzenökologie
Universitätsstrasse 16
ETH Zentrum
CH-8092 Zürich


kueffer@env.ethz.ch
Tel: +41 (0)44 632 38 77


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