Wyss Academy for Nature reflects positively on approach

(CONNECT) The systemic approach is proving effective, the Wyss Academy for Nature surmises as it reflects on its first five years of work. This can be gleaned from its 2024 Annual Report, in which the foundation based at the University of Bern provides insight into both its current work and the successes it has achieved since 2020.

“The Annual Report highlights the fruits we can already harvest after intensive work. We are all very proud and grateful to the people and partners who have contributed to this endeavor,” says Director of the Wyss Academy for Nature, Prof. Dr Peter Messerli, in an identical press release from the two organizations.

According to this, the Wyss Academy for Nature worked on 89 projects last year, successfully establishing effective project structures across four continents and achieving tangible impacts in the field. This was confirmed by an independent evaluation, commissioned by the University of Bern, the Canton of Bern and the Wyss Foundation.

Its living labs known as Solutionscapes are real-world environments where stakeholders from local communities, governments, civil society, science and the private sector bring together scientific, local and practical expertise to develop sustainable solutions that transform the relationship between people and nature. This approach is currently being applied in six Solutionscapes in Kenya, Madagascar, Peru, Thailand, Laos and the Canton of Bern. The teams co-develop, test and successively refine their Solutionscapes so that they can also be used elsewhere.

For example, the digging of 136,000 semicircular bunds in Northern Kenya has demonstrably promoted vegetation growth, enhanced water storage and boosted biodiversity. In Tambopata in the Peruvian Amazon, new land use models integrate nature conservation with sustainable livelihoods. ce/mm