African grasslands harbour an extraordinary biodiversity that is maintained by fire and grazing. At the same time, these grasslands store enormous amounts of carbon in the soil. However, these grasslands are increasingly threatened by changing land use. For example, intensification of agriculture, the exclusion of fire, but also the large-scale planting of trees against climate change (often exotic pine and eucalyptus) threaten these unique and biodiverse ecosystems. My Vidi program aims to investigate how biodiversity and fire contribute to effective underground carbon storage, in order to provide a strong argument against tree planting in African grasslands and savannas.

Climate change and biodiversity loss are major and urgent societal challenges. We will investigate 1) how these two issues interact, 2) which measures to counteract negative effects are successful and why, 3) what is needed from a social and governance point of view to implement these measures. The research is carried out in landscapes with grasslands, forests and urban areas. The aim is to gain new insights and to develop tools that simultaneously contribute to biodiversity recovery and climate change resilience, and which can be implemented in a just way, considering policy goals, values and interests of society.

Solar systems are implemented at increasingly large scale to meet demands for sustainable energy, including placing them on inland waters. SPARKLES unites scientists and stakeholders across domains (energy, ecology, society) to develop nature-positive solutions for floating solar for humans and nature. By putting nature front and center we look for integrative solutions that solve multiple problems in the living environment, rather than creating trade-offs between humans and nature.