This summer, I took part in the Potsdam Summer School (PSS). This science school was cooperatively organized by the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), the Helmholtz-Centre Potsdam – GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), and the University of Potsdam in partnership with Geo.X and the City of Potsdam. With the Hydrosphere at its core, the eight day long programme covered climate change, the role of the cryosphere, water as a hazard, the interaction between water, land and humans, hydrological modelling, and oceans, as well as economy, management, governance, and stakeholder engagement.

            Virtually united

            This year was the first time that the PSS occurred in an online format due to the restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, I have to say that the PSS was a wonderful experience. One could tell that the whole structure of the summer school was carefully planned to provide all the participants with the best experience possible. And they surely succeeded!

            Personally, I was impressed when I logged in for the first on the SCOOCS platform. There, we had the lectures (already available for us two weeks prior to the event!), the weekly schedule, networking tables, participants profile, and study cases. We had to prepare ourselves beforehand by watching the lectures, reading suggested materials, and making our questions for the discussion sessions. The 2021 edition of the school occurred from August 9^th to August 20^th.

            The eight day event kicked-off with a warm welcome from Prof. Dr. Ortwin Renn, scientific director of the IASS. This was followed by an interactive session with Dr. Thomas Bruhn, where we were put in break-out rooms and met our fellow colleagues to talk about ourselves, our backgrounds, and motivations. The afternoon brought a talk by Prof. Dr. Johan Rockström regarding water within planetary boundaries in light of the most recent released IPCC report. We got to have the first meeting of our working groups, to which we were assigned prior to the event.

            I was assigned to the working group about modelling hydrology. Within our working group, we had small lectures which nurtured the discussions in break-out rooms and in the plenary. We also had the opportunity to present our own work related to the study case that we submitted as part of our preparation for the school. This allowed us a place to share our projects, ideas, and different realities, as well as to receive valuable feedback, insights, and suggestions that we could try to implement to further improve our research. At the working groups, we also had the chance to get to know our colleagues further and develop a presentation to be given in the plenary in the last of the school.

            I always was looking forward to the beginning of another day of the summer school. The first moment would always be the welcome and 15-minute interactive session, as well as a moment of reflection within ourselves. After connecting to the others, we began a discussion of the talks. Finally, we joined our working groups. I particularly liked how they structured the programme, the topics covered and how they were presented in light of current research and new technologies. This included bringing awareness to climate change, natural hazards, food-water-energy-ecosystem nexus, international cooperation, and water governance. Another highlight was the importance of the Sustainable Development Goals, how they interact and how they are grounded in four SDGs that are particularly important: SDG 6 (Clean water and sanitation), SDG 13 (Climate action), SDG 14 (Life below water), and SDG 15 (Life on land).

            I feel very grateful for the opportunity to participate in the Potsdam Summer School, for the new knowledge, exchange of information and experience, as well as new insights on current research and even self-discovery. I would like to show my appreciation for everyone that made this summer school possible, and particularly for the organisation team that was always very present, friendly, and helpful. A special shout out to Angela Borowski (IASS) who has always been kind and welcoming to all of us! Thank you!

            There is so much to share about the PSS that a short blog post cannot cover. But you can visit their website (https://potsdam-summer-school.org/ ) and get to know more about the program, the wonderful speakers, and participants of this 2021 PSS Edition. It was a pity that we could not meet in Potsdam for this amazing event, but I myself cannot wait to visit this incredible city! Finally, if you are looking to expand your horizons, have access to current research and networking, I can only recommend this summer school. So, be attentive for the application process that should start in the beginning of next year, good luck, and maybe I will even see you there in 2022(?)!

The post Potsdam Summer School 2021: Water Our Global Common Good appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

On our second day in Windhoek and after a nice long sleep (shivering as the African sun still did not hold its promises), we tried out our rented car and headed to the GIZ (German Corporation for International Cooperation) office in Windhoek. It took some time to get used to drive on the “wrong” side of the road, but after a while it felt quite normal to drive on the left-hand side. The GIZ office can be found in a neat, white house, not so different from the family homes in the neighbourhood, surrounded by a huge wall, topped with barbed wire, and a nice blooming tree reaching over it, covering the street with faded-red blossoms. While the wall might seem unusual for someone from Germany, this is a common sight in Windhoek. Also gated communities can be seen often, and many houses are protected by a huge fence. We passed a sleepy guard and stepped into the building. Inside, it looked like a normal office which you could find all over the world, with posters on the wall and pictures from projects in Namibia. We were asked into a kind of conference room, with a long table and a beamer in the front. Sitting down, I could see long-tailed birds fluttering around the trees outside.

We met three GIZ employees, Johannes Laufs, who works on a project about bush encroachment, Innocent Haingura, who gave us insights how the GIZ supports CBNRM (community-based natural resource management) projects and Alexander Schönig who talked about the adaption of agriculture to climate change.

Johannes Laufs, a brown-haired man, who looked very German and behaved accordingly, told us about the issue of bush encroachment, which is a huge problem in Namibia. Approximately 30-45 million ha are affected – an area as big as Germany. Bush encroachment affects the savannah, an ecosystem that is usually composed of grass and occasionally by trees, because more and more bushes are growing there. This is mainly caused by overgrazing, the lack of natural fires (often because fires are suppressed by farmers) and according to some sources also the rising levels of CO2. And even though most of the bush-species are indigenous to Namibia (and not invasive), the ecosystem savannah is still disturbed. This means for example that the habitat for certain species vanishes because of the bushes or the available food range has changed, which in turn can affect biodiversity and ecosystem services accordingly. Bushes have also deeper roots than grasses and are thus affecting the groundwater. This is decreases the quality of land negatively: The livestock carrying capacity of the land is reduced by two thirds which in turn causes a loss of 100 million € per year. As bush encroachment diminishes not only the functionality of the ecosystem but also the income of the farmer, it is crucial to restore the natural savannah to guarantee food security and fight poverty in Namibia, Johannes Laufs tells.

However, the bushes provide a huge amount of biomass, which can be used in many ways. In total, 500 million tons of biomass can be harvested in Namibia every year and used to produce coal or energy. In fact, a 20 MW power plant could be sustained from within a 50-kilometre radius over 20 years, and there is furthermore a great potential to export coal or other products. This means, there could be a win-win situation accomplished, which can create environmental as well as ecological benefits.

However, a key factor for establishing a win-win situation is the creation of value chains and helping the farmers to utilize those. The biomass can be used to produce charcoal, which is also exported to Germany, wood chips that can be used for cement production as well as for power generation; or even more advanced materials such as chip boards, fuels or biodegradable plastic. The GIZ is working with approaches like these, introducing modern technology and approaches which can support, for example, the Namibia Biomass Industry Group.

According to Laufs, there is still a long way to go. De-bushing is expensive and work intensive and it often has to be redone after some while. Huge investments have to be made. But there is also the possibility to generate a substantial net benefit of around 48 billion Namibian Dollar over the next 25 years, with bush control and biomass utilisation. And there is even more to it: De-Bushing will restore the former carrying capacity of the land, ecosystem services will increase, more water will be available. This can, in turn, increase food and water security and combat poverty. So – if you find coal from Namibia in a German supermarket, you can actually help to bring back the savannah to Namibia.

The post Blog-Journal: Talking with the GIZ about bush encroachment appeared first on Global Change Ecology.