District establishes climate adaptation management
Heatwaves, floods, extreme weather events: Our climate is changing - even in Waldeck-Frankenberg. In order to adapt to this change, the district has established a climate adaptation management programme and hired two specialists for this purpose: Katharina Saure and Arne Jäger have recently joined the Environment and Climate Protection Department.
The consequences of climate change are also being felt more strongly and more frequently in Germany: it is getting warmer and extreme weather events such as storms, heavy rain, heatwaves and droughts are increasing. This has been evident in the heat and drought of the summer months as well as in the heavy rainfall and flooding of recent years.
Climate: protection and adaptation go hand in hand
The district of Waldeck-Frankenberg is also preparing for this change. Climate protection and climate adaptation go hand in hand. "While climate protection aims to prevent or mitigate environmental damage, climate adaptation measures aim to deal with the tangible effects of climate change," emphasises District Administrator Jürgen van der Horst. "The common goal of climate adaptation is to ensure the well-being and quality of life for the population and future generations in the district of Waldeck Frankenberg."
Individual concepts for 21 municipalities
To this end, the district has appointed two climate adaptation managers, Katharina Saure and Arne Jäger. Over the next two years, Katharina Saure and Arne Jäger will work with the 21 towns and municipalities to develop a concept for adapting to climate change for the district of Waldeck-Frankenberg in order to lay the first foundations for municipal climate adaptation. "The concept will be customised for each municipality: There will be an individual catalogue of measures for each town and municipality," says Katharina Saure, who studied biodiversity and ecology at the University of Göttingen and is currently completing her master's degree in landscape ecology. "This will also help us to apply for funding for the individual measures," adds Arne Jäger, who studied geosciences and geography in Frankfurt am Main and has already worked as a town coordinator for the towns of Marsberg and Homberg (Efze). Both are available to the municipalities for questions, ideas and suggestions and can be contacted by e-mail at klimaanpassung@lkwafkb.de. Further information is also available here.
Background
The Climate Adaptation Act (KAnG) came into force on 1 July 2024. It provides the legal framework for the federal states to present their own climate adaptation strategies and ensure that local authorities draw up climate adaptation concepts. The district of Waldeck-Frankenberg has also established a climate adaptation management system. The development of the concept is supported by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) and the project management organisation Zukunft Umwelt Gesellschaft (ZUG) with a funding rate of 80%. The aim of climate adaptation management is to make the district, society and the natural environment more resilient to the effects of climate change so that they can live more safely and cope better with the impending changes.
Caption: Arne Jäger (2nd from left) and Katharina Saure are the district's new climate adaptation managers - and together with Dr Markus Pfuhl (left) from the Klimaneutrales Waldeck-Frankenberg association, District Administrator Jürgen van der Horst (3rd from right) and Ralf Enderlein, head of the district's environmental and climate protection department, they are responsible for the district's climate adaptation strategy. (Photo: District of Waldeck-Frankenberg)
Keywords:
Environment and Climate Protection Climate Adaptation Management Climate Protection