30 Nov 2023
Researchers of various disciplines at LMU Munich are studying how to tackle the risks and challenges arising from global warming. They are also looking for ways to halt climate change and deal with its consequences.
It is a race against the clock: In spite of all appeals and agreements to put a brake on climate change and restrict the increase in global temperatures, human activities continue to emit too much carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. The resultant rise in sea levels will limit our ability to adapt.
© IMAGO / ZUMA Wire / Fatima-Tuj JohoraDo we need an ecological revolution to halt climate change? “I would give nature basic rights, but with nuanced formulations”, says Jens Kersten, Chair of Public Law and Governance at LMU. The expert in constitutional law conducts research into the environment and society in the Anthropocene – and supports the international movement to give better legal protections to nature.
Kersten would include ecology in the fundamental normative principles of the state enshrined in Article 20 (1) of Germany’s Basic Law, he said in an interview on lmu.de
On the fundamental rights of foxes: Professor of law Jens Kersten thinks the German legal system “needs a serious environmental overhaul.” He argues that nature itself should be made a legal person – with constitutional status.
Ann-Katrin Kaufhold is Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law and jointly heads the international research group “The Institutional Architecture for a 1.5°C World” with Professor Rüdiger Veil at LMU’s Center for Advanced Studies. She is interested in the question as to which institutions are suitable for realizing effective climate action:
"The crucial point, I believe, is that we cannot confer this task on an individual institution, an individual person, or an individual sector. When we’re talking about the transformation of society as a whole – and that is what’s required – then we must work all the levers we have. And this is the responsibility of institutions and individuals alike."
Matthias Garschagen, Chair of Human Geography, heads the Teaching and Research Unit for Human Environment Relations at LMU’s Department of Geography. He knows that the global community does not have much time left to act on climate change.
Garschagen is one of the lead authors of the Synthesis Report report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In an interview on lmu.de he explains the consequences of global warming and the risks surrounding adaptation: A dramatic turnaround is needed if we are to reach our climate goals, says Matthias Garschagen.
Interview:
“Previous risk assessments were too optimistic”
LMU geographer Liang Emlyn Yang studies social resilience in dealing with climate change:
"How can you live here?"
Reforestation and a new approach to land management will play a crucial role in efforts to mitigate climate change. Julia Pongratz, Chair of Physical Geography and Land-Use Systems at LMU, studies the impacts of land use on the carbon cycle.
The exploitation of fossil-based carbon resources has accounted for the majority of emissions since the mid-20th century. But changes in land use have also had a substantial impact on greenhouse gases and are responsible for approximately 15% of total CO2 emissions. This proportion rises even further, to approximately 25%, when other greenhouse gases – such as the methane and nitrous oxide (N2O) generated by livestock farming and the use of fertilizers – are included.
Yet land-use practices can also sequester CO2 and remove it from the atmosphere. Forests, for example, store enormous amounts of carbon and therefore serve as vital natural carbon sinks that can be enlarged by practices such as reforestation. “Knowing how different types of vegetation affect the carbon balance is therefore relevant on two counts: in relation to emissions, but also in terms of potential for removing CO2 from the atmosphere,” Pongratz says.
Extreme weather events, such as the disastrous flooding in the Ahr Valley in North Rhine-Westphalia last summer and the episodes of severe drought in recent years, leave no doubt that climate change has now arrived in Germany. Coping with its consequences is perhaps our most urgent challenge in the coming years. Computer-based simulations of the environment are a vital tool for assessing the potential effects of interventions aimed at moderating the impact of global warming.
LMU geographer Ralf Ludwig, an expert in environmental modeling, is leading a project in the new EU-funded research program ARSINOE. Its goal is to develop innovative strategies that will make a positive contribution to climate resilience in nine regions in Europe and suggest concrete ways to implement them.
Interview on the drought: “We must learn to get by with less water”
Agriculture is one of the major drivers of climate change but is also heavily affected by it. Around the world, rising temperatures are among the main reasons for yield reductions. The agricultural sector is thus faced with the major challenge of adapting to climate change in order to ensure food security in the future.
LMU geographer Dr. Florian Zabel, researcher at the Research and Teaching Unit “Physical Geography and Land Use Systems” at LMU’s Department of Geography, is conducting simulations to model how climate change affects agriculture. He also shows what cultivar adaptations are necessary.
“Coral reefs are referred to as the rainforests of the seas,” says Gert Wörheide, Chair of Paleontology and Geobiology at LMU Munich. Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is already experiencing its sixth bleaching episode, which poses a threat to the natural habitat of thousands of organisms.
“Coral bleaching can cause a mass extinction of corals. When that happens, other organisms lack the three-dimensional structure that corals give them – much like trees in a rainforest. Their natural habitat is taken away and biodiversity deteriorates on the coral reef,” Wörheide explains.
Coral bleaching events are triggered by climate change and the associated rise in sea temperatures, leading to far-reaching consequences for humankind.