The CHARM-EU Master’s in Global Challenges for Sustainability programme is proud to announce some capstone publications by its recent graduates! These capstone projects tackled real-world sustainability issues, and the students’ outcomes are now available for your exploration. Dive into CHARM-EU student publications to discover innovative approaches to sustainability!
Conservation Conversations
Publication year: 2024
Resource type: Magazine
Authors: Tijs Bergmans, Eloïse Ferreira, Sophie Groenewegen, Ipo Kok and Missa Rantala, and Yasmin Wakker,
A group of CHARM-EU students spent three months at the University of Pretoria’s Hans Hobeisen Wildlife Research Station. While there, they explored the transition from imposed to engaged conservation and researched topics including the co-management of wildlife fencing, food security, benefit-sharing, foot-and-mouth disease, eco-art education and alternatives to militarised anti-poaching. Their findings are presented in this interactive, digital magazine which is open to all. The magazine outlines the students’ experience at the research station, the stories of local stakeholders with whom they engaged, and their own personal stories and suggestions for visitors to the region.
Understanding Agricultural Systems Vulnerability to Climate Change – The Case of Botswana in the Lompopo River Basin
Publication year: 2024
Resource type: Magazine
Authors: Maryan Blas Lobo, Jordan Eustace, Robert Fitzgerald, Migle Labeikyte, Aneta Nerguti, Femke van der Zaag.
Agriculture remains the backbone of many economies in Africa. With most of the population dependent on rainfed agriculture, the impacts of climate change are ravaging many agricultural systems on the continent – manifesting through among other phenomena, droughts and floods. In Botswana, the agriculture sector is the second-largest employer of the labour force (after the diamond industry), yet the country is prone to droughts given its location in the Kalahari Desert. It was against this background that Botswana was spotlighted to address a knowledge gap (lack of knowledge on the sensitivity of agroecological zones across the sub-region to historic and future climate change) identified through the Lima Adaptation Knowledge Initiative for the Southern Africa sub-region.
The replication of Tolou Keur food forests across the Great Green Wall in Senegal
Publication year: 2023
Resource type: Brief
Authors: Linda Bovo, Limi Kalapurackal, Lisa Kranz, Diana Laborda Jou and Lena Sauer, and Cèlia Valls Rodríguez.
The policy brief was prepared by a group of students of the CHARM-EU university who worked in collaboration with the UNCCD on their capstone project. They researched the replication of the Tolou Keur agroecological initiative, which is a part of the Great Green Wall initiative in Senegal. Based on the findings of their research, which also involved a field visit to Senegal, they produced several recommendations. The audience for this policy brief includes decision-makers, national and global financial and political partners, national GGW agencies and Senegalese ministries of environment and agriculture.
Circular Agri-Plastics | Solution Package
Publication year: 2024
Resource type: Policy Brief | Booklet | Recommendations
Authors: Jacqueline Kantor, Anouk Kelhout, Andras Kovaloczy, Amy O’Leary, and Sophia Wallraff.
Many industries worldwide are increasingly faced with the challenge of proper usage and disposal of plastic products, given increasing plastic pollution as well as environmental and health concerns. Plastic is now ubiquitous in the agriculture industry, and this presents a significant challenge for farmers in Spain, one of Europe’s largest agricultural producers. Agricultural plastic waste poses risks to food safety, soil quality, the water cycle, and ultimately, human health. An international, transdisciplinary team of five researchers approached this challenge by focusing on the Baix Llobregat Agricultural Park as a case study (Barcelona, Catalunya). They explored potential solutions to increase circularity in agricultural plastic usage within the park. After speaking to many farmers, experts and other stakeholders, they created a ‘Circular Solution Package’ with recommendations on how to implement circularity to solve issues around agricultural plastic waste. The package targets solutions implementable at every level and includes three main elements: Recommendations for the park management; A Policy brief for European decision-makers; and a Booklet of technical guidelines for farmers and technicians.
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Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
