B. Sc. in International Business Administration from the European University in Frankfurt/Oder, Germany and the École Supérieure de Commerce de Montpellier, France, 2006.

M. Sc. in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science, Lund University, Sweden, 2008.  

Ph.D research project at LUCID/LUCSUS

Background

Over the last couple of years the terms Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital have become keywords to describe a trend that combines economic thinking and reasoning with the attempt to include nature in the equation. Particularly global climate change and the ever more accelerating loss of the planet’s biodiversity, estimated to be at least 50 times higher than the natural rate of extinction, initiated debates that span from grassroots and non-governmental organizations to business leaders and governments. Gradually, decisions are no longer purely based on strict economic cost benefit analysis, but aspire to include environmental and social costs.

However, are market mechanisms such as Payment for Ecosystem Services [PES] the only alternative for making conservation work, incentivizing the provider of these ecosystem services with financial compensation? Scholars highlight the ethical and moral implications as a result of this trend, allowing the market and money economy to ‘financialize’ and ‘commodify’ nature and ecosystem services. Nevertheless, mechanisms that aim at the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from land use change, namely deforestation and forest degradation are gaining momentum and the carbon market is growing and expanding.

Current Research Interests

My PhD research at LUCID focuses on the development of the current REDD (+) [Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation] mechanism that has been proposed and agreed on in the last UNFCCC meetings.  There are strong efforts undertaken worldwide to put REDD (+) into operation, but many challenges remain. Among these are aspects of governance and the implementation on a national level, especially with regards to securing safeguards for biodiversity and indigenous groups as well as local forest users and owners.

Through a transdisciplinary sustainability science approach, my research tries to combine the social, economic and environmental aspects of REDD and REDD like schemes in the context of a case study in the Republic of Ecuador. In September 2008, the Ministry of Environment of Ecuador launched the forest partner program (in Spanish: Programa Socio Bosque). Socio Bosque aims to protect roughly 14 percent of Ecuador’s land area and benefit up to one million people. It is an incentive scheme that focuses on private land owners and communities having legal land titles. Under the program, financial incentives are provided that aim to increase conservation efforts, reduce deforestation and forest degradation and that further aim to strengthen local development. My regional focus is the Ecuadorian Amazon.

The historical context of the Ecuadorian Amazon was marked by deforestation and associated social conflicts between the indigenous groups and the government. Currently, uneven power structures and various economic interests, such as oil exploration, illegal logging and land occupations are shaping the region. Understanding this context and analyzing the required design for the Socio Bosque incentive scheme to combine environmental conservation and social developments are at the center of my attention during my research. 

Academic Articles

• Financial incentives for conservation – Distributional aspects in Ecuador’s effort to reduce deforestation
• “Is biodiversity conservation possible? A Case study on penguin conservation and local development in Chiloé, Chile“ Master thesis, Lund University International Masters’ Program in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science “LUMES”, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
  http://www.lumes.lu.se/database/alumni/06.08/thesis/Torsten_Krause.pdf  

PhD/Master courses

• Alter-Net Summer School “Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services”, 5-15 September 2010. Peyresq, France.
• “The Melting Ice: Climate Change and Scales of Sustainability”. Ph.D. Summer School in Greenland, 2-14 September 2009. Organized by Waterworlds, Institute for Anthropology, University of Copenhagen.
• Organizing of PhD course (together with Andreas Malm, Cheryl Sjöström and Alícia Bauzà van Singerlandt
  Capitalism, Socialism and Ecology
  January 24 – May 9th, 2011, Mondays 13.15-15.00

Conferences/Workshops 2011

• International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC) Conference
  10-14 January 2011, Hyderabad, India
  Conference Title: Sustaining Commons, Sustaining Futures
  http://iasc2011.fes.org.in/  
  Paper Presented:  Whose values OR valuable for whom? Biodiversity as global commons and the politics of the Yasuni-ITT initiative
• Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
  17-18 February 2011
  Workshop on ”Evaluating the Economic Valuation of Biodiversity and Ecosystem services “
  http://www.bik-f.de/files/veranstaltungen/programme_workshop_2011-01-18.pdf 

Teaching & Supervision

• Teaching Assistant at “Sustainability Science” Course, LUMES, Fall 2010
• Teaching Assistant at “ Methodology, Methods and Tools for Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science “ Course, LUMES, Winter 2011
• Teaching Assistant at “Development and Sustainability” Course, LUMES, Spring 2011
• Supervision of LUMES Master Students, Spring 2010 & 2011