RD2 News

Launch of Ghana study at COP25 in Madrid
11/12/2019 - Yesterday PIK researchers from the working group Adaptation in Agricultural Systems launched a newly published climate risk analysis for Ghana’s agricultural sector at the COP25 in Madrid. During a UNFCCC side-event organised by PIK together with the African Centre of Meteorological Application for Development (ACMAD), Dr. Christoph Gornott presented key insights from the study.

PIK side-event at the Global Dialogue Platform on Anticipatory Humanitarian Action 2019
12-14/11/2019 - Scientists of the RD2 Working Group 'Adaptation in Agricultural Systems' organised a side session on "Early warnings of food insecurity to allow more time for action: what is already possible?"

Successful collaboration between PIK and Munich Re on crop insurance
01/09/2019 - Crop insurance is considered as a means to escape the poverty trap when low harvests do not delay necessary investments as the loss of revenue is covered by the insurance. The successful acquisition of funding is a result of the work conducted in the "AgRATI India" project funded by the EIT Climate-KIC (a body of the European Union).

Four new AXIS-projects at RD2
23/10/2019 - Four new AXIS-projects with RD2-lead or participation started this autumn: MECCA, MAPPY, CROSSDRO and BioClimapAth.

CASCADES Project Kick-Off
11/10/2019 - The Kick-Off meeting of CASCADES was hosted at PIK at the end of September 2019. The EU-Project on "CAScading Climate risks: towards ADaptive and resilient European Societies" is coordinated by Dr. Ilona M. Otto and Dr. Christopher Reyer.

PeaceLAB-Blog zum Klimaschutz und Krisenprävention
03/09/2019 - Im 'PeaceLAB Blog' welches vom Global Public Policy Institute und dem Auswärtigen Amt betrieben wird, erklären Stefanie Wesch, Lisa Murken und Kira Vinke: 'Warum Klimaschutz Krisenprävention ist: Das Beispiel Burkina Faso'.

Leibniz PhD General Assembly gathers at PIK
26/09/2019 - PhD students from all disciplines of the Leibniz Association are gathering this week in Potsdam to discuss their research, exchange ideas and network. Hosted by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), the two day Leibniz PhD Network General Assembly brings together doctoral researchers for an elaborate programme including talks, discussions and the election of spokespersons. The students were welcomed by Ingo Bräuer, head of PIK's science coordination and transfer, at PIK on Telegrafenberg Science Campus.

Klimanotstand in Potsdam: RD2-Wissenschaftler in der Öffentlichkeit
19/09/2019 - Dr. habil. Fritz Reusswig, Soziologe und RD2-Wissenschaftler in der Urban Transformations-Arbeitsgruppe, hat mehrere Interviews zum Klimanotstand in Potsdam gegeben.

Looking beyond the farm gate: New IPCC Special Report on Land Use and Climate Change
08/08/2019 – Almost three quarters of habitable land on earth are under human use – resulting in substantial impacts on our climate, a new report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shows. Today, almost a quarter of human-made greenhouse gas emissions arise from agriculture, forestry and other land use. The latest IPCC Special Report investigates the current situation, possible future scenarios and potential solutions on how we can use land to feed ourselves, fuel economic growth and limit climate change risks. Two Potsdam scientists figure as lead authors of the chapter on food security and on the relations between land and climate.

Drought. Water stress. Extreme weather events. How does climate change impact agriculture in Europe?
05/08/2019 - This summer news on extreme weather events is ubiquitous. Central Europe experienced unprecedented dry spells and heat waves leading to stress for humans and also agricultural crops. This raises the following question: What are the climate change impacts on crop production in Europe?

Artikel über Niger mit RD2-Wissenschaftler Stefanie Wesch und Stefan Liersch
22/06/2019 - Der Artikel 'Arm und vergessen' erschienen im Schwäbisches Tagblatt macht auf die Situation in Niger aufmerksam. Ein Land, das schon genug Probleme hat wird nun von der Klimawandel besonders schwer getroffen.

Prof. Lotze-Campen beim Frühstücksfernsehen
21/06/2019 - RD2 Forschungsabteilungsleiter Hermann Lotze-Campen war heute früh beim Sat1 Frühstücksfernsehen eingeladen um über die uns bevorstehende Hitze und den Zusammenhang mit dem Klimawandel zu reden

EUCalc@ the EU Sustainable Energy Week
20/06/2019 - European Calculator Model Rollout: Jürgen Kropp of RD2 talked about "Shaping Europe's energy future; what pathway would you choose to get to net zero - a sneak peek EUCalc" in an 'Energy Talk' part of the EU Sustainable Energy Week.

CO2-pricing: German chancellor Angela Merkel visited PIK for a scientific briefing
14/06/2019 - For more than two hours, German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) last Thursday, June 13th, to discuss climate change and climate policy with Director Ottmar Edenhofer and other researchers. A special focus of the meeting lay on options for an effective and fair CO2 pricing. Besides Mrs Merkel, Minister of State to the Federal Chancellor, Helge Braun, spokesman State Secretary Steffen Seibert and experts from the Chancellery also took part. A good two dozen researchers from all research departments at PIK were involved in the round table discussion taking place the Great Cupola of PIK's historic Michelson building and presented research results on climate risks and possible solutions for the climate crisis.

Climate protection and peace are two sides of the same coin: Berlin Climate and Security Conference
04/06/2019 –Climate change knows no borders, and climate crises can affect security, ranging from food security and displacement to an increasing number of natural disasters. Indeed, a destabilised Earth system can make peace harder to achieve and sustain, and may even be a contributing factor to new violent conflicts. This makes our climate a foreign policy issue. In cooperation with the Federal Foreign Office and the think tank adelphi, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research has initiated the Berlin Climate and Security Conference to provide a forum for this rising issue. The summit will gather support for the “Berlin Call for Action”, directed at every foreign policy institution to step up efforts to address one of the greatest global security and foreign policy challenges of the 21st century: Climate change.

Climate mitigation can – and must – include policies to assure food security
13/05/2019 – Policies that aim at limiting dangerous climate change need to account for food security issues. For the first time, tradeoffs between climate mitigation and food security have now been analyzed in a so-called multi-model assessment: many different computer simulations dealing with the same issue. The costs for food-smart climate policies are around 0.2% of global economic output in 2050, an international team of scientists. However, carelessly designed climate policy could increase the number of people at risk of hunger, at least compared to a baseline scenario, according to the study now published in Nature Sustainability. Compared to today, the number of people at risk of hunger is likely to sink in all scenarios studied. Yet if no climate policy at all would be implemented, the resulting risks for crop failure due to droughts and floods might also lead to hunger and costs. Including these impacts of extreme events is a challenge for future research.

Dry spring worries farmers in Germany
29/04/2019 - The beginning of spring has started out dry. Very low soil water contents, which hardly recovered from the drought in the summer of 2018, may negatively affect agricultural harvests in Germany. Prof. Hermann Lotze-Campen, head of the PIK Research Departement Climate Resilience, was interviewed by several media about extreme weather, water levels, agriculture and related adaptation.

RD2 @ EGU
7-12/04/2019 - This year's General Assembly of the European Geosceinces Union (EGU) featured several sessions and presentations by scientists from the Climate Resilience Department at PIK. Ines Blumenthal co-convened a session on "Climate Change Education" and Christoph Müller convened a session on "Modeling agricultural systems under global change".

Wissenschaftliche Politikberatung am PIK
10/04/2019 - Wissenschaftler am PIK sind auf verschiedenen Ebenen auch ehrenamtlich in der Politikberatung aktiv, um relevante Erkenntnisse aus der Wissenschaft in den gesellschaftlichen Diskurs einzubringen. Prof. Dr. Manfred Stock von RD2 ist in diesem wichtigen Bereich schon lange aktiv und wurde nun erneut in verschiedene Gremien berufen.

Ein Umdenken bei der Landwirtschaft ist unabdingbar
03/04/2019 - Im Artikel "Agrarexperten streiten über Lehren aus der Dürre" in "klimareporter" stellt RD2-Agrarwissenschaftler Frank Wechsung klar, dass wir mit mehr Wetterextremen zu rechnen haben und dass die Landwirtschaft sich entsprechend anpassen muss.
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