UROP Project

Climate risk scenarios for agriculture in the Rhenish mining area

Climate change puts at risk many traditional human activities and economies. Agriculture is the most vital of them and needs to adapt its practices to remain productive under the conditions of climate change. The Rhenish mining area between Aachen and Cologne which will in the next decade phase out open cast lignite mining and the associated water regime is a highly fertile agricultural plain with an industrialised agriculture. For preparing a research project on a climate-proof agricultural transformation of this area we would like to gain deeper insights in climate change scenarios for the region and their potential impact on agriculture.

Task

We call for students interested in working out potential regionalized climate change scenarios for the Rhenish mining area and describe their impact on the agricultural landscape and production. Which general climate conditions and which kind of risk events have to be expected in the future and which risks do they mean for agriculture?

Requirements

As the institute has no own expertise in climate scenarios, this competence needs to be contributed by the student. It can be partially provided through cooperation with the Physical geography and Climatology Group at RWTH.