Press Release: German Baltic Coastline Becomes Model Region for Adaptation to Climate Change

Press Release: German Baltic Coastline Becomes Model Region for Adaptation to Climate Change
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Press Release: German Baltic Coastline Becomes Model Region for Adaptation to Climate Change

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Berlin, 28 July 2009

On the coast of the Baltic Sea in Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, climate change and the region’s possibilities to adapt to it will be researched for five years. As one of seven selected regions across Germany, it will be funded with close to nine million euros by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the framework of the ministry’s initiative KLIMZUG (“Managing climate change in the regions for the future”).

The RADOST („Regional Adaptation Strategies for the German Baltic Sea Coast“) project will be carried out by a network of more than 60 mostly regional partners. The essential idea of the project, coordinated by the Ecologic Institute in Berlin, is to establish a close linkage between science and practice. Beside research facilities like the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde, the University of Kiel, and the University of Rostock, a number of public authorities like the State Agency of Environment and Nature (StAUN) Rostock and the State Agency for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Areas Schleswig-Holstein (LLUR) are directly engaged in the project. Engineering companies and other regional businesses will explore applications of research results

Today, millions of euros per year are already invested in coastal protection in the region. The efficient usage of these funds requires predictions about the coast line’s future development to be as precise as possible. However, the specific impacts of climate change – caused by the rising sea level, modified currents or an increase of surges – are still very uncertain. RADOST will link leading models of water levels, swell, currents and matter transport and illustrate these changes in more detail than before.

Baltic Sea coast tourism could quite possibly be amongst the winners of climate change. Higher temperatures not only give the opportunity to extend the bathing season but could also drive tourists, for whom the Mediterranean region is becoming too hot, up to northern beaches. However, the increase of the water temperature is an issue for its quality, the more so since the Baltic Sea already suffers from excess nutrient input. Within RADOST, the changes in conditions of nutrient input from agriculture will be analysed in detail.

Furthermore, the RADOST project will also focus on nature conservation, ports and maritime economy, as well as renewable energies. Implementation projects will illustrate the economic opportunities of innovative responses to climate change. Examples thereof include combining coastal protection constructions with diving tourism activities or geothermal energy generation; market perspectives for the cultivation of algae, sea shells and other marine organisms; design optimisation of ships for the use on routes through the Baltic Sea under future environmental conditions; and new marketing strategies for beach tourism.

The regional project launch is scheduled to take place on 5/6 October 2009 in Rostock-Warnemünde. RADOST will be presented at the “Küstenmanagement und Klimawandel” (coastal management and climate change) congress along with a number of other research projects on similar subjects. The first RADOST regional conference is planned for early 2010.

Contact:

Dr. Grit Martinez (project leader) /  Daniel Blobel
Tel.: ++49 - 30 - 86 88 0 - 0
presse@klimzug-radost.de

Ecologic Institute, Berlin
Pfalzburger Strasse 43/44 | 10717 Berlin | Germany
Tel. +49 (30) 86880-0 I Fax +49 (30) 86880-100
/ | http://www.ecologic-events.eu

The Ecologic Institute is a private not-for-profit think tank for applied environmental research, policy analysis and consultancy with offices in Berlin, Brussels, Vienna, and Washington DC. An independent, non-partisan body, the Ecologic Institute is dedicated to bringing fresh ideas to environmental policies and sustainable development.

RADOST collaborative partners:

  • Ecologic Institute, Berlin - Coordination
  • Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research, Warnemünde (IOW)
  • Institute for Coastal Research at the GKSS Research Centre, Geesthacht
  • Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Berlin
  • Department of Coastal Engineering at the Institute for Environmental Engineering, University of Rostock (URCE)
  • State Office of Environment and Nature (StAUN) Rostock
  • Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW), Berlin
  • Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute (vTI)  – Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries, Braunschweig
  • Institute of Applied Ecology (IfAÖ), Neu Broderstorf
  • EUCC – The Coastal Union Germany, Warnemünde
  • State Office of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Areas of the State of Schleswig-Holstein (LLUR)

Contractors amongst others:

  • GICON – Großmann Ingenieur Consult GmbH – Rostock Branch Office
  • Company for Environment & Coast, Kiel
  • Coastal Research & Management (CRM), Kiel
  • Department of Geography, University of Kiel
  • Schleswig-Holstein Agency for Coastal Defence, National Park and Marine Conservation (LKN), Husum

More than 50 additional partners from public administration (federal, state and regional authorities, municipalities), business (associations and individual companies) and research institutions have agreed to participate. The network is continuously being expanded.