“Both sides benefit,” says Frank Wechsung of PIK, one of the project leaders. “We can test our most recent computer models on their ability to produce climate simulations for another country – and our Chinese partners can complement their own computer simulations of complex processes in nature with some German models.” This cooperation also opens new insights for German researchers into adaptation options in China, Wechsung says. “We improve our understanding on the societal backgrounds to water management, which can be decisive for the scale of climate impacts.”
Such a collaboration across political systems and national cultures is “even in today’s globalized world by no means a matter of course”, says Wechsung. It expresses mutual trust developed over time. For some years, PIK has been working with Chinese scientists and local government representatives in the Guanting river basin. This year a project started on the sustainable management of river oases along the Tarim river, which runs largely through desert regions (SuMaRiO).
Weblinks to the Guanting project here and here
Weblinks to the SuMaRiO project here and here
