BaumAdapt: Closing Event in Times of Corona
- Projects
On Pentecost 2014, summer storm Ela swept across large parts of Germany. It was one of the most severe storms since the 1980s and resulted in damages and losses of multiple million Euros because of falling trees and flooding. The city of Essen was hit especially hard where the worst obstructions of traffic could be resolved within five days; however, a complete recovery took considerably longer.
How can the urban tree population be better prepared for future storm events? How can the probability of storm-related impairment of critical infrastructures be reduced? The BaumAdapt project has been asking questions like these since 2018. The joint project is being carried out by the IRPUD and the City of Essen and is funded by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. It has found a number of answers to these questions, which are currently complied as recommendations in a guideline for municipalities. Different recommendations are covered - from analysis approaches of the systemic relevance of specific sections of the traffic network and of the ecosystem services of urban trees to organisational and structural measures to increase resilience towards summer storms. The guideline will be published in September
However, the question that is getting increasingly more important over the last months is a different one: How can you best finish a research project in times of a global pandemic, when a conventional closing event cannot be brought into compliance with infection protection regulation? In the case of BaumAdapt, the answer is to move the event online. Instead of posters, short videos will present the most important methodological innovations, findings, and recommendations. An expert panel can also be done online without risking the health of any participant. That is exactly what is going to happen on 9 September 2020 at 12:15 pm when the BaumAdapt project will hold its online closing event and publish the guideline for urban tree management at the intersection of climate adaptation, the conservation of ecosystem services, and the protection of critical infrastructures. Further information on the online closing event can be inquired via email to info_baumadapt(at)umweltamt.essen.de, which is also where event registration is possible.