Abstract in English

KLARA-Net

Network for Climate Change Adaptation in the Region Starkenburg (South of Hesse, Germany)

In mid-2006, the Chair of Environmental and Spatial Planning of the Technical University Darmstadt started with the research project KLARA-Net which is part of the funding priority of the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) “Research for Climate Protection and Protection from Climate Impacts”. The funding priority is embedded in the BMBF framework programme “Research for Sustainability” (fona).

Phase I

Since 1st June 2006, a regional network of stakeholders from the region of Starkenburg has been in operation, which actively deals with the adaptation to climate change in the region. The goal is to develop future-oriented and effective action and implementation strategies for different stakeholders within the network, such as the building industry, agriculture and forestry, tourism and the health sector. The initiatives launched by the project not only illustrate measures to cope with and reduce climate-related damage, but also point out the potential for new products, public services, and business processes, thus realizing and taking up the participants’ comparative advantages over their competitors. The Max Planck Institute for Meteorology supports the project with appropriate climate models and forecast data.

Phase II

The progress made by the project during the first phase showed the great importance to the region of regional knowledge about dealing with the effects of climate change and also of trend-setting programmes and plans at the legislative level (federal state of Hesse). Both are needed when it comes to initiating rapid adaptation processes to climate change.
Accordingly, in the second phase, strategies are being mapped out to pass on the findings of the thematic groups on regional adaptation requirements to the regulatory and legislative level. In addition, the network is developing appropriate methods in order to accelerate the process of adaptation and implementation within the area under investigation.

Contact

Technical University Darmstadt
Institute WAR, Chair of Environmental and Spatial Planning
Scientific head: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Hans Reiner Böhm
Contact: Dipl.-Ing. Lena Herlitzius
Petersenstr. 13
D-64287 Darmstadt
Tel.: +49-6151/16-3148
Fax.: +49-6151/16-3739
E-Mail: l.herlitzius [at] iwar.tu-darmstadt.de

Publications

Birte Frommer, Lena Herlitzius, 2007: KLARA-Net: An Interdisciplinary Action Oriented Approach on Climate Change Adaptation. In: Walter Leal Filho, Franziska Manke, Philipp Schmidt-Thomé, 2007: Information, Communication and Education on Climate Change - European Perspectives, Umweltbildung, Umweltkommunikation und Nachhaltigkeit, Vol. 26, Peter Lang GmbH, pp. 145-163, ISBN 978-3-631-56682-4