29.11.2023
Source: Energy & Management Powernews
The third monitoring report on the German Climate Adaptation Strategy (DAS) was presented in Berlin. Federal Environment Agency President and Environment Minister emphasized the pressure to act.
Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) and Dirk Messner, President of the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), presented the latest monitoring report on the German Climate Adaptation Strategy (DAS). Speaking to journalists in Berlin on 28 November, they emphasized the need to implement the known measures quickly. Temperatures in Germany are already 1.7 degrees Celsius higher than the long-term average. According to the report, the resulting drought is damaging forests and causing agricultural yields to collapse.
Germany is one of the regions with the highest water loss worldwide. At the same time, the report sees indications that initial measures to protect against heat are having an effect. Overall, however, efforts to adapt to the consequences of the climate crisis need to be intensified. Investments here are far more cost-effective than repairing damage, as the Ahr floods and forest fires showed, said the Federal Environment Minister.
She warned: "Storms, heavy rain, droughts and heatwaves have an impact on people's health, ecosystems and the economy." The good news is that more and more municipalities are becoming aware of their crucial role and are driving forward precautionary measures with concrete projects,
Laws and funding programs
The federal government is supporting them with five key levers: the Climate Adaptation Act and Strategy, the National Water Strategy, the Natural Climate Protection Action Programme and several funding programs, Lemke emphasized. Part of climate adaptation is to turn cities with lots of greenery and unsealed surfaces into sponge regions that mitigate heat waves and also prevent flooding. The rewetting of moors and floodplains could keep water in the landscape and thus also protect against flooding, she said.
UBA President Messner said: "In addition to the damage, the current monitoring report also shows that adaptations are working on the ground." For example, the number of heat-related deaths has been reduced through targeted information campaigns. "The federal and state governments are also already working on the sustainable management of our water resources and soils as part of the National Water Strategy and the Natural Climate Protection Action Program," said Messner. The good thing is that effective measures are known and can be implemented, said the President.
Warming of the environment and the loss of water are associated with measurable ecological consequences. This can be seen in the habitats of fish species. Warming has also led to a change in species composition on land. This was shown, for example, by data on birds and butterflies. New species are migrating from warmer regions, such as the tiger mosquito as a carrier of pathogens, which can have health consequences for humans.
The Climate Adaptation Act and the precautionary climate adaptation strategy with measurable targets, which is currently being developed in a broad participatory process, are intended to make climate adaptation in Germany more binding and ambitious. The Climate Adaptation Act stipulates that the Federal Government will publish a monitoring report on the DAS every four years in future.
The monitoring report records climate impacts and adaptation on the basis of measured data and presents the changes that have taken place in the past and present. The 2023 monitoring report provides information on the 16 fields of action of the DAS. The technical basis of the monitoring report is based on cooperation with more than fifty federal and state authorities, universities and professional associations.
The DAS monitoring report is available online.
Author: Susanne Harmsen
Accessibility
Language
