A Geography professors role in fighting climate change

The magnitude of interest in climate change has increased over the past years. In many academic disciplines scientists conduct their own research and projects about the topic. Prof. Dr. Ralf Ludwig at the Geography department at LMU, is one of them.

It’s a crisp autumn day at Königsplatz in central Munich. Many trees have lost all of their leaves but a few still have yellow leaf crowns that sparkle in the sunshine. Outside the LMU Geography department, students are soaking up the sun and enjoying their lunches before going back to class. 

Prof. Dr. Ralf Ludwig has been working at the LMU Geography department for most of his academic life, except for some years spent at Kiel University. To get to his office in the department building you are passing through a bright open space, much like a museum hall. It is not only the magnitude of the hall that resembles a museum, but more the fact that the space is filled with skeletons of ancient dinosaurs.  

– I love working here, it’s an environment I really enjoy, says Ralf Ludwig. 

The interest in climate change and finding sustainable methods of fighting it has been a big part of his academic career, even though he works in the Geography department. Ralf Ludwig informs me that he has observed a big difference in the way the climate change conversation progressed through the years. 

– I believe climate change has infiltrated everything and everyone compared with the late 90s when the topic started gaining more attention. Today many other academic disciplines conduct their own research and projects as we do in this department. As Geographers, we not only have a good understanding about how climate works, we also consider impacts and feedbacks in human-environment relations.

Ongoing projects 

Two current projects that Ralf Ludwig is coordinating are the ARSINOE project and the ClimEx project. 

– In ClimEx, a research project funded by the Bavarian State Ministry for the Environment and Consumer Protection, we investigate why and how climate change contributes to more severe extreme events, such as floods, droughts or heat waves. Building upon an improved understanding of the relevant mechanisms, we analyze the impacts of such new extremes for the management of water resources in Bavaria. 

The results quantify how extremes, especially floods, droughts and heat waves, must be expected to drastically increase if global climate policies are not put into practice immediately and effectively.

The ARSINOE project which is funded by the European Commission in the Horizon 2020 Green Deal programme, a so-called innovation action, has the intention of implementing research findings into practice in collaboration with stakeholders. 

ARSINOE supports practitioners in vulnerable regions of Europe to build resilience against the challenges and risks imposed by climate change. In a system innovation approach, the project develops tools and methods to find cross-sectoral solutions to mate and adapt to the unavoidable consequences of climate change in a conjoint rather than an individual manner. 

– The major advantage will be that conflicts are being addressed together so that mutual problem and solution awareness is taken into account in the decision making process. The goal is to ensure water and energy security alongside ecosystem functionality for human and ecological well-being, despite unfavorable climatic conditions and new extreme events. 

The importance of communicating science

One of the key challenges to the scientific community is the dissemination of scientific results to the general public in an understandable and interesting way. At the Geography department at LMU, Ralf Ludwig says that they recently announced a new position for a Professorship in Science Communication and Climate Education. 

– It’s a difficult but very necessary field, where lots of improvement can and must be made. We are struggling sometimes with the demand that scientists should also be activists, which I do not automatically agree with.  Any scientist who wants to be an activist can be, however I believe our main task is to acquire knowledge and inform.

After being in the business for 20 years, Ralf Ludwig says that his view on how climate change expands is critical. The 1.5 degree target is very unlikely to be reached according to Ralf Ludwig, but while every little bit of emission reduction counts, we must face the challenges of adapting to the extreme events that the future potentially holds.

– I  don’t want to be an alarmist, but at the same time I believe that scientists should always try to demonstrate the level of the knowledge that we have and be transparent. But of course, we must continue and try to adapt and find solutions!

Author: Malin Wandrell