On June 9th Mistra’s Board of Directors decided to grant a maximum of 60 million Swedish Crowns for a first four-year phase of the new programme Future Forests – Sustainable Strategies under Uncertainty and Risk, at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Umeå University and Skogforsk. The forest and how we use it is in focus and the goal of the programme is to develop useful and sustainable forestry management strategies for a future characterized by change. The challenge lies in ensuring that forest resources are adequate to meet many different needs.Climate change, globalization and ever increasing consumption of energy and raw materials increase demand for forest-based resources. Intensifying forestry to produce more timber, paper and energy, while at the same time protecting biodiversity, recreation and other ecosystem services, is a necessary and complex task.
Fateful question
“The forest is one of Sweden’s most important resources, and forest-land-use management is an issue of fate. Forestry can no longer have priority when it comes to land use: we must use the forest in a new way. That is what Future Forests will focus on,” says Ola Engelmark, Mistra’s Executive Director. The go ahead for the programme is conditional on the forestry industry providing matching funds.
Tomorrow’s homes
The Board also decided to grant a maximum of 45 million Swedish Crowns for a first four-year phase of the programme Homes for Tomorrow at Chalmers University of Technology. The programme will focus on how future homes can be designed in a globalized world, so that they meet people’s anticipated needs while at the same time using radically less resources and energy. The programme will examine technical solutions for achieving the goal of energy- and resource-efficient houses and, at the same time, address the aesthetic and social dimensions of housing.
Mistra’s Board also decided to continue to finance three ongoing research programmes. The Steel Eco-cycle was granted a maximum of 55 million Swedish Crowns for a second four-year phase, under the condition that industry contributes matching funds. The overarching goal of the programme is to contribute to ensuring that steel and alloys associated with it aren’t loss in the steel lifecycle. At the same time, the programme is attempting to increase the efficiency of the steel lifecycle.
Aphids
PlantComMistra was granted 49 million Swedish Crowns for a second four-year phase. The programme aims to optimize plants’ innate ability to send chemical signals that prevent attacks from aphids and, in addition, send signals to aphids’ natural enemies when under attack.
Both sub-programmes of the research programme Sustainable Investments (Behavioral Impediments to Sustainable Investments in Gothenburg and the Sustainable Investment Research Platform in Umeå) were granted 18 and 40 million Swedish Crowns respectively for a second four-year phase. The researchers in Gothenburg are studying what barriers exist to more institutional shareholders adopting sustainability criteria in their asset management, while the Umeå group is focusing on financial and capital markets. Sustainable Investments contributes to developing better analytical tools and explores, for example, the extent to which sustainable investing is beneficial for investors, companies and the environment.
Mistra contacts:
Clas-Uno Frykholm
Executive Director (Acting)
Phone: +46 8 791 1022
Cell: +46 70 732 3002
Email: clas-uno.frykholm@mistra.org
Research programme contacts:
Future forests – Sustainable Strategies under Uncertainty and Risk
Mistra support: 60 million Swedish Crowns
Programme Director: Tomas Lundmark, SLU
Phone: +46 933 61563
Cell: +46 703 631 7412
Email: tomas.lundmark@esf.slu.se
Homes for Tomorrow
Mistra support: 45 million Swedish Crowns
Program Director: Greg Morrison, Chalmers University of Technology
Phone: +46 31 772 1937
Email: greg.morrison@chalmers.se
PlantComMistra
Mistra support: 49 million Swedish Crowns
Programme Director: Lisbeth Jonsson, Södertörn University, School of Life Sciences
Phone: +46 8 608 4541
Email: lisbeth.jonsson@sh.se
Behavioral Impediments to Sustainable Investments
Mistra support: 18 million Swedish Crowns
Programme Director: Evert Carlsson, Gothenburg University
Phone: +46 31 786 2556
Cell: +46 70 590 8224
Email: evert.carlsson@cff.gu.se
Sustainable Investment Research Platform
Mistra support: 40 million Swedish Crowns
Programme Director: Lars Hassel, Umeå School of Business, Umeå University
Phone: +46 90 786 7132
Email: lars.hassel@usbe.umu.se
The Steel Eco-cycle
Mistra support: 55 million Swedish Crowns
Programme Director: Birgitta Lindblad, Jernkontoret
Phone: +46 8 679 1700
Email: birgitta.lindblad@jernkontoret.se
