(The following text has been taken from the InWEnt advertisement.)

Climate change is a fact. This is today particularly obvious in mountain areas all over the world, since climate change seems to affect them faster and more intensely than other regions.

However, climate change strikes not only the uplands. Lowland regions are equally affected by the ecological, economic and social changes. Changes concern water, biodiversity, the frequency and intensity of natural hazards, exposure to risks and catastrophes as well as adaptive strategies in land use systems. These consequences of climate change affect agriculture, which is crucial as a significant contribution to the livelihoods of the local population in developing countries.

Unfortunately, civil society and politics are currently far away from being aware of the challenges, dimension and irreversibility of the manifold impacts of climate change which are characterized by a close interaction of driving forces. It is therefore essential to identify adaptation and mitigation strategies to climate change in mountain areas. On the political level an enhanced debate about impacts on policy making and adaptive strategies is required.

This event aims at giving an overview of the impacts of climate change on the livelihoods of the population in the Himalayas, in the Andes as well as in the European Alps. Furthermore, the role of capacity building for the development of adaptative and mitigation strategies securing livelihoods in developing countries will be discussed.

 

Welcome address

Astrid Jakobs de Pádua (t.b.c.)

Head of division "International Relations"

German Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Food and Consumer Protection (BMELV)

Introduction

Dr. Beate E. Wilhelm

Head of department 5 - Environment, natural resources and food

InWEnt, Capacity Building International

Panel discussion and dialogue with the audience

Prof. Dr. Hermann Kreutzmann,

Centre for Development Studies, Freie Universität Berlin

• "The impacts of climate change on agriculture"

• "Adaptation to climate change the Himalayas: Hindu Kush - Pamir - Karakorum"

Andreas Güthler

CIPRA (International Alpine Convention)

• "Impacts of climate change on agriculture in the Alps, mitigation strategies and the

role of Capacity Building"

Hartmut Gast

InWEnt, Capacity Building International

Division 5.01 Rural development, food and consumer protection

• "Adaptation of the agricultural sector and agricultural water use to climate change

in the Andes"

Moderation

Heiko Heidemann

InWEnt, Capacity Building International

Division 5.02 Natural Resources and Biodiversity