Dayana Ramirez Gutierrez wrote her master’s thesis as part of the EU research project “PHUSICOS.” The project examines the development and acceptance of nature-based solutions involving natural resources for adapting to climate change in Europe’s rural areas. Ms. Gutierrez addressed the question as to how the knowledge of various stakeholders can be bundled and utilized. The aim is to incorporate the knowledge of the region held by local residents, experts, and other stakeholders into the process of shaping the environment and to thereby ensure a higher level of acceptance. The young Columbian also highlights the challenges that arise when involving various stakeholders in environmentally relevant decision-making-processes. Living laboratories in the pilot regions in Norway, the Pyrenees, Italy, Austria, and Germany use the theoretical groundwork established by Gutierrez to co-design their climate protection solutions.
The Audi Environmental Foundation has been supporting young scientists whose ideas make valuable contributions to resources management since 2009. “Dayana Gutierrez takes a descriptive and creative approach to addressing a problem that concerns us all. By pointing out how local residents must be approached and involved in order to implement nature-based solutions, she creates a basis for developing concrete programs,” says Rüdiger Recknagel, Managing Director of the Audi Environmental Foundation.