Chair of Forestry Economics and Forest Planning

Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources

Chair of Forestry Economics and Forest Planning

Abkürzung der Fakultät für Umwelt und Natürliche Ressourcen "unr" in der Farbe sand auf grünem, kreisförmigen Hintergrund

The research of the Chair of Forest Economics and Forest Planning focusses on the management of forests, considering a variety of ecosystem services against the background of uncertainty and risk. In research and teaching, the influence of global change, including multiple risks and uncertainties, is analysed from a classical economic perspective, as well as how decision-makers deal with uncertainty and risk from a social science perspective.

News

Awards and honours

Gerhard Speidel Prize 2025

In memory of his work and to promote young scientists, the Speidel family has established the Gerhard Speidel Prize at the Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Freiburg for outstanding scientific achievements in forestry economics and social sciences.

The main prize is endowed with €10,000 and is awarded for an outstanding dissertation or habilitation thesis.
The Young Scientist Award is awarded for an outstanding Master’s thesis (or comparable achievement) and is endowed with €4,000.
Applications are open until 15 December 2025.

Differences in FES between the reference climate and warming scenario

New publication

Djahangard, M., Costa, M., Bugmann, H., & Yousefpour, R. (2026). Global warming levels exceeding 2 °C may cause tipping point of low elevation forests in a peri-urban forest of the Black Forest foothills. Forest Ecosystems, 15, 100403.

This study assessed Freiburg’s forests under 1.5–3 °C warming, finding increased drought mortality, declining timber production, and degraded ecosystem services, with severe impacts occurring when warming exceeds 2 °C.

New EU-Project

RESET: Redefining research management structures and research career development to accelerate Green Growth in Lao PDR (Call: ERASMUS-EDU-2025-CBHE)

RESET is a four-year project (01 January 2026 – 31 December 2029) aimed at modernising research management structures at LAO Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) while promoting sustainable career development for researchers working in areas connected to Green Growth in Lao PDR.

Research

Our research focus and current projects

More

Teaching

Our courses and information about final theses

More

Team

Introduction of our team members with a list of contact details

More

Participation in the Future Forests Cluster of Excellence

The adaptation of complex social-ecological systems to global change is the subject of a Cluster of Excellence Initiative at the German Research Foundation. The aim of the cluster initiative is to develop, analyse and evaluate transformation pathways towards resilient forest-based social-ecological systems, their governance, management and use. The head of the Chair, M. Hanewinkel, is one of the co-spokespersons of the cluster.

Abstraktes Key Visual Future Forests: Bäume, Weltkugel