Land Use
Any kind of land use – not only agricultural and forestry, but also nature conservation and tourism – is directly dependent on climate conditions. Temperature development, water availability and precipitation distribution are decisive factors.
INKA BB mainly focuses on the possibilities of adapting agriculture to future climate change. Arable farming is regarded as a whole system, taking both integrated and organic farming into account. In addition, however, special issues, such as the choice of suitable crop varieties and irrigation systems, agroforestry as a new type of farming system and the avoidance of particulate matter formation are explored. Insurance policies against loss of income due to weather-related crop failure are another component of adaptation strategies. In the “Crop production” technical working group, several sub-projects share their results, and joint field days and other educational events are organised.
In addition to arable farming, INKA BB also deals with adaptation options in horticulture, grassland farming and cattle farming.
With regard to the timeframe for adaptation measures, forestry, which has long production cycles, differs significantly from agriculture, where cropping decisions can be made at short notice. For forestry, it is essential to develop strategies now in order to adapt forests to climate change beyond 2050.
In official nature conservation, protection concepts based on species preservation and “no deterioration” measures have been applied to date. INKA BB is developing proposals to bring flexibility to this static approach, enabling climate change conditions to be considered.
Nature and water tourism may be particularly affected by climate change as it may cause the landscape to be less attractive. Based on the general principle of sustainable tourism, there should be a balanced approach that takes into account the opportunities and risks of climate change.
Scientific debate on the interactions of different land uses and their respective adaptation strategies is conducted in the “Multi-functional landscape use” technical working group.
