In collaboration with the Bürgerstiftung Unser Land, the university’s knowledge transfer project GeisTreich and Kompetenzzentrum Kulturlandschaft (KULT; Cultural Landscape Competence Center) invited key regional stakeholders to a symposium in order to discuss current pressing issues and to network. Around 80 participants from various associations, communities, authorities, and businesses used the event as a chance to exchange ideas and collaborate on potential solutions to current challenges.
The symposium kicked off with Hochschule Geisenheim University’s Ilona Leyer and Eckhard Jedicke discussing why forward-looking planning in landscape development is both vital and urgent. Afterward, specialist speakers from the region presented on the topic from different perspectives, including viticulture, agriculture, forestry, and tourism. These specialists included Peter Seyffardt, president of the Rheingauer Weinbauverband (Rheingau Winegrowers’ Association); Thomas Kunz, vice-president of the Hessischer Bauernverband (Hessian Farmers' Association); Volker Diefenbach, mayor of Heidenrod; and Dominik Russler, manager of Rheingau-Taunus Kultur und Tourismus GmbH. In the second half of the event, participants were asked to divide into moderated working groups in order to brainstorm ideas.
The consensus among participants was that the landscape in the Rheingau and Taunus region must not be left to be changed without supervision as a result of a stream of individual decisions. Instead, there needs to be an overall plan that allows for a target-oriented, multifunctional development of the area. The working group for viticulture came up with several ideas, such as using potential fallow land for water retention and boosting biodiversity. In terms of agriculture, strip farming, with lines of trees, hedgerows, and borders, could prove to be an advantageous approach. Options for forest restructuring and water retention were the central focus of the forestry group, and there were many suggestions for developing a diverse and attractive cultural landscape made by the participants in the tourism group.
The event organizers were delighted with the level of active participation and the ideas participants contributed. “We need the knowledge, ideas, and perspectives of all stakeholders in order to ensure a good future for our cultural landscape in the face of major challenges, including global warming and changing economic conditions,” summarized Klaus Werk, chair of the Unser Land community foundation. “The symposium has been able to contribute to stronger networks and education through this intensive exchange of knowledge and ideas.”
Organizers Eckhard Jedicke, Ilona Leyer, and Klaus Werk emphasized that the preservation and continued development of the cultural landscape in the Rheingau and Taunus region is a central and cherished mission of both Hochschule Geisenheim University and the Unser Land community foundation. In the future, they hope to bring together regional stakeholders every two years for similar symposiums.
The conference was co-organized by the GeisTreich (Geisenheim Transfer Programme for Species-Rich and Multifunctional Viticulture) project, which is funded as part of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research’s ‘Innovative Hochschule’ funding initiative. Together with the Institute for Social-Ecological Research in Frankfurt am Main, innovative knowledge transfer formats and joint solution strategies will be developed for the region between 2023 and 2027. The aim of the transfer program is to strengthen the link between research and the knowledge of practitioners and thereby shape the future.
For more information, please see: Cultural Landscape Competence Center (KULT)
