Austrian Climate Days - 14th edition
19. May. 2013
by Jo Hochgerner
'14. Österreichischer Klimatag': University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (Universität für Bodenkultur), 4 th - 5th of April 2013
The conference setting of the annual "Climate Day" provides an overview concerning current topics relevant in climate change, research results, adaptation and mitigation strategies. This year about 170 particpants were registered from science, public administration and many stakeholder groupings. It took place on April 4-5, 2013, at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU).
This year's event was for the first time organised under the responsibility of the Climate Change Centre Austria (CCCA), an association connecting climate research organisations of Austria in a bottom-up process. ZSI is founding member of CCCA, and was also involved in the conference. The CCCA has been officially established in July 2011 as a coordinating facility to promote and support climate research in Austria with particular focus on strengthening the climate research landscape in Austria, facilitating the education of a new generation of researchers and supporting knowledge transfer, and advising politics and society.
Besides core scientific parts - on meteorology and impact of climate change e.g. on insects, forestry or heat islands in cities - the climate days 2013 also dealt with issues from social scientific realms, such as "Economy and politics" or "Policy measures". You may find the programme of the conference and a documentation online here.
At present the CCCA is developing a strategic "Science Plan", aiming to instigate nationally and internationally significant and practically relevant research in four main areas:
- Physical scientific foundations of climate research
- Societal drivers and social dimensions of climate change
- Impact, adaptation and vulnerability
- Mitigation and societal transformation
Climate and energy are two of the most important challenges facing developments in the 21st century. What is required, is better foresight and comprehension of ongoing processes, and to shape social change including the necessity of specific social innovation. The ZSI contributes to the Science Plan, relying on own experiences, competencies and networks from a growing number of EU projects working on respective topics. Among these projects are Covenant CapaCITY, SOCIENTIZE, and some more to come which are currently in the process of negotiation with the European Commission to be launched later this year or early 2014.
Related Articles:
Tags: climate change