Sustainability of agro, forest and water ecosystems

The purpose of the National Research Programme 'Sustainability of agro-, forest and water ecosystems' is to understand and be able to forecast the general effects of climate change and the intensive use of ecosystem resources, and to obtain new fundamental and empiric knowledge to enable the avoidance of threats related to these effects. A characteristic feature of Lithuania is an intensive and market-driven agriculture and forestry sector that contributes to soil degradation and creates a threat to the landscape, biological diversity, and the sustainability of agro-, forest and water ecosystems. The accelerating climate change also affects all the components of ecosystems in addition to their functions and will eventually create new environmental conditions unprecedented in the history of Lithuania. The emerging ecosystem degradation processes are complex and difficult to manage, and need to be examined in a comprehensive manner in order to obtain results which will constitute a basis for taking decisions and proposing the relevant measures.

The objective of the programme is to obtain, analyse and generalise, through integrated scientific research, new scientific knowledge about the impact of climate change and the use of ecosystem resources on the ecosystems of Lithuania, their adaptability to the changing climate and environmental conditions, and, having acquired new fundamental and empiric knowledge about the overall consequences of the use of ecosystem resources, to propose measures to avoid threats related to such consequences and draw up new guidelines for controlling and restoring the sustainability of ecosystems.

Two tasks are designed to meet the objective of the programme: 

Task 1	Task 2
Study the effects of climate change and other environmental stress factors on agro-, forest and water ecosystems, their productivity and biological diversity	study how the intensive exploitation of resources affects agro-, forest and water ecosystems, identify the long-term consequences and the possible damage caused by such impact, and propose measures for the restoration of sustainability

Related documents

• National Research Programme 'Sustainability of agro-, forest and water ecosystems'
• General Rules of the Research Council of Lithuania for the Competitive Funding of Research and Dissemination Projects
• Description of the Procedure of the Expert Evaluation of the Projects and their Reports
• Description of the procedure for the preparation and implementation of the national research programmes
• Illustrative Lists of Eligible Scientific and/or Technological Output under Research and Dissemination Projects
• Form of proposal for the implementation of a project of the National Research Programme 'Sustainability of agro-, forest and water ecosystems'

Further information is provided by chief officer Gražina Adamonytė, tel. +370 676 18580,
e-mail grazina.adamonyte@lmt.lt (Gedimino av. 3, room 124).