RD2 News
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.
Greta Thunberg visits PIK at Telegrafenberg-Campus
03.04.2019 - Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old climate activist from Sweden recently visited the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). Thunberg and Luisa Neubauer, the 22-year-old activist of the German „Fridays for Future“-Movement, met with the Directors Johan Rockström and Ottmar Edenhofer and other experts from PIK. They discussed topics like the Paris Agreement and the latest insights from climate science and talked with scientists like Ricarda Winkelmann, Stefan Rahmstorf or Jessica Strefler, as well as PIK Director Emeritus Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, about their research at the institute.
Agricultural risks due to climate change - can insurances mitigate?
20/03/2019 -Top Agrar, a leading monthly journal for farmers in Germany, invited several experts and the German minister for Food and Agriculture, Ms Julia Klöckner, to a seminar "Agriculture in Climate Stress - can insurances limit the risks and where should the state intervene?"
Adaptation in agricultural systems at the African Climate Week
18/03/2019 - For the second time, the "African Climate Week" took place, this time in Accra. The continent is committed to turn the climate threat into a motivator for sustainable development. At a Side-Event from FAO and the Global Resilience Partnership, "Stepping Up action on Building Climate Resilient Agriculture and Food Systems in Africa", PIK Scientists Lisa Murken, Abel Chemura and Jascha Lehmann co-hosted a session on climate risk analysis and agricultural resilience with the GIZ and BMZ.
4C-Kolloquium
27/02/2019 - Petra Lasch-Born and Felicitas Suckow invited the 4C-community to a colloquium on the past, present and future of their life-time achievement: the development of forestry model "4C".
AKTQMG Kolloquium
28/02/2019 - Der Arbeitskreis "Theorie und Quantitative Methoden in der Geographie" kam am 28. Februar und am 1. März am PIK zusammen. Unter dem Motto Empirie - Simulation - Prädiktion wurde ein Spektrum an methodischen und thematischen Arbeit vorgestellt und diskutiert.
Make climate impact models fit for extreme events, says study
01/03/2019 - Computer models used for assessing future global climate change risks are doing a good job when it comes to gradual changes, but they may be underestimating the severity of extreme events, finds an international team of scientists led by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. They compared, for the first time, a large number of different simulations across sectors with the measured impacts of the 2003 European heat wave. In reality, the heat wave and drought in 2003 hit agriculture and ecosystems hard, and caused thousands of excess fatalities. These extreme impacts were not captured by most of the simulations. This means that there is an urgent need to develop models that better represent impacts from climate extremes. It also means that unmitigated global warming might be more costly and stabilizing our climate hence economically more rewarding than so far estimated.
Jonathan Donges awarded with most important prize for young German researchers
28/02/2019 - The German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research have awarded Jonathan Donges of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research with the most important German prize for young researchers. The Heinz Mayer-Leibnitz Prize will be awarded on 28 May to a total of ten scientists, from chemists to historians. It is endowed with 20,000 euros each. Donges is co-lead of the PIK Future Lab "Earth Resilience in the Anthropocene".
PIK is the world's most influential climate think tank - Edenhofer, Schellnhuber, Rahmstorf are among most important German-speaking intellectuals
01/02/2019 - The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) is the world's most influential environmental policy think tank, as the "Global Go To Think Tank Index Report 2018" just published by the University of Pennsylvania shows. On top of this, three PIK scientists are among the "most important German-speaking intellectuals" according to the new Cicero ranking: Ottmar Edenhofer, Director of PIK, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Director Emeritus, and Stefan Rahmstorf, Chair of PIK's research department "Earth System Analysis".
International Green Week: Agriculture expert Lotze-Campen speaks at several events
22/01/2019 - From agriculture and biodiversity to digital technologies in the agricultural sector to climate change and food: During and before the International Green Week (18-21 Jan), agricultural economist Hermann Lotze-Campen, head of research department "Climate Resilience - Climate Impacts and Adaptation" at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, was invited as speaker at several events of various federal ministries in Berlin.
Honorary degree for Professor Zbigniew Kundzewicz
30/11/2018 - Professor Zbigniew Kundzewicz was distinguished with the honorary degree of 'doctor honoris causa' by the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW)
Ten PIK researchers among the most influential scientists in the world
29/11/2018 - Ten scientists, coming from different research domains from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) are among the most highly cited researchers worldwide, according to a new ranking just published. Therewith, they are among the most influential scientifists in the world, their studies among the top 1% of scientific literature. Whether natural sciences or social sciences, PIK is one of the most renowned research institutions in Germany and worldwide, as the now published ranking once again shows.
New York Times interviews Hagen Koch and other experts on Rhine level
04/11/2018 - The prominent American newspaper New York Times features an article on the low level of the Rhine and the problematic consequences for the German economy
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Kropp on the Board of Directors of ICIMOD
18/11/2018 - The BMU/BMZ (Federal Ministries for the Environment/Economic Cooperation) nominated Prof. Dr. Jürgen Kropp as independent member on the Board of Governors of the International Centre for Mountain Development (ICIMOD). In November, the program committee, a subdivison of the Board met in Kathmandu, Nepal to discuss the programs and future outline of this transnational research body.
Congratulations Dr. Hesse!
08/11/2018 - Cornelia Hesse successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled "Integrated water quality modelling in meso- to large-scale catchments of the Elbe river basin under climate and land use change" at the University of Potsdam.
Keynote speech by Dr. Reyer on climate change impacts and resilience thinking in forest management
23/10/2018 - Dr. Christopher Reyer of RD2 gave a keynote speech at the conference "Addressing Ecological and Social Challenges for Forests and Forest Management" in Kiew on the 23rd of October 2018
Document Actions
