Connecting Environmental and Social Sustainability through an integrated approach

Dr. Máriam Abbas is currently working at the ITT at TH Köln as part of her scholarship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. (Image: Dr. Máriam Abbas)

“Mozambique is especially vulnerable to extreme weather events like cyclones, floods, and droughts, which have become more frequent in recent years. These disasters destroy crops and disrupt agricultural production. Since most people in Mozambique has agriculture as their main source of subsistence, climate change hits their livelihoods hard. On top of that, deforestation and biodiversity loss are also prominent issues, leading to the need to promote biodiversity conservation and resilience to climate change. Nevertheless, the policies and strategies adopted fail to take into account the social component” Abbas explains.

A Passionate Scientist Driving Food Security and Climate Adaptation

To address these social impacts, Abbas works with partners to develop a framework for adaptation policies that considers the socio-ecological diversity and the local contexts. This framework can be used to derive overarching principles and actionable insights for policymakers, aimed at promoting food security in a climate change context. These would help communities offset resource losses and create alternative pathways for food security and poverty alleviation, based on the local context, while at the same time contribute to achieve environmental objectives.

After obtaining her PhD in Portugal—focusing on the links between climate, agriculture, and social development— Abbas returned home, working as a researcher for Observatório do Meio Rural (OMR), which is an independent research institute in Mozambique aiming to contribute to sustainable agricultural and rural development. There, she coordinated numerous local, national and international projects tackling the effects of climate change on food security and biodiversity conservation. “Involving local communities and addressing social issues in environmental projects is really important to me. Some communities lose access to vital natural resources due to conservation efforts. Without fair compensation and alternatives for income, many families risk falling deeper into poverty.”

International Collaboration and Partnership with TH Köln

Abbas’ postdoctoral research also focuses on blending ecological and social sustainability. She is closely teaming up with ITT researchers, particularly related to the FEMOZ project in Mozambique, and researchers from the School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, within the FARSYMABI Project. The projects developed several activities to spread knowledge of food environments, namely alternative food sources – like wild food and plants – to local multipliers and rural communities, and on the trade-offs and complementarities between biodiversity conservation and rural development (food security and poverty alleviation). Drawing on her expertise, Abbas actively supports knowledge exchange as part of the university partnership between TH Köln, Mozambique’s universities and University of Lisbon.

About the Scholar and the Fellowship

Máriam Abbas obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Mozambique University A Politécnica and completed a Master’s in Economics at the University of Lisbon. She returned to Lisbon for her PhD, focusing on how climate change impacts food security in Mozambique. Her research produced strategies for climate adaptation and how to integrate them into public policy, aiming to promote food security, based on context-sensitive, sustainable and socially just solutions for rural populations.

Abbas was awarded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation the International Climate Protection Fellowship for Postdocs. The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation supports outstanding researchers – postdocs and experienced scientists from around the world – while they work on their projects in Germany. Through this fellowship, Abbas is engaged at the Institute for Natural Resources Technology and Management until February 2027, supervised by Prof. Dr. Sabine Schlüter.