INTERNAS

Scientific transfer of the results of INTERNational ASsessments in the field of earth and environment into the German political context

UFZ-Logo
Alfred-Wegener-Institut für Meeresforschung

Project leader: Dr. Heidi Wittmer
Project staff:  Augustin Berghöfer, David Kreuer, Dorothea Schwarzer
Funding: Helmholtz Association
Project duration: April 2018 - August 2021

Project description:

Important environmental issues such as climate change or biodiversity are discussed globally through various intergovernmental associations including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Science Policy Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). These bodies also develop recommendations for action to achieve the objectives of international commitments for sustainable development. As an example, the current reports of the IPCC, IPBES and the forthcoming first report on compliance with the SDGs should be mentioned. While such assessments play an important role in global policy processes, the results of such assessments are less frequently included in national discussions, as there is often no scientific contextualization based on political needs.

With its participatory dialogue-oriented advisory approach, INTERNAS wants to better present current international assessments and their analyses, options for action and their political significance for national policy advice in order to make them more usable and applicable. In this way, the implementation of the UN sustainability goals at national and international level should be strengthened at the same time.
For this purpose, a standardized process of transferring international assessments into the German policy context with the involvement of relevant stakeholders will be carried out and established as a uniform process.

Furthermore, the process is analyzed by an intensive accompanying research, among other things it is supported by the creation of digital knowledge representations (ontologies), which locate the scientific outputs on the 'SDG roadmap' in the national context. Through the application of ontologies, a central contribution for the development of measurable and representable criteria and indicators for good transfer processes will be developed, which might be applied far beyond Helmholtz.

The Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) and the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) combine their expertise in terrestrial, marine, coastal and polar systems in this knowledge transfer project. The UFZ coordinates the entire project.

Contact person:

Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
Dr. Heidi Wittmer
Phone: +49 341 235 1629
E-mail: heidi.wittmer@ufz.de

Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research - AWI
Dr. Gesche Krause
Phone: +49 471 4831 1631
E-mail: gesche.krause@awi.de