Environment Week: REKLIM had its own exhibit at the President of Germany’s environmental expo

In cooperation with the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU), German President Joachim Gauck hosted the Environment Week. More than 600 potential exhibitors applied to participate in the event, and the 190 of them selected by the jury had the opportunity to present their environmental and sustainability-related projects in the park of Bellevue Palace on 7 and 8 June 2016. The Helmholtz Climate Initiative REKLIM was among the candidates selected. For the jury, whose members were chosen by the Office of the Federal President, the projects were primarily judged on the basis of their quality, innovativeness and exemplary character, as well as the feasibility of their implementation. With its exhibit at the event, REKLIM presented “New Approaches in the Dialogue Process with Society at Large” and demonstrated how the challenge of scientific knowledge transfer can be effectively tackled. REKLIM showcased four sample projects, which were intended to portray the opportunities for dialogue on regional climate change that REKLIM affords the scientific community. The web portal meereisportal.de, which garnered an award from the ‘Germany – Home of Ideas’ initiative in 2015, as well as three digital products – a regional Climate Atlas and Climate Monitor for Northern Germany, and a Drought Monitor for Germany as a whole – are intended to document and visually depict climate changes. These products were developed by the Helmholtz Association’s Regional Climate Offices, which serve as essential interfaces between the scientific community and society at large. A further goal was to show how new dialogues can be created through collaborations with university and secondary school students, as evinced by the interdisciplinary media project to accompany the International REKLIM Conference in 2014: ‘Our Climate – Our Future’. In addition, the installations on permafrost created by students from the Wilhelmsburg School in Hamburg were exhibited, offering visitors revealing glimpses into regional climate changes and their societal impacts. The Environment Week focused on environmental protection in general, and on showing how ecology and economy can be reconciled in particular. In an exhibition area measuring nearly 4,000 square metres, the cooperation partners from the areas climate protection; energy; resources; soils and biodiversity; mobility and transport; and construction and housing presented their various projects. Further, the project presentations held in the pavilion tents addressed the aspects education, communication and digitalisation. Lastly, numerous discussions and forums took up questions concerning sustainability and the future of our environment. In the course of two days, the event, which was held for the fifth time in the park of Bellevue Palace, drew several thousand visitors from the business sector, scientific community, civil society, politics and media. Further information on the event is available online at www.woche-der-umwelt.de or in the corresponding press release from the Alfred Wegener Institute. Link to a Helmholtz Association interview with Dr Renate Treffeisen from the Helmholtz Network REKLIM (Regional Climate Change): ‘We learned a great deal from one another’

 

Link to a Helmholtz Association interview with Dr Renate Treffeisen from the Helmholtz Network REKLIM (Regional Climate Change): ‘We learned a great deal from one another