Subprogrammes

Subprogrammes from STORMA

With subprojects from economy, social sciences, biodiversity research, plant and animal ecology, mycology, soil sciences, hydrology, bioclimatology, paleoecology, remote sensing and ecological modelling, STORMA's approach is truly interdisciplinary. Experimental research will be concentrated in the intensively studied regions around the Lore Lindu National Park at Toro, at the Bariri tower site, and in the Nopu catchment, while land use scenarios will cover the entire forest margin zone of 7.500 km2 (Central Sulawesi, Indonesia).

An important aim of STORMA in terms of applicability is capacity building at regional (Sulawesi) and national levels (Indonesia) in the fields of scientific environmental assessment and conflict analysis, based on ecological and socio-economic research. Capacity building in tropical countries has been identified as one of the most urgent needs to solve the global environmental crisis. STORMA has established standards with respect to the scientific cooperation between northern and tropical countries in this field based on
mutual benefit sharing. The project can now proceed on the basis of a well-established Indonesian-German scientific network that is exceptional in the field of international scientific collaboration.

STORMA is also unique in tropical environmental research because socio-economic and ecological groups and approaches are tightly linked, thereby overcoming the usual separation of different research efforts. Further, STORMA addresses three innovative and topical foci, the threats to rainforest and agroforestry by climate change, the socioeconomic and ecological trade-offs and synergies of agroforestry management, and scenario testing with integrated land-use models.