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Madelene Ostwald

Senior Associate Professor

How are land and forests managed, and how does it relate to desired outputs such as more products, reduced climate change, and more ecosystem services? In my research, I study the practitioner and the influence of policies, knowledge, and networks.

Land, forest and users in focus

Using forest and land to provide more products and generate positive effects, using it multifunctionally, has great support in science.

Multifunctional land use often delivers to a greater extent the effects demanded by national and international policies in the form of increased carbon sequestration, diversified products, increased biodiversity and resilience against unwanted weather events, changing prices or insect attacks. Nevertheless, it is difficult as a land user to change the production system from the business-as-usual practices as the business is dependent on, among other things, knowledge, inputs, buyers, income and security. How the forest owner, landowner or farmer does and changes their management in order to reach a higher degree of multifunctional land use is my research interest.

Publications

2025

Julianne Oliveira, Martin Karlson, Abraham Sotongo Ouédraogo, Hugues Roméo Bazié, Madelene Ostwald (2025) Towards a framework for monitoring crop productivity in agroforestry parklands of the Sudano-Sahel using Sentinel-1 and 2 time series Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment, Vol. 37, Article 101494 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2024

S Pettersson, Therese Asplund, Madelene Ostwald (2024) Circumstantial factors and local collaboration determine farmers' perceptions and practices on circular bioeconomy - examples from Southern Sweden Cleaner and Circular Bioeconomy, Vol. 9, p. 100114-100114, Article 100114 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Pauline N. Gitonga, Jane Mutheu Mutune, Stephen M. Mureithi, Staline Kibeth, Kevin Miruye, Nathaniel Tum, Madelene Ostwald, Veronica Brodén Gyberg (2024) Transformative Rangeland Management Practices (TRAMAP) project: Transforming Camel Health Outcomes through Community-Centred Strategies
Kassa Teka, Berhe Abraha, Solomon Mebrahtom, Alemtsehay Tsegay, Yemane Welday, Tigist. A. Gessesse, Madelene Ostwald, Linda Hansson (2024) Effect of Vermicompost on Soil Fertility and Crop Productivity in the Drylands of Ethiopia Compost Science & Utilization, Vol. 31, p. 75-85 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2023

Nothando Dunjana, P Chauke, C Maphumulo, A.D. Nciizah, E Dube, M Matiga, S Madikiza, Madelene Ostwald (2023) Inclusive sorghum value chain development: A key driver for smallholder farmer adaptation to climate change, livelihoods and food security Climate-smart agriculture: Evidence-based Case Studies in South Africa, p. 62-66 (Chapter in book)

Books

Bokomslag

Carbon Inventory Methods

Ravindranath, N.H & Ostwald, M (2008): Carbon Inventory Methods: Handbook for Greenhouse Gas Inventory, Carbon Mitigation and Roundwood Production Projects. Springer.

Full text

Bokomslag

Multifunctional Land Uses in Africa

Simelton, E & Ostwald, M (2019): Multifunctional Land Uses in Africa: Sustainable Food Security Solutions. London: Routledge.

Full text

Research projects

AgriFoSe2030 programme

The AgriFoSe2030 programme targets the UN Sustainable Development Goal 2 - "End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture" in low-income countries. We synthesise and translate existing science into policy and practice, and develop capacity to achieve this.

Linköping university oversees the Challenge 2: Agricultural productivity and ecosystem functions.

See Youtube clip from colleague Dr Josias Sanou from INERA on parkland management in Burkina Faso:

Video

Palm trees

Project facts

Participants: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Lund University, Linköping University and Stockholm Environment Institute

TEMA collaborators: Madelene Ostwald and Veronica Brodén Gyberg

Website for the programme: AgriFoSe2030

Funder: Sida

Programme period: 2016-2026

Climate adaptation together - policy lab for climate adaptation contracts in Malmö

Climate adaptation together is an applied research project on climate adaptation measures in existing urban areas led by IVL. The project designs and tests a collaboration model with local contracts in order to secure the implementation of nature-based climate adaptation measures in Malmö.

Climate adaptation together is carried out in collaboration between policy and climate adaptation researchers at IVL and Linköping University, the knowledge center Green Roof Institute, officials at the City of Malmö as well as property owners in Malmö and insurance companies.

The collaboration takes place in the form of a 'policy lab' where joint deepening of knowledge about nature-based and site-specific climate adaptation measures is exchanged with insights into the availability, responsibility and financial valuation of climate risks and measures of various stakeholders. The 'lab' is used to test different designs of local climate adaptation contracts. In addition to possible contract models, the project must contribute knowledge to decision-makers regarding issues of responsibility and measures for climate adaptation of existing buildings.

Park in malmö
Partners: City of Malmö, Linköping University, Scandinavian Green Roof Institute, BID Malmö, HSB, Wihlborgs properties, MKB properties, Stiftelsen Länsförsäkringsgruppen's Research & Development Fund.

Period: 2024 – 2025

Funder: Formas

Past projects

Past projects (examples)

The NPP-project

Satellite image of parkland
Project facts
  • Funder: The Swedish Research Council
  • Project period: 2019-2024
  • Participants: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Linköping University and Université Joseph KI-ZERBO Burkina Faso
  • TEMA collaborators: Madelene Ostwald and Martin Karlson

 

Project description

Parkland NPP now and in the future - Distinguishing parkland net primary production in Sudano-Sahel using in situ measurements and high resolution remote sensing for scenario building.

Agroforestry parklands are the main source of food, fodder and fuel for subsistence farming communities in the Sudano-Sahel - one of the most food insecure regions in the world. This land use system integrates crop and livestock production in agricultural lands with a significant tree cover. The total annual output (as food, fodder and tree products) of these system is referred to as Net Primary Production (NPP). Recent analyses show that the demand for NPP in the region is rapidly increasing while the supply remains nearly constant. In this project we will study factors controlling NPP with the aim to enable optimization of land management and production capacity.

Agroforestry parklands

Our project, building on an experienced multidisciplinary group with the ambition to employ a PhD student from Burkina Faso, will provide novel agro-ecological knowledge critical to parkland management. We will i)quantify NPP supply of the three main parkland components; crops, trees and grasses, and relate it to several controlling factors, ii)develop a system for national scale NPP monitoring using free and high resolution satellite data, iii)build scenarios of future NPP supply and demand guided by our NPP assessments, population projections, climate scenarios and land stakeholder dialogues, iv)interact with land users and policy actors in workshops for evaluating feasibility of scenarios, hurdles and ways forward, and v)disseminate results through posters, YouTube-films and flyers in local languages.

 

Education and degrees

  • Associate Professor (Docent) in Geography especially Physical Geography, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothenburg. 2007.
  • PhD Geography especially Physical Geography, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothenburg. Thesis: Local protection of tropical dry natural forest, Orissa, India. 2000.
  • Masters Geography especially Physical Geography, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothenburg. 1995.

Engagement, networks and collaborations

Teaching

Geography

  • Natural resources
  • Economic geography
  • Excursion in geography

Science for sustainable development, master’s program

  • Master Thesis in Science for Sustainable Development
  • Environmental and resources use challenges
A teacher smiles at a group of students.

Science for Sustainable Development, Master's Programme, 120 credits

Provides students with knowledge on environmental change and the challenges of creating a sustainable society for a career in research or outside academia. Students learn how to use relevant analytical tools for studies of environmental change.

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Organisational affiliation

Norrköping Decision Arena.

Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research, CSPR

CSPR is a platform for knowledge production to trigger and promote societal changes towards safe and just climate futures for all. Our goal is to create knowledge and methodological approaches that can support and advance climate actions.
Water on a rock

Environmental Change (TEMAM)

Almost all nature bears traces of human activity. Its condition is strongly linked to social development. This creates a need for scientific breadth and problem-solving skills. Education and research at Environmental Change respond to this challenge.
Drone image of the Tema building at Campus Valla

Department of Thematic Studies (TEMA)

In an increasingly complicated world, there is a need for researchers that can handle both breadth and depth, and can collaborate across disciplinary borders. Major societal questions are studied from an interdisciplinary perspective at TEMA.

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