From 25-26 September 2024, experts from all over Germany came together to discuss the causes and consequences of extreme weather conditions during the Extreme Weather Congress on the campus of Hafen City University in Hamburg. The symposium, which brings together partners from industry, science, authorities and schools, took place for the 18th time and was - as usual - fully booked with over 700 participants.
In addition to around 40 workshops, the symposium offered a varied programme which, alongside statements from political representatives from the Ministry of Research, gave many experts the opportunity to make statements. Extreme weather situations, such as the recent floods in Austria, Romania, Poland and neighbouring regions, as well as in Germany not long before, are now part of our everyday lives. One of the main causes of these extremes is climate change, which favours extreme weather conditions due to physical and oceanographic changes and endangers our coasts and continents.
Panel discussion on the importance of the seas and oceans at the Extreme Weather Congress 2024 in Hamburg. From left to right: Sebastian Unger (BMUV, with microphone), Petra Mahnke (GMT), Achim Kopf (MARUM), Manfred Stender (FUGRO) and Frank Böttcher (EWK organiser). Photo: Mirko Hanemann.
Prof Achim Kopf from MARUM, Centre for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen, represented the DAM research mission mareXtreme as mission spokesperson. In his presentation, he emphasised the numerous points of contact between mareXtreme and the ExtremeWeatherCongress, particularly for the ElbeXtreme, METAscales and PrimePrevention projects. In the subsequent panel discussion with, among others, Sebastian Unger, Federal Government Commissioner for the Marine Environment (Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection) and Petra Mahnke, Managing Director of the Gesellschaft für Maritime Technologien, Kopf emphasised his previous statements. In the end, everyone agreed that only a joint approach by politics, business and science together with society will help to find solutions to the climate crisis and at the same time strengthen society's ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions.
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