Risk and planet earth: vulnerability, natural hazards, integrated adaptation strategies

Conference on the occasion of the International year of Planet Earth and the 600th anniversary of the University of Leipzig.

Constant environmental threats as well as periodically occurring extreme weather events like floods, tempests or heavy turbulences can have a powerful impact on our lives, even more so in the face of climate change and changing patterns of extreme weather events. Preventing the worst effects of such cataclysms requires interdisciplinary academic collaboration as well as close cooperation between academia and politics.

The three-day conference (March 2 – 4 2009) will bring together experts from natural and social sciences to discuss aspects of resilience and strategies for the prevention of catastrophic losses caused by extreme weather events. It further connects multiple perspectives from three different continents: north America, Africa and Europe. The main focus of the conference is on adaptation; that is, adaptation to given parameters, as well as to expected changes. In this context, it is necessary to discuss a) What we know (or do not know) about changing patterns of extreme weather events, b) how we can know about them and how we distribute this knowledge, in order to efficiently prevent disastrous effects, c) which strategies secure optimal adaptation, and d) how these strategies can be implemented in daily practice. While the conference sessions concentrate on the first three issues, the second conference day features several workshops, which deal especially with the question of implementation, thus reflecting both scientific research and concrete practices and bringing together academia and professionals.