ZMT was founded shortly after the Rio Conference on sustainable development in 1992. It addresses the scientific issues related to the management of tropical coastal marine ecosystems and their resources and contributes to building global partnerships for research, education and training. Through these activities ZMT contributes to the goals set by the Agenda 21 of the United Nations Convention on Environment and Development (UNCED).

Basic funding for ZMT‘s regular scientific staff, visiting scientists, technicians and running costs is provided by the "Society for the Promotion of Scientific Research in the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen", a governmental institution of the Senate of Bremen. For research projects, further funding is acquired from the Federal Ministry for Education, Science, Research and Technology (BMBF) and from other national, European and international sources. They account for about two-thirds of the total ZMT budget. At present, there are about 43 staff members working at the Center.

Major research interests at ZMT focus on the ecology of tropical coastal regions with the objective to improve the scientific information base for protection and utilisation of tropical coastal ecosystems. By linking natural science questions on the structure and functions of ecosystems with social science subjects concerning resource utilisation by man, interdisciplinary research methodologies are being developed. Research is being planned in the form of multi- and interdisciplinary modules all contributing to answer questions of system dynamics and resource management. ZMT's largest project (MADAM - Mangrove Dynamics and Management) in northern Brazil, which was designed for a ten-year’s period of cooperative research, is an example for this new interdisciplinary approach. Current research activities are conducted in South and Central America, Western and Southern Africa, the Middle East and in South and Southeast Asia. The multidisciplinary research includes the fields of ecology, biogeochemistry, socio-economics, modelling as well as management of tropical coastal ecosystems to advance knowledge on structure and functioning of coastal ecosystems.

In cooperation with Bremen university ZMT created in 1999 an international M.Sc. programme called ISATEC (International Studies in Aquatic Tropical Ecology). ISATEC aims at the joint education and specialisation of German and foreign postgraduate students in the field of tropical aquatic ecology, including theoretical and applied ecology, with emphasis on concepts and methodologies for the sustainable utilisation and conservation of tropical aquatic ecosystems. Thus, fisheries biology aquaculture sciences as well as ecological economics and social sciences relevant to coastal planning and management are major parts of the programme. The education in multicultural groups, the solution of conflicts as well as the realisation of the benefits of diverse backgrounds, will further qualify graduates for working international teams. During the 3rd term, students will apply this acquired knowledge while carrying out research projects at one of the tropical partner institutions/universities to collect data for their M.Sc. – theses. The target group are graduates with a strong interest in tropical ecology and the management of natural resources, desiring to work on applied issues, possibly in international multidisciplinary teams on a local, international or global level.

Homepage:

www.zmt.uni-bremen.de