H3: The past as a source of knowledge, experience and a cause of change

Rafał Zapłata (The Cardinal Wyszyński University in Warsaw), r.zaplata@uksw.edu.pl

Mariusz Lamentowicz (Adam Mickiewicz University)

Krzysztof Stereńczak (Forest Research Institute)

Michał Słowiński (Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization)

Summary

Symposium „The past as a source of knowledge, experience and a cause of change” within the IALE European Landscape Ecology Congress is part of the Holistic, landscape approach to the complex cultural and environmental systems", taking into account the processes and remnants of the past, in order „to better understand the diverse phenomena and processes around us and to predict and properly manage them”. We will pay special attention to formerly and now forested areas - as areas extremely valuable for today's and future environment.

Description

As part of „the interdisciplinary platform linking past, present and future", we propose to continue the discussion that will allow to build knowledge and collect data on past experiences and activities. "Making the future, learning from the past" is understood literally by analyzing, inter alia, past phenomena, as various examples of natural and human influence on the environment, and analyzing the remains of past interventions, often with long-lasting legacy effects. The symposium is inspired by the idea that knowledge about past human activities can prevent similar negative environmental impacts today and in the future. The practical dimension of knowledge and data about the past is one of the key elements of the symposium. Our understanding of the past climate, human and environmental interactions in the European landscape has made significant progress over the past decade, thanks to advances in multiproxy studies. We propose to pay special attention to the forested areas that are valuable for today and future environment.

The only palaeoecological long-term view can provide detailed understanding complexity of ecosystem processes and the landscape legacy that occur in the past. When coupled with ecology, history, archaeology and statistical modelling, such approaches potentially provide stakeholders with visualizations of past and future scenarios. We propose to look to the future, taking into account the experiences and processes of the past - from the Anthropocene and Holocene. Archaeological and historical research - in conjunction with the natural sciences - in the formula of interdisciplinary projects, constitute initiatives that allow the analysis of the above-mentioned past processes. In the context of developing methods and generated data, including remote sensing, it is current research that provides new information about the past and the current situation in a specific area. The goal of the session is to critically evaluate and improve models of anthropogenic pressure on landscape informed by the palaeoecological view and current understanding of past societies' activity, land-use, and history.

The main topics and the aims of the symposium:

  • analyzing interdisciplinary projects aimed at integrated activities related to the protection of cultural and natural heritage,
  • discussion on the role, meaning and possibilities of comprehensive approaches – including the sciences of the past in landscape ecology,
  • discussion on the resilience and resistance of ecosystems to disturbances and their primaeval nature,
  • discussing the acquisition of contemporary, archival data and validation proxies (especially remote sensing),
  • analysis of the inclusion of research results and data to shape sustainable landscapes and societies of the future,
  • discussion on education (including non-formal education) and the promotion and popularization of natural and cultural heritage.