LaWiWa

LaWiWa - Scenarios for Agricultural and Landscape Change in Grassland Regions Exemplified by the Oberbergischer Kreis District

Project duration: 04/2025 - 04/2025

Project Implementation by: rewa

Project team:

• Dr. Carlo Morandi
• M. Sc. Cora Laumeyer
• B. Sc. Virgínia Ly Pinto
• Prof. Dr. Heidrun Steinmetz

Funding provided by:

• DBU - German Federal Environmental Foundation

Projektpartner:

• Chair of Environmental and Open Space Planning, RPTU
• Oberbergischer Kreis District | Department of Planning | Regional Development
• Environment Chamber of Agriculture | NRW District Office Oberbergischer Kreis

Project Description:

What sustainable pathways are emerging for farms in German low mountain range regions like the "Bergisches Land”, particularly in the context of climate change, and what resulting landscape scenarios can we envision?

Farming businesses manage almost 40% of the land in the Bergisches Land district. Agriculture therefore plays a central role in discussions about how to manage water, soil, and biodiversity considering their specific needs and contexts.

The research team at RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau is collaborating with local stakeholders from agriculture, administration, conservation, and water management. Together, we are exploring new strategies to balance the economic viability of farming with goals for nature and resource protection. A key focus is understanding how sustainable farming practices, adapted to the landscape and its functions, can be implemented under changing conditions – especially concerning water availability.

Shifting rainfall patterns affect water availability across the landscape. Increasingly extreme weather events impact both the environment and the livelihoods of many farms. Opportunities for new activities and economic ventures lie in areas such as water management, recovering nutrients and energy from wastewater, manure, or agricultural residues, and establishing regional circular economies, etc.

The project consistently links the farm-level agricultural perspective with the broader landscape view. The complex, systemic interactions between these levels will be visualised qualitatively through future scenarios. Understanding the interplay of impacts – from individual farms to regional landscape functions and visual character – aims to stimulate discussion about landscape change, its governance, its value, and the role of agriculture within this process.

During the project, the co-creative research process first aims to identify alternative farming strategies that are both economically viable and meet biodiversity and resource protection goals. Second, it will demonstrate the connection between individual farm decisions and their impact on the wider landscape. Third, the project seeks to stimulate discussion about the value of the landscape and the role of agriculture in society.