from 24.3.2020 - 43 min.
Keywords: Building materials / Construction, DE-News, Movies, Movies 11 to 45 Min, NaWaRohs, Thermal insulation
from 24.3.2020 - 43 min.
"How do we want to live in our city and in our neighbourhood? We asked ourselves these questions at the planning workshop "Viva Werkstatt". The aim was to collect ideas for the careful development of the Viktoriaviertel. The neighbourhood is to become lively again and the urban areas are to be converted for the common good.
Among the more than 20 participants were architects, urban planners, residents, representatives of the local retail trade and gastronomy, and interested citizens of Bonn."
You can read the whole article from 29.3. and see photos here: http://bonnimwandel.de/2017/03/29/viva-werkstatt-nachhaltige-ideen-fuer-das-viktoriaviertel
June 20 is the beginning of summer and in many places drought and low water levels in the rivers are already the order of the day, the waters in Germany are not equipped against the effects of climate change. In view of the devastating conditions of many waters in Germany, BUND demands a paradigm shift in the way we deal with our waters: The overriding principle in times of climate change must be to keep water in the landscape and return streams and rivers to their natural dynamics within their floodplains. Only just under eight percent of rivers and streams in Germany achieve the good ecological status required by the European Water Framework Directive. Almost 40 percent of surface waters across Europe are polluted by a variety of stressors such as climate change, nutrient inputs from agriculture or straightening. "We continue to heat up the earth, at the same time we drain the landscape. That's why it's no surprise that our local waters are doing so badly," stresses Olaf Bandt, Chairman of BUND, referring to a recent evaluation by BUND on the effects of climate change on water bodies.
If moors and floodplains are drained, not only does the landscape increasingly dry out, but huge quantities of greenhouse gases such as CO2 and methane are released, which in turn fuel global warming. If the air temperature rises and with it the water temperature, more and more naturally occurring methane escapes from bodies of water. Bandt: "Methane is a greenhouse gas that is 25 times more effective than CO2 and further exacerbates climate change."
The temperature trend in recent years has been dramatic for nature. The years 2014, 2018 and 2019 were the three warmest years since weather records began, affecting water bodies as well as forests, animals and agriculture. Bandt: "Falling groundwater levels and rising water temperatures have fatal consequences for people and the environment. Last year's fish kill will not be the last. It is therefore crucial that we take decisive action to tackle the climate crisis. The German government must do everything it can to achieve the goal it has set itself of limiting global warming to a maximum of 1.5 degrees." In times of climate crisis and species extinction, rivers, streams, ponds and lakes must be able to cope well with the heat and drought, and landscapes that can temporarily store water are needed. The nature conservation organisation believes that this can only be achieved if water protection is taken into account in all policy areas. With regard to the impact of industrial agriculture on water bodies and the Agriculture Commission, Bandt adds: "I expect Federal Minister of Agriculture Julia Klöckner to shape the future of food production and not prevent another environmentally friendly reorganisation of German agriculture. The same applies to Federal Minister Andreas Scheuer, who must finally stop seeing rivers as wet motorways and actively support their role in securing groundwater for us all."
It is long overdue for the German government to fulfil its obligations under the European Water Framework Directive. This includes improved water management, demands Lilian Neuer, BUND water expert and co-author of the paper: "The landscape must not be drained further and further with drainage systems, even sealed surfaces in the city only drain rainwater into the sewerage system. However, water must remain in the area in order to be available where it is needed in dry and hot times. There are still water reserves, but we are in the middle of a climate crisis - and we need to act now."
Over the past centuries, numerous rivers have been straightened and floodplains, swamps and bogs have been drained. What remains is a dried-up landscape that is unable to retain rainwater, further favouring falling groundwater levels. "Healthy bodies of water are more resilient and can cope better with the negative consequences of the climate crisis," explains Neuer. "Where possible, floodplains must be renaturalised, because only near-natural, living floodplains absorb water like a sponge during periods of flooding and slowly return it to the river when water levels are lower. In this way, the water flow can be improved at times when there is less water available."
BUND is calling for the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive and a sustainable solution to the water crisis:
Keywords:
Greening / climate adaptation, DE-News, Climate protection, New books and studies, Environmental policy, Water
Saturday, 21 May 2016, from 11 am - 6 pm
Address: 50226 Frechen | Europaallee 45 | FertighausWelt Cologne/Frechen
Programme
11.15 Official opening and blessing of the house
From 12.00 noon onwards, building experts will be advising you throughout the day on the topics of "Healthy Building & Living", "Innovative Building Technology" and "Individual & Modern Architecture".
Keywords:
Building Biology, DE-News, Wood construction, Cologne, NaWaRohs, News Blog NRW, PV, PlusEnergy house/settlement, Certification & Labels
Environment Minister Ursula Heinen-Esser presents this year's NRW Forest Condition Report: "Our forests are in a worrying condition. This is because the combined effect of storms in the spring, followed by extreme summer drought and then heavy bark beetle infestation in the coniferous forests means that the damage this year is considerable."
Thus, 39 percent of the trees surveyed show clear crown thinning and another 39 percent show weak crown thinning, i.e. leaf loss. This leaves only 22 percent without crown defoliation. Since the field surveys on crown condition had to be completed in August for methodological reasons and the evaluations on the full extent of bark beetle damage are still ongoing, the actual forest damage is likely to be even greater.
2018: First storm, then drought, finally bark beetle
North Rhine-Westphalia was particularly hard hit by Hurricane Friederike in January. 2.5 million solid cubic metres of "storm wood" were produced. The months of April to August were the warmest and sunniest and at the same time the months with the least precipitation since the German Meteorological Service began keeping records in 1881. The bark beetle species "spruce bark beetle" and "copper bark beetle" proliferated in the spruce forests due to the wood that had accumulated as a result of the storm and the summer drought, which severely weakened the trees' defences. Spruce forests cover about one third of the forest area in North Rhine-Westphalia. The current state of the surveys suggests that this is the largest bark beetle calamity in several decades.
Task Force "Bark Beetle
In order to cope with the current difficult situation for the North Rhine-Westphalian forestry sector, Minister Heinen-Esser recently set up a "bark beetle" task force. This task force will primarily work to ensure that the damaged wood is removed from the forest as quickly as possible and that a further mass reproduction of bark beetles next year can be contained as far as possible.
Requirements due to climate change
Minister Heinen-Esser: "In addition to the acute measures, however, it is also important for the state government to develop forests that are more stable and resistant to climate change in the longer term. To this end, the new silviculture concept for North Rhine-Westphalia and other supporting instruments for forest owners will be presented shortly. Important information for forest management will soon be offered in a modern and user-friendly way via the new internet portal 'Waldinfo.NRW'."
Background to the State of the Forest Report:
The vitality of forest trees is recorded annually according to a uniform nationwide method. For this purpose, the condition of the tree crowns of about 10,000 trees is assessed by forestry experts for North Rhine-Westphalia and other factors are also taken into account. The forest condition has deteriorated since the beginning of the survey in 1984. Since about 2000, the damage measure has remained at a roughly constant high level with annual fluctuations. The annual forest condition report also includes supplementary technical information that is not represented by the method in the narrower sense (z. B. this year statements on amounts of damaged wood).
The new instruments for forest management in climate change are part of the climate adaptation strategy for forests and forest management in North Rhine-Westphalia. Important implementation projects are the new silviculture concept NRW, the state-wide forest location map and the new forest information system NRW (here especially the new internet portal Waldinfo.NRW). Also relevant here are the forest-relevant specialist information systems on climate change.
State of the Forest Report 2018
Source: Press release Wald und Holz NRW from 21.11.18
Keywords:
DE-News, Wood construction, Sustainable management, News Blog NRW, Ecology, Economics