klamis – Climate adaptation in Central and Southern Hesse | Umweltbundesamt

Background and Goals

The model region corresponds to a great extent with the Hessian section of the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main metropolitan region and includes the planning regions of Central and Southern Hesse, including the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main conurbation planning association. With an area of around 13,000 km², Central and Southern Hesse is the largest of the KlimaMORO model regions. A total of 4.8 million people live there, with significant variations in population density in different areas. Because of the diversity of the individual areas, different changes and adaptation requirements are expected as a result of climate change.

Academics do not dispute that climate change is intensifying worldwide, and its effects are increasingly impacting on all regions and having an influence on a huge variety of areas of life. Hesse is already experiencing increasingly high macroeconomic losses due to extreme weather events, and their frequency is likely to increase as climate change progresses further. Therefore, development and implementation of effective concepts are necessary to adapt to the inevitable consequences, with the regional planning level playing a central role.

The objective of the project is ongoing development of regional planning policy instruments against the backdrop of climate change and strengthening the position of regional planning in the risk management process, e.g. by setting up regional networks.

Activities:

1. Evaluation of climate-related forecasts in regional plans;
2. Assessment of the risks and opportunities of climate effects;
3. Consequences for regional plans and climate adaptation strategy;
4. Risk management.

There are four main focus areas:

1. Municipal climate: The threat of overheating in urban areas requires adapted housing and infrastructure planning, paying special attention to maintaining areas that can impact the climate by ensuring urban ventilation.
2. Flooding: The increasing flood risk requires adapted spatial planning that protects existing floodplains and promotes the reclamation of potential retention areas.
3. Agriculture: The objective of spatial planning should be to secure agricultural locations that are productive even under conditions of climate change.
4. Species and habitat conservation, habitat networks: The changing local conditions caused by climate change and the associated decline or change of species require adaptation of the regional habitat network systems to guarantee the increased migration and exchange conditions needed.

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Participants