The Summer School starting today and going on until next Saturday, July 28th addresses basic and applied aspects of ecosystem restoration. ”The students will learn and discuss how to develop concepts and management strategies towards the restoration of ecosystems and sustainable land use” explains Prof. Stefan Zerbe, organizer of the summer school and full professor for Environment and Applied Botany. He explains that since “throughout the world, land-use systems are degraded by over-utilization and have lost their function and services for the human society” restoration of ecosystems becomes an increasingly important topic.

The summer school was kicked off this morning with a welcome address and an introduction to the history, concepts and limitations of restoration ecology. In the upcoming days, the participants will learn about the conditions and management concepts of tropical and mangrove ecosystems in Latin America and South East Asia, forests in central Europe, coastal habitats of the North and Baltic Sea and, of course, the ecosystems of the Alps.
Additionally to the lectures, the group will go on several excursions through South Tyrol, e.g. to learn about the local traditional land-use techniques and the glacier retreat in the Matsch valley in Vinschgau.