About Life on Land
Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
Our work on Goal 15: Life on Land
We work towards the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 15: Life on Land, to create a better and fairer world.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted in 2015 by all United Nations member states. It provides a blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet.
Find out more about our work across all the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.
Research
Biological and Environmental Sciences research
Biological and Environmental Sciences (BES) research focuses on tackling global challenges through multi-disciplinary research with a cohesive and distinctive theme of society-environment interactions. An interdisciplinary approach joins research threads interconnecting major challenges in water, carbon, ecological and societal systems.
In addition to fundamental and blue-skies research, BES also applies state-of-the-art environmental technologies and research to engage with policymakers, environmental agencies, non-governmental organisations, industrial partners and local communities.
BES leads an ambitious research programme on developing new biocontrol systems using an evolutionary approach for fighting serious agricultural global pests and conducts leading-edge research to understand the public health risks and environmental impacts of plastics in developing African countries, as well as parallel independent projects on this topic in South East Asia.
Land sharing vs land sparing
Funded by The Leverhulme Trust, this interdisciplinary project combines ecology and economics to evaluate the costs and benefits of two key approaches to conservation in farmed landscapes: land sparing and land sharing.
It will quantify the biodiversity consequences and economic costs of these competing landscape-scale conservation strategies whilst accounting for the negative spillover effects imposed by past and present farming on non-farmed habitats.
In collaboration with Forest Research, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and University of Glasgow, the project aims to identify cost-effective conservation strategies, and quantify how these change according to biodiversity priorities and landscape history.
Learning and teaching
Field skills for sustainable solutions
Fieldwork and the collection of accurate field data lies at the heart of environmental geography and environmental science. In this module, students will visit coastal, fluvial, urban, upland and peatland environments. In each of these landscapes they will explore the processes that form the physical landscape as well as consider the evidence for environmental change in the past, present and future.
Field courses are an important component of students' overall experience and the transferable skills gained are highly valued by potential employers. Students work across a range of different disciplines to gain an understanding of landscapes, how they have evolved and explore the diversity of data sets required for sustainable solutions.
On-campus dissertation projects
Students are offered a wide range of final dissertation topics investigating different aspects of the natural environment of the University’s campus and its management. These are delivered by academic staff from the Biological and Environmental Sciences department and include specific topics such as:
- biodiversity assessment of invertebrates and, in particular, pollinators according with different grass management;
- biodiversity monitoring using photographic camera traps; above ground carbon stock assessment;
- connectivity between the campus and neighbouring area;
- links between forest canopy structural diversity and understory plant diversity;
- mapping the acoustic diversity of a mosaic landscape;
- bird nesting behaviour on campus;
- mapping the ecosystem service provision of the campus; peoples' perspectives of, and interactions with the green space offered by the University’s campus.
The findings and outcomes of these dissertations are utilised to improve our understanding of the campus’ natural environment and its wildlife and inform on potential management strategies aiming to improve the biodiversity and, more generally the ecosystem functioning and services provided by the campus.
University operations
Community Garden
The Community Garden is a large space of land on campus which consists of multiple growing beds, a greenhouse, large polytunnel, wildlife spaces and an orchard close by. Gardening sessions are hosted by the Students’ Union which encourage participation and creates an opportunity for students and staff to learn about community-grown food and permaculture, and to work on biodiversity focussed projects.
Climate adaptation and biodiversity
A key theme of our Sustainability Plan 2022-28, climate adaptation and biodiversity will ensure that the University takes all necessary steps to mitigate, or avoid the impacts of, climate change and extreme weather on the university estate and surrounding areas; to safeguard business continuity; and to enhance the unique campus to further biodiversity.
Projects to help facilitate this include creating habitats to promote species-rich areas on campus, such as wildflower medals, improving the age and canopy structure of woodland containing thousands of ancient trees, and developing the biodiversity of the estate through the protection and restoration of habitat and the control of non-native invasive speeches.
Civic engagement
Forth Climate Forest
The Forth Climate Forest will facilitate the planting of around 16.4 million new trees across 8,300 hectares within the next 10 years. Currently woodland across Stirling, Clackmannanshire and Falkirk accounts for 22% of all woodland in Scotland. The aim is to increase this by 3% by 2032.
The Forth Climate Forest will harness the passion for tree planting we already see in many communities, channelling this energy into carefully considered projects that will ultimately generate a range of wellbeing, climate and ecological benefits in the Forth Valley. The forest will benefit 306,000 people in Forth Valley communities by planting trees in school grounds, on vacant and derelict land and across parks.
Where possible, existing woodlands will be stitched together to create wildlife corridors. Corridors that boost biodiversity, offering a safe habitat for birds, bats, bees and all manner of woodland animals.
Alpine Convention implementation
Dr Clemens Hoffmann, Senior Lecturer in International Politics, works with the German and Austrian Alpine Associations on the implementation of the Alpine Convention. Specifically, he works with local authorities and volunteers in so-called ‘mountaineering villages’ which put the principles of the convention into action.
While the convention’s nine signatories are legally committed to sustainable development and protection of the Alps, mountaineering villages implement this convention locally via restraining touristic development, protecting Alpine heritage, sustainable mountain farming and forestry, nature and landscape conservation, low carbon mobility/traffic and communication and information exchange.
Dr Hoffmann’s work includes work with public and private forestry operators, mountain farmers and tourism operators. He is mainly active in the German movement but is also in regular exchange with European partners in annual conventions and contributes to policymaking at the Innsbruck head office.
Citizen Science Biodiversity Project
The Citizen Science Biodiversity Project was established to create a regeneration catalyst for the Gartmorn Dam site that engages the community and further afield within education and the local economy.
Through citizen and business engagement, it will communicate the importance of nature and environment-based research through Forth-ERA and pull together a strong working group of stakeholders to support Clackmannanshire Council in its management plan for the site.