Project Partner

The Center for Environmental Systems Research was founded in 1994 as the Scientific Center for Environmental Systems Research and constitutes an important part of the environmental competency of the University of Kassel. The Center focuses on environmental problems, in particular in the context of climate change and resource consumption. Systems orientation and the use of systems analysis tools characterize the Center’s approach to research questions. In the course of the project WANDEL the expertises of two research groups are merged focusing on sustainable resource management on the one and global and regional hydrological and water-related studies on the other hand.

The Department of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management deals with the topics of hydropower as a renewable energy source, automated and optimized utilization of regulated river systems and dams, flood control and flood risk management, river navigation, river basin management as well as adaptation to climate change.

Hydroelectric power station Günzburg at Danube river in the study site of the case study "Upper Danube river".

Changes in environmental systems, resulting problems and their solutions are the focus of research and teaching of the interdisciplinary Institute for Environmental Systems Research. The resource management group, headed by Prof. Dr. Ing. Claudia Pahl-Wostl, works in the areas of adaptive resource management in the governance for water resources as well as in social learning and transformation processes towards sustainability. In the WANDEL project, the IUSF applies its extensive expertise in multidisciplinary environmental and governance analysis to implement the developed approaches holistically in the project

"Research for the Future of our Freshwaters" is IGB’s mission. Hydrologists, chemists, physicists, microbiologists, limnologists, fish ecologists and fisheries biologists from all over the world investigate the fundamental processes governing rivers, lakes and wetlands, and join forces to develop measures conductive to sustainable water management. Social stakeholders are involved in the wide range of research activities, which are carried out both locally and throughout the world in close cooperation with universities and research institutions.

mundialis specializes in the provision and evaluation of large-volume geo- and remote sensing data using cloud-based high-performance computers (HPC). Founded in 2015, mundialis is now working for well-known companies and organisations in the fields of space, chemistry, telecommunications, health and research. All services are provided on the basis of Free Software and for the most part, freely available geo and satellite data is also used in the projects.

At WAGU Inc., founded in 1999, engineers of water management and landscaping team up with biologists and landscape ecologists focused on hydrography and environmental protection. WAGU’s field of activity includes projecting close-to-nature water engineering as well as developing management plans for reserves and co-working in national conservation projects.

One of WAGU's fields of activity near Altenburg at the Eder river. The picture shows impacts of human activities on the natural river course.

The United Nations University (UNU) is the academic arm of the United Nations and acts as a global think tank. The mission of the Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) is to carry out cutting edge research on risks and adaptation related to environmental hazards and global change. The institute’s research promotes policies and programmes to reduce these risks, while taking into account the interplay between environmental and societal factors. Research areas include climate change adaptation incorporating insurance-related approaches, environmentally induced migration and social vulnerability, ecosystem services and environmental deterioration processes, models and tools to analyze vulnerability and risks linked to natural hazards, with a focus on urban space and rural-urban interfaces.

The Wuppertal Institute undertakes research and develops models, strategies and instruments for transitions to a sustainable development at local, national and international level. Sustainability research at the Wuppertal Institute focuses on the resources, climate and energy related challenges and their relation to economy and society. In the course of the project WANDEL the Wuppertal Institute analyses the linkages between water resources and Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technologies at the local level by conducting a case study on CSP power plants in Morocco. On the global level, the future dissemination of selected energy technologies and their water uses are evaluated, with the aim of spatially and temporally locating the global future water use for energy by 2030 with an outlook to 2050.