Press release: Climate-resilient agricultural landscapes in Lower Saxony

No. 128 - 24.09.2026

New collaborative project combines biodiversity and climate research with regional farming practices

How can agricultural landscapes remain productive, preserve biodiversity and provide key ecosystem services, despite climate change? The new collaborative project “AgRe-Lab”, led by the University of Göttingen, is dedicated to addressing this question. Four other research institutions and ten partners from agriculture, nature conservation, administration, and education are involved. The Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture has funded the research for six years with 5.3 million euros from the “zukunft.niedersachsen” programme.

“The consequences of climate change and the loss of biodiversity cannot be tackled on a site-by-site basis alone,” explains the Spokesperson for the collaborative project, Professor Catrin Westphal at the University of Göttingen. “We must act at the level of entire landscapes and combine insights from ecology with local people’s knowledge and the possibilities they have to take action.” AgRe-Lab is therefore setting up three real-world laboratories in the districts of Gifhorn, Hildesheim and Northeim in Germany. Twelve different agricultural landscapes will be studied in each area. An additional “Twinning Lab” in the district of Vechta will serve to test the transferability of results and, in collaboration with regional partners, will explore how successful approaches can be adapted to other conditions.

The researchers are recording key ecological functions and services of agricultural landscapes, including carbon sequestration, biodiversity, agricultural productivity and the water cycle. At the same time, they are investigating socio-economic resilience, the acceptance of interventions, and the conditions necessary for collective action. The scientific community and practitioners are working together to further develop these interventions and are examining which skills, forms of collaboration, and learning processes will enable long-term change. “Our aim is to evaluate individual interventions, in addition to understanding how ecological diversification, cooperation and learning are interlinked,” says Westphal. “In this way, we want to develop solutions that are both scientifically sound and practical, and which will benefit the regions in the long term.”

The research consortium “Building climate resilience in agricultural landscapes through social-ecological diversification, co-design and transdisciplinary learning” involves, alongside the University of Göttingen, the Technical University of Braunschweig, Leuphana University Lüneburg, the University of Vechta and the Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute in Braunschweig. The researchers contribute expertise from eight scientific disciplines. In addition, there are ten partners from the field, including farmers’ associations and ecological stations in the districts of Northeim, Hildesheim, Gifhorn and Vechta.

Contact:

Professor Catrin Westphal

University of Göttingen

Faculty of Agricultural Sciences

Agroecology and Functional Agrobiodiversity

Tel: +49 (0)551 39-28275

Email: catrin.westphal@uni-goettingen.de