Current issues

The Paris climate agreement obliges the international community to limit global warming to two degrees. However, man-made greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase instead of decreasing. Is climate engineering a solution to slow global warming? In the ...

Many small and mid-sized enterprise (SMEs) in rural areas would like to strengthen their social and environmental activities - but are often prevented by staffing and financial constraints. A new directory provides them with a catalogue of measures they ...

In addition to manganese nodules in abyssal plains, ore deposits around hot vents on the seabed are among the potentially economically interesting metal deposits in the oceans. This week, members of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) met in London ...

Dark clouds of smoke - released by underwater volcanoes located in water depths between 700 and 1800 meters below the surface - rise from the seabed. What exactly these clouds contain and how far their constituents are spread throughout the ocean is the ...

The Alps were formed about 130 million years ago by the collision of the Eurasian and the African tectonic plates. Strong tectonic forces are still active in the earth's crust. But what exactly happens when two tectonic plates collide? The large-scale ...

Which mechanisms control the exchange of climate-relevant gases between the ocean and the atmosphere? How does biology influence this exchange? In the next three weeks, a research team from GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel will address some ...

For years, methane emissions from the seabed have been observed in the Arctic Ocean off Spitsbergen. The assumption that the warming of seawater by climate change is responsible for the release of methane, has not been confirmed. Research from an ...

Two research projects, which join several German and Chinese partner institutions, were launched into action with a kick-off meeting in Guangzhou, China, from December 4 to 8, 2017. They are supported by Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and ...

Until now, acreage was designated for either photovoltaics or photosynthesis, that is, to generate electricity or grow crops. An agrophotovoltaics (APV) pilot project near Lake Constance, however, has now demonstrated that both uses are compatible. Dual ...

Wie Forschende heute Rohstoffe gewinnen, ist in einer Sonderausstellung am historischen Ort zu erleben. Recycling, Landfill Mining und Urban Mining gibt es interaktiv im Weltkulturerbe Bergwerk Rammelsberg im Harz.

From November 6 to 17, the UN Climate Change Conference 2017 (COP23) under Presidency of the Government of Fiji will take place in Bonn. Up to 25,000 participants from science, diplomacy, politics and civil society are expected at the conference. ...

25 leading young scientists from all over the world met Germany´s sustainability researchers from 16 to 27 October 2017. The focus of the two-week science tour was on sustainable production and consumption. Prof. Dr. Eckhard Weidner, director of ...

In November 2017, the German research network on ocean acidification BIOACID (Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification) reaches its conclusion after eight years of extensive interdisciplinary scientific activity. Experiments and analyses carried out by ...

What would be the consequences for abyssal ecosystems if mining of marine ore deposits was to start? Can such exploitation be conducted in an environmentally acceptable fashion? And how can mining regulations be enforced? For three years researchers from ...

Destabilizing the climate can also destabilize societies. Global warming impacts cause substantial economic damages, hurts human health in many ways, influences the drivers of human migration, and it can jeopardize development for many of the world's poor ...