Newsletter 16 from Coordination Unit for Research in Climate Change Adaptation, KFT 

New leader of the KFT secretariat
Henning Høgh Jensen has taken over the responsibility for the KFT secretariat September 2011 after Lars Moseholm who has moved to a new position at AU. Henning has a leadership profile that is largely social science based, as he comes from the former NERI where he headed the Department of Policy Analysis.

KFT and international activities
Connecting climate knowledge for Europe (JPI-Climate) is a joint programming initiative which was established at a meeting 30th of May in Helsinki where a Governing Board (GB) adopted terms of reference for their work. Germany holds the chairmanship and Norway the vice-chairmanship. In addition 12 countries including Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland participate in the initiative. The institutions NORDFORSK, The European Environment Agency (EEA) and the ERA-net Circle are furthermore linked to the GB as observers. Denmark is represented in GB by the Danish Council for Strategic Research. Currently, the Danish representatives are Lene Cividanes (lecd@fi.dk), International coordinator at the Strategic Research Council as well as Svend Binnerup (sbi@dmu.dk), senior science adviser at KFT. The aim of joint programming initiative is to develop a joint European research agenda within specified topics – and allocate national funding to stimulate joint transnational research activities within the framework of EU.

A list of GB members, terms of reference, the strategic research agenda and other documents can be found at the JPI-climate website:  http://www.jpi-climate.eu/

Projects and funding
DTU-Veterinary, National Veterinary Institute, has finalized the project “Nordic Climate Change; Modelling vector-borne diseases” funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers. Part of the results is displayed at www.nordrisk.dk. Focus is on the effect of current and projected future temperatures on the spread of selected vector-borne diseases in the Nordic region.

Forest & Landscape, KU is part of CIDEA - Citizen Driven Environmental Action Program: Involvement and motivation of citizens in climate action. The emphasis is on mitigation, but many of the elements are at the same time equally relevant for adaptation, e.g. where do citizens seek information about climate change; see the project webpage for more information. The project is conducted together with other partners at KU, DHI and a number of Danish municipalities and is funded by the Danish Strategic Research Council.

Forest & Landscape, KU is part of MOTIVE - Models for Adaptive Forest Management (EU FP7), where we raise the question: Which trees can adapt best to climate change? In this project we investigate adaptive management strategies that address climate and land use change, and examine the impacts of these changes with respect to a broad range of forest goods and services. The project is funded through FP7; see the project webpage for more information.

Upcoming events

‘Science for the Environment - Environment for Society’ Conference, Aarhus 5-6 October 2011
15 scientific sessions and 5 thematic workshops, bringing together researchers and practitioners. Among the climate related sessions are: ‘Climate models : uncertainties, effects and adaptation’, ‘The impacts of green energy policies’ and the workshop ‘Nature management in a climate perspective’.

World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) Open Science Conference – “Climate Research in Service to Society”. 24-28 October 2011;Denver, CO, USA. Through a unique synthesis of research findings, this conference will assess our current state of knowledge on climate variability and change, identify the most urgent scientific issues and research challenges, and ascertain how the WCRP can best facilitate research and develop partnerships critical for progress.

Global Change Conference Planet Under Pressure: new knowledge towards solutions 26-29 March 2012; London, UK. A major international science conference focusing on solutions to the global sustainability challenge. Deadline for submission of abstracts is 16 September 2011.

PhD courses

Motivation and behaviour in relation to climate change
14- 18 November 2011, University of Copenhagen, Department of Forest & Landscape, Aud. A3-24.11.Rolighedsvej 23, 1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark

The aim of this course is to introduce PhD students to different theoretical approaches in the study of motivation and behaviour in relation to climate change. Registration no later than 15 October. Read more and register at www.sl.life.ku.dk/English/research/ph_d_studies/activities_and_courses/Motivation.aspx

Links

Sea level data and recent sea level articles
Measurements from the TOPEX and Jason series of satellite radar altimeters have allowed estimates of global mean sea level. The global mean sea level (GMSL) rate from 1993 to 2010 is 3.2±0.2 mm/year.

European Climate Assessment & Dataset
This dataset presents is information for Europe on changes in weather and climate extremes, as well as the daily dataset needed for monitoring and analysing these extremes.

Based on the work by the Danish Commission on Climate Change Policy, Katherine Richardson et al. have published the paper Denmark’s Road Map for Fossil Fuel Independencein  Solutions Journal. 

Nature Climate Change has an interview with Patric Huntjens on Learning to adapt. Patrick Huntjens is an expert in both complex systems and policy and has worked with specialists in social science, ecology, hydrology and civil engineering to compare water-management practices across countries and to provide guidance for adaptation under climate variability.

Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) has published a new report, where the social cost of carbon (SCC) has been analysed. The figure the U.S. government applies $21 per ton of CO₂. But that figure which this peer-reviewed report shows, is based on fundamentally flawed methodologies and grossly understates the potential impact and uncertainty of climate change. Making small adjustments to the models to reflect these factors, lead to values as high as $893 per ton in 2010 and $1550 in 2050.

Kind regards,

The KFT Secretariat

kft@dmu.dk
http://kft.au.dk/
www.climateprojects.dk

KFT isestablished under the government’s strategy for adaptation to climate change in Denmark. Participating institutions: Aarhus University (AU), Technical University of Denmark (DTU), University of Copenhagen (KU), Danish Meteorological Institute(DMI) and the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS).

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KFT Newsletters – a Platform for Researchers
Recipients of KFT newsletters are invited to contribute to the newsletter concerning climate, climate impact and climate change adaptation research. News of interest includes information on calls, networks, launched projects, events, etc.

Contributions can be submitted to kft@dmu.dk and will be considered by KFT against the criteria of theme and general interest. Please add sender information to allow KFT to collect further information.

KFT and the Science-Policy Nexus
KFT is responsible for the Danish Database on Climate Research Projects. The database is an important tool to support the coordination of accumulated research knowledge in Denmark and is also a platform for disseminating new findings on climate research. The information here is valuable both in a national and international context and it is promoted through KFT’s international network. It is, however, important that the database is updated continuously and we encourage you all to add new relevant projects that you have. This can be done electronically (via add new project) and will only take a few minutes.