Land and Natural Resources (LNR) Program

The Program works towards promoting applied state-of-the-art research activities and implements projects related to various topics concerned with the terrestrial natural environment and ecosystem management. Throughout its various activities, the LNR focuses on the use of geo-information in environmental management in response to the ever growing demand for tackling significant environmental issues in today’s terrestrial natural environment and land use functions.

Program’s objectives
By constantly carrying out research and development activities and projects, the LNR:

• - Applies scientific knowledge in solving real life environmental problems of terrestrial ecosystems in a multidisciplinary context.
• - Demonstrates the ability to acquire advanced understanding of terrestrial natural processes, evaluates relevant environmental legislation and policy, handles geo-information technologies, and formulates expert judgment.
• - Strives to promote the conservation of terrestrial resources spanning from forest to wildlife management.
• - Communicates conclusions and recommendations in ways that enable informative discussions with specialists and/or raise the interest and awareness of non-specialist audiences.

Themes of interest

• - Forest inventories and management.
• - Wildfire risk management.
• - Restoration of terrestrial ecosystems.
• - Local community empowerment and capacity building.
• - Land use and land cover change.
• - Inventory and mitigation of greenhouse gases.
• - Palynology, respiratory diseases and climate change.
• - Climate change, droughts and land degradation.
• - Conservation of native fauna and flora.