WIRKsam

Wissenschaftliche Koordination zur Entwicklung eines regionalen Klimakatasters (WIRKsam)

WIRKsam is one of eight projects within the BMBF funding measure Regional Information on Climate Action and is coordinated by GERICS and the German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt – UBA). The aim of the funding measure is to build up decision-relevant knowledge on climate change in municipalities and regions and to create a broad basis for tailor-made and reliable services for adapting to the impacts of climate change. New tools will be developed locally in six model regions over a period of three years. In addition, a cross-cutting project (NUKLEUS) will provide high-resolution local climate information for all model regions. WIRKsam, as a scientific coordination project, takes on the task of networking all projects under the funding measure in order to promote the synthesis of results and to enable the transfer of findings to other regions with comparable problems.

In order to achieve these goals, WIRKsam is divided into three building blocks:

(1) internal networking,
(2) accompanying research and
(3) external networking.

Within the framework of internal networking, networking formats are established in the form of thematic working groups that support the exchange of technical and content information between the model regions. The aim is to reflect on the methods and concepts applied in the model regions in order to determine which approaches are particularly effective for which issues. In addition, networking infrastructures are provided, for example in the form of a common data server. The internal networking will be supported by an advisory group of experts who will provide additional impulses for the networking of the projects.

The exchange of content in the working groups will be given a framework through accompanying research, e.g. in the context of talking stock of past and current projects, funding measures, and strategy and agenda processes. Further elements of the accompanying research include the scientific development of a transfer concept, an reflection of transdisciplinary approaches, research on adaptation capacities or on the integrated assessment of climate change and its impacts.

External networking aims to make the findings from the funding measure available for relevant target groups in politics, business, and in local and regional authorities and regions, and thus to achieve a direct impact on action at various levels, e.g. within the framework of national and international strategy and agenda processes such as the IPCC processes or the German Adaptation Strategy. Other target groups are relevant multipliers such as the German Association of Local Utilities or the German Association of Cities and Towns.

Project partners in the WIRKsam project are the Climate Service Center Germany, the German Environment Agency and the Institute for Regional Planning and Development Studies (IREUS) at the University of Stuttgart.

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