The Project
Objectives
ClimOO addresses these issues with various questions. First, we analyse how climate and environmental impacts are defined in existing standards and good practices. Second, we review existing operationalisations for both climate change and (micro)plastic pollution in agriculture and check their comparability. Third, we try to estimate the contribution of South Tyrol’s agriculture with a survey among apple farmers and by analysing soils probes for the presence of microplastic. Finally, we use these results to develop a reference ontology to integrate the data collected by the various methods identified.
Method
To reach these goals, we join the forces of scientific expertise and laboratory experience with philosophical analysis. Definitions and measurement techniques will be both scientifically and philosophically scrutinized and the semantics of resulting data annotated in a computer-tractable format.
Innovation
The project addresses the urgent need for conceptual analysis of basic concepts of climate and sustainability research. There is currently no semantic resource for integrating diverse data in the field, which will be developed by ClimOO and provided on a Creative Commons license. Moreover, it is the first project that collects data on plastics in South Tyrolean agriculture. Finally, ClimOO is innovative in its unique interdisciplinary research design.
Participating researchers
The project involves researchers from four renown South Tyrolean research institutions. It will be led by philosopher of science and expert in knowledge representation Professor Ludger Jansen from PTH. Dr. Werner Tirler, research director of ER, contributes his expertise in environmental chemistry, including his knowledge of measurement techniques and experience in norm committees. His colleagues add expertise in Chemical Technology. Dipl.-Ing. Anna Rottensteiner, group leader of the Working Group on Sustainable Cultivation Systems at LRC, will add the perspective of agricultural sciences and sustainable farming. Finally, Dr. Sarah Notarfrancesco from FHI will add her expertise at the cross-roads of circular economy, sustainability and digital transformation, supported by her colleague Davide Don and his knowhow on environmental topics.
