With increased degradation of natural resources due to land use decisions and the subsequent loss of biodiversity across large spatial scales, there is a need for a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) which showcases the impacts of developments on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The Gap Analysis Program (GAP) and a Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) were used to assess the impacts of an impoundment in the Bienville National Forest, Smith County, Mississippi on landcovers, threatened and endangered species, species richness and fish populations. A test impoundment site was chosen on Ichusa Creek and using GAP data, landcovers, species and species richness were compared with those of Bienville National Forest, Smith County, Mississippi. For the aquatic analysis, a BBN model was developed for each fish so that population probabilities could be calculated using a given configuration of available habitats and compared to current fish population.

Landscape is dynamic. All the elements in the landscape are in a continual process of change. There is growth, expansion, weathering, disintegration, decay and renewal. Change is the very substance of things and it is through these changes that we register the passage of time. This thesis explores the concept of material duration and its application to landscape design. Duration is a complex measure of time. This thesis adapts a definition of duration developed in the field of finance to explore time in the design of an urban cemetery. The design embodies the concept of a cemetery with a "constant duration". This lasting quality of constant duration is a persistence that retains at its core the essence of the landscape while embracing the unavoidable and indispensable material changes. To design with constant duration is to analyze and chart a design as a journey through time. / Master of Landscape Architecture

<p>Att bevarandet av biologisk mångfald är en grundpelare för att nå en hållbar utveckling enades världens länder om i Konventionen om biologisk mångfald (CBD) som upprättades under toppmötet i Rio de Janeiro 1992. I konventionen förespråkas den s.k. ekosystemansatsen (EA), vilket är en strategi som innebär en helhetssyn på ekosystem. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka i vilken grad EA tillämpas på nationell och regional nivå. Frågan är också om EA är en bra utgångspunkt för att upprätthålla biologisk mångfald på landskapsnivå samt vad som kan öka tillämpningen av EA på regional nivå. På nationell nivå analyserades två delar i miljömålspropositionen och på regional nivå analyserades de landskapsstrategier som sju län har fått i uppdrag av regeringen att upprätta i ett pilotprojekt. Min teoretiska utgångspunkt har varit ekosystemansatsen och dess principer och vägledande punkter. Metoden bestod av främst en kvantitativ innehållsanalys med kvalitativa inslag och som komplement utfördes fyra intervjuer.</p><p>Resultatet visade att de delar av miljömålspropositionen som analyserades i hög grad följde ekosystemansatsen. En brist i propositionen var dock att det saknades riktlinjer om att det behövdes involvering av olika aktörer när den ursprungliga definitionen av landskapsavsnittet i strategierna skulle bestämmas. Att denna aspekt var implicit ledde troligtvis till det faktum att den även var implicit i landskapsstrategierna. Tillämpningen av EA i landskapsstrategierna skedde, trots att länsstyrelserna endast tillämpade den indirekt, i ganska hög grad och särskilt togs hänsyn till sociala aspekter som involvering av olika aktörer i själva processen och kontakt med vetenskapliga discipliner. Det som däremot var bristfälligt gällde tillämpningen av komplexa aspekter, vilka inte klart hade uttryckts i riktlinjerna till länsstyrelserna från regeringen. Dessa faktorer var beaktande av förvaltning av ekosystem inom ramen för dess funktion, processer i ekosystem samt adaptiv förvaltning. Alla intervjupersoner var överens om att EA är övergripande och ganska luddig, men det måste den vara för att gälla globalt. Av vikt är att konkretisera den på nationell och regional nivå. Ett förslag är att Naturvårdsverket i detta projekt ger tydliga riktlinjer angående tillämpningen av EA i landskapsstrategierna och att det är en tvåvägskommunikation mellan Naturvårdsverket och länsstyrelserna så att det blir en iterativ process. Genom en konkretisering kan tillämpningen av EA öka och därmed ett steg tas mot en hållbar utveckling.</p> / <p>The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) promotes the Ecosystem Approach (EA), which is a strategy that endeavours to take a comprehensive approach to managing ecosystems. The aim of this report is to study to what degree the EA is being followed on a national and regional level. A key question of the research is whether EA is conceptually sound and whether it has been operationalised effectively at both national and regional scale. Using articulated EA principles and operational guidelines from the CBD this study analyzed the Government's national environmental directive concerning biodiversity. The same approach was also applied to an analysis of several regional landscape strategies that are being developed as part of a pilot project. The results show that the national biodiversity directive is largely consistent with an EA. Although one area of inadequacy was the level of involvement by different stakeholders in the original decision about defining the landscape area in the pilot studies. This was also a weakness in the landscape strategies- perhaps because communication on this issue was not explicit in the directive from the government.</p><p>The implementation of EA in the landscape strategies at the regional level was also found to be good, especially the participation from different stakeholders (especially local stakeholders) in the process and scientific institutions. However inadequate factors not represented in these strategies were complex ecological aspects such as principle 6 (ecosystem must be managed within the limits of their functioning) and operational guideline 1 (focus on the functional relationships and processes within ecosystems). Adaptive management (operational guideline 3), a relatively new approach in Sweden, was also found to be deficient. All the respondents agreed that the EA needed to be made more concrete on a national and regional level. A suggestion from the research to improve the development and adoption of the EA would be to develop iterative mechanisms between regional and national authorities to ensure national guiding principles are informed by more concrete regional experience. When the EA is implemented more effectively we will take one step further on the way to reaching a sustainable development.</p>

<p>Maize is one of the crops that is grown by most farmers in Zambia being the staple food for the majority of Zambians. However, despite the crop being so important, its production is dependent on climatic conditions. This means that any change in climate can affect the production either negatively or positively. This research therefore, focused on determining how the change in temperature and rainfall affect maize production on the Copper belt, Eastern, Lusaka and Southern provinces of Zambia and investigate the main adaptation measures implemented by both the government and non-governmental sectors. Also, assess through the review of National Agricultural Policy and action plans, how the government has documented issues of climate change. In order to obtain the needed data, interviews were conducted with different officials from both the government and non-governmental sectors. However, from the estimate of the impact of temperature and rainfall on maize production, the results did not show with any significance that either temperature or rainfall has effect on maize production. In fact, it was found that quantifying the effects of climate change on maize production is not easy due to difficulties in quantifying other factors that may also have large impact on maize production. It was therefore, not possible to conclude whether or to what extent climate change has effects on maize production. However from the interviews conducted, it was found that both the government and non-governmental sectors have introduced different activities in their programmes to ensure that farmers are food secure, though the ministry of agriculture has no policy document on how to handle the problem of climate change to address different issues of the sector. In fact, most offices in the ministry do not have much documented information on climate change which could also be seen from the review of National Agricultural Policy and action plans where climate change issue has not been emphasized. Though both the Government and non-governmental sectors have implemented some adaptation measures, it cannot easily be concluded whether the implemented measures are adequate or not due to the fact that we are not sure of the expected effects in different parts of the country. Nevertheless, to enhance food security with or without adverse effects of climate change on maize production, it was recommended that members of staff at all levels under MACO should be trained in the area of climate change for them to have a wider understanding of the issue and work responsively and that much research should be done to open up the mind of the people and help policy makers make effective plans.</p>

Mit dem 1999 in Kraft getretenen Bundesbodenschutzgesetz ist eine wichtige Grundlage geschaffen, den Boden u. a. stärker in Planungs- und Zulassungsverfahren zu berücksichtigen. Die Ziele des Gesetzes, die nachhaltige Sicherung und Wiederherstellung von Bodenfunktionen, können wegen fehlender gesetzlicher Instrumente allerdings nicht eigenständig umgesetzt werden. Eine Schnittstelle zur Realisierung bodenbezogener Erhaltungs- und Entwicklungsziele bieten deshalb naturschutzrechtliche Instrumente wie die Landschaftsplanung, die Eingriffsregelung und Pflege- und Entwicklungspläne von Schutzgebieten. Am Beispiel beeinträchtigter Niederungsböden wird in der Arbeit hinterfragt und aufgezeigt, inwieweit auf das Schutzgut Boden bezogene Maßnahmenplanungen wie Wiedervernässung und Extensivierung mit naturschutzrechtlichen Instrumenten effektiv erstellt und umgesetzt werden können. Es liegt die Hypothese zugrunde, dass eine genaue Ist-Zustandserfassung von Niederungsböden auf Grundlage der in der naturschutzfachlichen Planungspraxis gängig herangezogenen Kartengrundlagen nicht möglich ist. Für die Bestimmung der Entwicklungspotenziale von Niederungsböden sowie die Erarbeitung detaillierter Maßnahmenplanungen ist eine gezielte Vor-Ort-Erhebung planungsrelevanter Bodenmerkmale erforderlich, auf die jedoch häufig verzichtet wird. Zudem wird bisher den Wirkungen von Maßnahmen auf das Leistungsvermögen und die Funktionsfähigkeit sowie den erforderlichen Ausgangsvoraussetzungen zu wenig Beachtung geschenkt. Dies erschwert die Umsetzung mit naturschutzrechtlichen Instrumenten. Ziel der Arbeit ist es, verallgemeinerbare Handlungsempfehlungen für die Durchführung von Vor-Ort-Erhebungen und die Ableitung von Aufwertungspotenzialen von Niederungsböden für eine zielgerichtete Maßnahmenkonzeption und sachgerechte Umsetzung zu formulieren. Auf der Basis einer Literaturanalyse und einer Untersuchung der aktuellen Standortausprägung in einem Beispielgebiet, dem Polder "Götz-Gollwitz", der in der entwässerten Niederung der "Mittleren Havel" (Bundesland Brandenburg)liegt, - wird untersucht, wie die Maßnahmen Wiedervernässung und Extensivierung auf die Bodeneigenschaften wirken und welche Veränderungen zum Erhalt und zur Verbesserung der Funktionsfähigkeit der Böden führen. - werden die aktuellen Substrat- und Bodentypen, die hydromorphen Verhältnisse sowie die Vegetationsausprägung gekennzeichnet. Es erfolgt ein Vergleich der Ergebnisse mit der Aussagekraft von standortkundlichen Kartenwerken. - werden Entwicklungsszenarien skizziert. Es wird aufgezeigt, welche Ausgangsvoraussetzungen und durchzuführenden Maßnahmen für die Erreichung bodenbezogener Ziele im Polder "Götz-Gollwitz" erforderlich und welche Wirkungen dabei auf den Boden, die derzeitige Flächennutzung sowie auf die Biotop- und Artenausstattung zu erwarten sind. Auf Basis der prognostizierten Standortveränderungen erfolgt die Diskussion, inwieweit es in Abhängigkeit der Szenarien bzw. der dabei getätigten Maßnahmen im Einzelnen zum Erhalt bzw. zur Verbesserung der Funktionsfähigkeit von Böden kommt. Für die Formulierung von Handlungsempfehlungen - wird anhand dreier häufig auftretender Ausgangszustände eine vom Beispielgebiet losgelöste Diskussion zum Erhalt und zu Verbesserungsmöglichkeiten der Leistungs- und Funktionsfähigkeit von Böden geführt. Dabei erfolgt die Unterscheidung, ob konkrete Maßnahmen als Ausgleichs- und Ersatzmaßnahmen aus der naturschutzrechtlichen Eingriffsregelung oder durch Pflege- und Entwicklungspläne als sonstige Minderungs-, Erhaltungs- oder Entwicklungsmaßnahmen umgesetzt werden können. - werden die Aktualität sowie Flächen- und Aussagenschärfe von Kartengrundlagen bewertet und ein Teil der Bodenparameter bestimmt, die unbedingt im Gelände zu erheben sind, um Ziele und Maßnahmen gezielter abzuleiten. - wird aus den Untersuchungen abgeleitet, mit welchem Aufwand und Methoden eine Überprüfung der aktuellen Standortausprägung zu erfolgen hat. Die Herleitung eines vertretbaren Erhebungsaufwandes (Punktdichte und -anordnung) wird durch verschiedene Rechenbeispiele unterstützt, die auf Basis der Honorarordnung für Architekten und Ingenieure (HOAI) und der im Beispielgebiet aufgebrachten Arbeitszeit kalkuliert werden. Die Vorgehensweise für die Prüfung und Erhebung des aktuellen Bodenzustandes sowie Ableitung der Aufwertungspotenziale von Bodenfunktionen wird in einem Ablaufschema dargestellt. Schlussfolgerungen beziehen sich auf Erreichung bodenbezogener Zielvorstellung in Abhängigkeit von den Anforderungen naturschutzrechtlicher Planungsinstrumente. Es wird die Bedeutung von Vor-Ort-Erhebungen als wertvollen Planungsbeitrag herausgestellt und die Notwendigkeit und Möglichkeiten aufgezeigt, für die Ebene der Maßnahmenplanung finanzielle Mittel zur Begleichung der Kosten von Vor-Ort-Erhebungen aufzubringen. Die vorliegende Arbeit leistet einen substanziellen Beitrag dazu, bodenbezogene Maßnahmenplanungen in Niederungsgebieten künftig realistischer und sachgerecht mit Instrumenten des Naturschutzes durchführen zu können. / In Germany, the Federal Soil Protection Act (Bundesbodenschutzgesetz) has been adopted in 1999. It provides the base to take soil protection into consideration in planning and permitting procedures. Its overall aims are the sustainable protection and restoration of soil functions. However, the law does not incorporate legal or fiscal instruments to implement this aims. Therefore, the existing regulations of nature conservation and planning legislation must be used to realise soil-related preservation and development aims. Especially important in this regard are landscape planning, the impact regulation (both under Federel Nature Conservation Act) and management plans for legally protected areas. The present thesis treats the question how effective this implementation of soil protection is by analysing nature conservation measures like raising groundwater tables or developing extensive land use. Investigation area is the lowland of the Middle Havel ("Mittlere Havel"), characterised by more or less intensive degradation of soil conditions through a melioration for agricultural puposes. The main hypothesis ist that a precise status discription of lowland soils ist not possible, when it can only be based on the plans and maps normally used in landscape planning practice. These maps do not reflect the change processes and present status of lowland soils sufficiently because they are often out-dated and not detailed enough. In planning practise, field mapping of soils features is often renounced for budget reasons. Nevertheless, a specific mapping of soil parameters relevant for planning is necessary for the determination of the potentials for soil quality improvement of lowland soils and the development of detailed measure plannings. In addition, until now there has not been given enough attention to the effects of measures on the efficiency and the functionness as well as the preconditions. This rather impedes the implementation of legal instruments, in particular those impact regulation, protection and management measures. The aim of this study is to provide general guidelines for lowland soil field mapping, the deduction of improvement measures and how to generate targeted action plans and their implementation. Based on a literature review and data collection of the current status of an exemplary lowland area (polder "Götz-Gollwitz", located in the drained lowland of the river "Mittlere Havel", Bundesland Brandenburg, Landkreis Potsdam-Mittelmark) this study investigates: • the effects of reversing drainage and developing extensive land use onto the soil features and which measures can improve efficiency and functions • description of current substrate and soil types, the hydromorphologic conditions and vegetative cover; comparison of results with currently available maps • development of several scenarios guided by a variety of nature conservation targets: preconditions and recommended action to improve soil conditions at polder “Götz-Gollwitz”, including the impact to be expected on soil profile, land use, biotopes and variety of species; based on predicted impact of actions for each of the scenarios; a detailed assessment is provided for changes in soil efficiency and functions Action points are recommended: • Based on three frequently occurring soil conditions, measures preserving and improving efficiency and functionality are discussed (going beyond the example of polder "Götz-Gollwitz"). This incorporates a distinction of legal nature conservation instruments (i.e. corrective and development measures) against more generic balancing, preservation and development measures. • The relevance of conventional maps is assessed with regard to detail in description and contents; determination of compulsory soil assessment parameters so that targets and actions can be set. • Based on the analyses, methods for location assessment are recommended (incorporating cost-efficiency factors); deduction of a justifiable expenditure (point location and point density) supported by mathematical scenarios based on time spent collecting data for this study and the official fees regulations for architects and engineers (Honorarordnung für Architekten und Ingenieure). The sequence of data collection and assessment of the current condition of the soil, and deduction of functionality improvement are presented in a flow chart. Conclusions are drawn by relating legal instruments of nature conservation for planning permissions to actual targets of soil functions. The high significance of on location assessment for planning permission procedures is pointed out and therefore the necessity to incorporate costs but also the possibility of making the on location assessment cost-effective. This study provides a fundamental contribution on how to carry out planning preparative assessments in lowland areas and how to protect the soil conditions with the support of the legal instruments of nature conservation laws.

Maize is one of the crops that is grown by most farmers in Zambia being the staple food for the majority of Zambians. However, despite the crop being so important, its production is dependent on climatic conditions. This means that any change in climate can affect the production either negatively or positively. This research therefore, focused on determining how the change in temperature and rainfall affect maize production on the Copper belt, Eastern, Lusaka and Southern provinces of Zambia and investigate the main adaptation measures implemented by both the government and non-governmental sectors. Also, assess through the review of National Agricultural Policy and action plans, how the government has documented issues of climate change. In order to obtain the needed data, interviews were conducted with different officials from both the government and non-governmental sectors. However, from the estimate of the impact of temperature and rainfall on maize production, the results did not show with any significance that either temperature or rainfall has effect on maize production. In fact, it was found that quantifying the effects of climate change on maize production is not easy due to difficulties in quantifying other factors that may also have large impact on maize production. It was therefore, not possible to conclude whether or to what extent climate change has effects on maize production. However from the interviews conducted, it was found that both the government and non-governmental sectors have introduced different activities in their programmes to ensure that farmers are food secure, though the ministry of agriculture has no policy document on how to handle the problem of climate change to address different issues of the sector. In fact, most offices in the ministry do not have much documented information on climate change which could also be seen from the review of National Agricultural Policy and action plans where climate change issue has not been emphasized. Though both the Government and non-governmental sectors have implemented some adaptation measures, it cannot easily be concluded whether the implemented measures are adequate or not due to the fact that we are not sure of the expected effects in different parts of the country. Nevertheless, to enhance food security with or without adverse effects of climate change on maize production, it was recommended that members of staff at all levels under MACO should be trained in the area of climate change for them to have a wider understanding of the issue and work responsively and that much research should be done to open up the mind of the people and help policy makers make effective plans.

Over the last decades, wood has encountered increasing competition from other building materials. Hence, it is relevant to study the underlying factors of material substitution. The market for repair and remodelling (R&amp;R) is growing in importance. The end-consumer´s, or the household?s, assessments as to material selection are generally more crucial in R&amp;R than in construction of new houses, a circumstance highlighting the importance of the end-consumer. Consequently, this thesis deals with material substitution within an end-consumer context. Proper market segmentation and targeting presuppose an understanding of why households differ as to material preferences. Prioritising customer needs in quality improvement and/or product development requires information as to the importance of different customer requirements or needs as well as the performance of wood, relative substitutes, in providing for these needs. The thesis proposes a coherent approach for market segmentation and for prioritising customer needs: (i) how to provide a basis for market segmentation and targeting, i.e., to extract the distinguishing features of different material preferences; (ii) how to extract information enabling the prioritising of customer needs, i.e., importance and performance information. Identifying prominent discriminating factors of building application material preference, in order to subsequently explain why households differ within and between samples/cultures as to material preferences, and finally assessing customer requirements or needs as to the importance and the performance of wood relative substitutes in fulfilling them, presuppose an approach for data collection and analysis, which in turn requires a theoretical frame of reference. Hence, in the thesis a theoretical framework and different methods, for extracting decisive preferential predictors and assessing customer needs respectively, are suggested and evaluated. A pronounced design profile and distinct material alternatives make floorcovering a good illustrative example. The results indicate that material substitution with an end-consumer focus should be studied within a contextual framework. Hence, the usage context, the type of room refloored and whether the dwelling is owned or not, seems to define the types of materials actively considered. Further, households obviously differ in how they perceive the concept of floorcovering in a given usage context, depending on the general life situation and individual experience. Data collection, with the aim of identifying distinguishing factors of building application material preferences, must thus handle the collection of data related to usage context as well as the general life situation and individual experience. To obtain a deeper understanding of the underlying motives open-ended questions are called for. Performance benchmarking as to customer requirements or needs should be relative competitors in the same market segment, i.e., close substitutes. The assessment of customer needs should allow analysis on benefit levels, as alternatives in material substitution most readily can be compared in terms of the more abstract benefits/consequences they provide rather than concrete attributes. The apparent causal complexity, resulting from contextual influences, severely limits the usefulness and adequacy of traditional, additive, statistical analysis. Multivariate projection methods like partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA); in coping with collinear variables, as well as the Boolean approach of qualitative comparative analysis (QCA); enabling data reduction in a theoretically guided manner, have potential for handling multiple conjunctural causation when analysing material preferences. Furthermore, both methods are able to handle binary variables resulting from open-ended questions, dependent as well as independent. PLS-DA can, however, more readily than Boolean algebra capture contextual influences. Analysis by means of PLS-DA thus seem to provide the information necessary for market segmentation and targeting, i.e., the causes of preferential differences both between and within cultures: evaluative criteria and variables related to the context. The output from the analysis of material preferences serve as input to the subsequent assessment of customer needs, as to the make-up of customer needs and as to which materials constitute close substitutes, i.e., share usage context. Customer satisfaction modelling (CSM) using partial least squares (PLS) seems well adapted for extracting the information necessary for prioritising customer needs: the impact on customer satisfaction of the fulfilment of different customer requirements or needs, and the performance of wood, relative substitutes, in providing for these needs. A valuable asset of CSM is the ability to allow analysis on customer benefit as well as attribute level. Usage context and data connected with the life situation provide instruments for market segmentation and targeting. For example: according to the present results, users of wooden flooring in the Netherlands are house owners to a greater extent and generally have a higher household income than users of laminated flooring. One of the apparently salient reasons for choosing wood, the natural material property, is part of the intrinsic nature, character, of the material. This quality of wood could provide an edge on the close substitute, laminated flooring. The results presented in the thesis further indicate that practical, functional, benefits exert the greatest impact on customer satisfaction, for wooden flooring as well as its closest substitutes laminate and carpet. This is noteworthy, as the salient evaluative criteria for choosing wooden flooring, unlike the other materials studied, were of a non-practical nature. This circumstance highlights the necessity of considering substitutes to identify latent needs. A low cost over the life cycle and hygiene are apparently the most important benefits to improve for wooden flooring manufacturers, as importance is high and performance relatively low.

I detta examensarbete har ett användarvänligt verktyg skapats för att möjliggöra undersökningar av värdeutfallet vid kubbsågning på VIDA Alvesta AB. Verktyget har skapats i Microsoft Excel som för många är en känd miljö. Just nu är det svårt att få lönsamhet inom sågverksbranschen. Råvaran är dyr och det tvingar sågverken att effektivisera sin produktion. Det här verktyget har vankantsandel som viktigaste variabel eftersom det maximerar värdeutbytet genom att använda maximalt tillåtna vankanter. En undersökning för produkten 47x100 har gjorts med avseende att dölja vankanter med hjälp av rundade hörn med radie 3 och 5 mm. Undersökningen visade att det går att dölja en större vankant genom att öka hörnradien från 3 till 5 mm. En ytterligare åtgärd som kan utföras för att utnyttja råvaran på ett bättre sätt är att minska på råmåtten. Om råmåttet minskas med 3 % kan en ekonomisk vinning erhållas.

Att bevarandet av biologisk mångfald är en grundpelare för att nå en hållbar utveckling enades världens länder om i Konventionen om biologisk mångfald (CBD) som upprättades under toppmötet i Rio de Janeiro 1992. I konventionen förespråkas den s.k. ekosystemansatsen (EA), vilket är en strategi som innebär en helhetssyn på ekosystem. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka i vilken grad EA tillämpas på nationell och regional nivå. Frågan är också om EA är en bra utgångspunkt för att upprätthålla biologisk mångfald på landskapsnivå samt vad som kan öka tillämpningen av EA på regional nivå. På nationell nivå analyserades två delar i miljömålspropositionen och på regional nivå analyserades de landskapsstrategier som sju län har fått i uppdrag av regeringen att upprätta i ett pilotprojekt. Min teoretiska utgångspunkt har varit ekosystemansatsen och dess principer och vägledande punkter. Metoden bestod av främst en kvantitativ innehållsanalys med kvalitativa inslag och som komplement utfördes fyra intervjuer. Resultatet visade att de delar av miljömålspropositionen som analyserades i hög grad följde ekosystemansatsen. En brist i propositionen var dock att det saknades riktlinjer om att det behövdes involvering av olika aktörer när den ursprungliga definitionen av landskapsavsnittet i strategierna skulle bestämmas. Att denna aspekt var implicit ledde troligtvis till det faktum att den även var implicit i landskapsstrategierna. Tillämpningen av EA i landskapsstrategierna skedde, trots att länsstyrelserna endast tillämpade den indirekt, i ganska hög grad och särskilt togs hänsyn till sociala aspekter som involvering av olika aktörer i själva processen och kontakt med vetenskapliga discipliner. Det som däremot var bristfälligt gällde tillämpningen av komplexa aspekter, vilka inte klart hade uttryckts i riktlinjerna till länsstyrelserna från regeringen. Dessa faktorer var beaktande av förvaltning av ekosystem inom ramen för dess funktion, processer i ekosystem samt adaptiv förvaltning. Alla intervjupersoner var överens om att EA är övergripande och ganska luddig, men det måste den vara för att gälla globalt. Av vikt är att konkretisera den på nationell och regional nivå. Ett förslag är att Naturvårdsverket i detta projekt ger tydliga riktlinjer angående tillämpningen av EA i landskapsstrategierna och att det är en tvåvägskommunikation mellan Naturvårdsverket och länsstyrelserna så att det blir en iterativ process. Genom en konkretisering kan tillämpningen av EA öka och därmed ett steg tas mot en hållbar utveckling. / The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) promotes the Ecosystem Approach (EA), which is a strategy that endeavours to take a comprehensive approach to managing ecosystems. The aim of this report is to study to what degree the EA is being followed on a national and regional level. A key question of the research is whether EA is conceptually sound and whether it has been operationalised effectively at both national and regional scale. Using articulated EA principles and operational guidelines from the CBD this study analyzed the Government's national environmental directive concerning biodiversity. The same approach was also applied to an analysis of several regional landscape strategies that are being developed as part of a pilot project. The results show that the national biodiversity directive is largely consistent with an EA. Although one area of inadequacy was the level of involvement by different stakeholders in the original decision about defining the landscape area in the pilot studies. This was also a weakness in the landscape strategies- perhaps because communication on this issue was not explicit in the directive from the government. The implementation of EA in the landscape strategies at the regional level was also found to be good, especially the participation from different stakeholders (especially local stakeholders) in the process and scientific institutions. However inadequate factors not represented in these strategies were complex ecological aspects such as principle 6 (ecosystem must be managed within the limits of their functioning) and operational guideline 1 (focus on the functional relationships and processes within ecosystems). Adaptive management (operational guideline 3), a relatively new approach in Sweden, was also found to be deficient. All the respondents agreed that the EA needed to be made more concrete on a national and regional level. A suggestion from the research to improve the development and adoption of the EA would be to develop iterative mechanisms between regional and national authorities to ensure national guiding principles are informed by more concrete regional experience. When the EA is implemented more effectively we will take one step further on the way to reaching a sustainable development.

Organic products have become more and more talked- about in today’s industrial world. The demand for organic products is increasing and the market is continuing to grow bigger. It is important to maintain what these products stand for, being environmental friendly, and to do so strict certification policies are needed. EU has today an international certification body called Regulation (EC) 834/2007 that needs to be followed for export to and within EU. Parts of Tanzania today have certification of some organic products but not in Babati, that lies in the northern of Tanzania in Manyara region where this case study was done. In Babati most of the farmers are smallholder farmers and many of them, founds it difficult to afford an international certification. For the smallholder farmers to get a certification there are two alternatives. One is to go together with other smallholder farmers and apply for a certification like EUs Regulation (EC) 834/2007 as a group and then get to pay lower fees. The other alternative is to go together and start local certification bodies that have fees that are adjusted to local farmers’ income. This case study was conducted between February and March of 2010 in villages around Babati and Babati town. Interviews were held with both organic- and non organic farmers. My goal was to find out if it was possible for Babati to develop the organic agriculture and have an organic market in the future. My conclusion ends up by perceiving that Babati has a very good chance of fulfilling the Regulation (EC) 834/2007 standards. However the farmers’ economical status is an obstacle for the farmers to get an international certification, because of the high cost in inspections and reinspections.  But through a local certification body that is adjusted to the smallholder farmers and the environment the farmers can get their certificate and the organic market can be developed in Babati.