Karla Locher-Krause

Karla Locher-Krause is a Post-doc Researcher at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, working across the Department of Conservation Biology & Social-Ecological Systems and the Department of Environmental Politics. Her work focuses on bridging scientific research with policy development and societal needs, particularly in biodiversity conservation and sustainable land management.

Dr. Locher-Krause earned her Dr Ing from the Geodesy and Geoinformation Institute at the University of Bonn and the Department of Computational Landscape Ecology at UFZ in 2019. Prior to this, she completed her MSc in Forest Resources at Universidad Austral de Chile in 2010, where she also earned her Forest Engineer degree in 2005. Her academic journey includes positions as an Associate Professor at the University Austral of Chile (2006-2011) and various research roles at UFZ and international institutions.

Her research interests span the science-policy-society interface, ecosystem services, biodiversity, and landscape ecology, with particular expertise in analyzing land use conflicts and tradeoffs between ecosystem services. She investigates how environmental and socio-economic factors influence land use decisions at different scales, applying geographic information systems and remote sensing to environmental challenges. Her work contributes to sustainability transformations through evidence-based approaches for natural resource management.

Dr. Locher-Krause's publication record demonstrates consistent focus on biodiversity policy and ecosystem service valuation, with recent work analyzing the European science-policy-society interface on biodiversity through social network analysis and exploring transformative strategies for enhancing biodiversity in spatial planning. She has made significant contributions to understanding ecosystem service trade-offs in Southern Chile and the role of protected areas in African sustainable development.

• BioAgora HE project (2022-2027) - Scientific Co-coordination
• BioValue HE project (2022-2025) - Work Package lead
• EKLIPSE mechanism - European Knowledge and Learning Mechanism for biodiversity policy

As a member of the Governance Monitor team at UFZ, she contributes to developing scientific foundations for long-term monitoring of political developments related to environmental issues. Her interdisciplinary approach combines natural science with social science perspectives to address complex sustainability challenges, particularly in bioeconomy, chemicals in the circular economy, and climate extremes.