Perspectives of Climate Change Adaptation in Organizations …
333
Fig. 5 Result of a multicriteria analysis of potential measures to mitigate erosion in a small river
catchment
a consensus and simultaneously documents the prioritization in a transparent and
comprehensible manner. This was appreciated enormously by all project partners.
It can be interpreted as an important contribution of a university to achieve sustainability of climate change adaptation measures, a field of high practical and societal
significance.
4 Conclusions
Climate change adaptation is a very complex and multi-faceted issue that is appreciated highly in society. Universities as organizations can get involved in the development of climate change adaptation measures in different ways. The goal, however,
is to integrate “science”, on the one hand, and stakeholders outside university on
the other, e.g. in so-called living labs, in order to develop sustainable concepts and
solutions. On the whole universities have (a) an educational mandate, they have to
(b) develop themselves into sustainable organizations and they must (c) develop new
expertise and methods for society outside universities to adapt to climate change in
a sustainable way. Universities should take up all these different roles. They should
actively advertise their competence not only in education, but especially in society at
large and make known that they are willing to facilitate transdisciplinary projects with
stakeholders in local communities, towns, forest and agricultural administrations,
districts, larger administrative fields etc.
Acknowledgements Thank go to the Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and
Nuclear Safety of Germany who funded the BebeR project. Special thanks goes to Maria Lobe van
Camp for supporting in English translation.
333
Fig. 5 Result of a multicriteria analysis of potential measures to mitigate erosion in a small river
catchment
a consensus and simultaneously documents the prioritization in a transparent and
comprehensible manner. This was appreciated enormously by all project partners.
It can be interpreted as an important contribution of a university to achieve sustainability of climate change adaptation measures, a field of high practical and societal
significance.
4 Conclusions
Climate change adaptation is a very complex and multi-faceted issue that is appreciated highly in society. Universities as organizations can get involved in the development of climate change adaptation measures in different ways. The goal, however,
is to integrate “science”, on the one hand, and stakeholders outside university on
the other, e.g. in so-called living labs, in order to develop sustainable concepts and
solutions. On the whole universities have (a) an educational mandate, they have to
(b) develop themselves into sustainable organizations and they must (c) develop new
expertise and methods for society outside universities to adapt to climate change in
a sustainable way. Universities should take up all these different roles. They should
actively advertise their competence not only in education, but especially in society at
large and make known that they are willing to facilitate transdisciplinary projects with
stakeholders in local communities, towns, forest and agricultural administrations,
districts, larger administrative fields etc.
Acknowledgements Thank go to the Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and
Nuclear Safety of Germany who funded the BebeR project. Special thanks goes to Maria Lobe van
Camp for supporting in English translation.