International Conference on Managing Protected Areas under Climate Change - IMPACT

24-26 September 2012 in Dresden/Germany

High quality pictures and more impressions can be found here.

Climate Change and anthropogenic activities are challenging European habitats and their management. Especially protected areas are confronted with the pressing need to monitor changes, adapt management strategies and consider flexible responses to future developments.

IMPACT was set out to meet the growing need for sharing knowledge and experiences in the field of biodiversity conservation and climate change. Taking a transdisciplinary perspective, the conference brought together more than 120 international researchers, conservation managers and decision-makers in the field of nature conservation. It provided a platform for dialogue to develop a better understanding of the complex impacts of climate change on biodiversity on local level and the means to adapt management in protected areas accordingly.  

Issues that were discussed in detail in the sessions:

•  Monitoring and modelling of climate-induced impacts
•  Assessing sensitivity to climate change
•  Current and future management practices
•  Awareness raising and stakeholder involvement
•  Legal aspects and policy recommendations

Climate change and the development of robust adaptation strategies are the key challenges of conservation management of the future. Climate smart conservation requires continuous adaptation to changing climate and their ecological consequences. Inter- and transdisciplinary research on cross-cutting themes is needed to provide mutual learning between all actors and the development of effective strategies.

IMPACT presented good practice examples and shared experiences of putting adaptation strategies into action.

IMPACT improved the integration of research outputs into conservation projects as well as the identification of unsolved problems and further research needs to help conservation managers today make decisions about climate impacts of the future.

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Cramer, Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Ecologie marine et continentale (IMBE), Aix-en-Provence (France), Member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

Dr. Rob Jongman, Senior Researcher, Alterra, Wageningen (The Netherlands)

Prof. Dr. An Cliquet, Department of Public International Law, Ghent University (Belgium)

Dr. Mike Morecroft, Head of Profession for Climate Change, Natural England (United Kingdom)

Prof. Dr. Anca Sarbu, University of Bucharest (Romania)

Prof. Dr. Birgit Kleinschmidt, Technische Universität Berlin (Germany)

Prof. Dr. Georg Janauer, University of Vienna (Austria)

Prof. Dr. Mitja Kaligaric, University of Maribour (Slovenia)

Prof. Dr. Stefan Heiland, Technische Universität Berlin (Germany)

Dr. Fred Hattermann, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, (Germany)

Dr. Jadwiga Sienkiewicz, Environmental Protection Institute (Poland)

Dr. Juliane Albrecht, Leibniz Institute of Ecological and Regional Development, Dresden (Germany)

Dr. Katrin Vohland, Museum for Natural History, Berlin (Germany)

Dr. Marc Zebisch, EURAC, Bozen (Italy)

Dr. Marco Neubert, Leibniz Institute of Ecological and Regional Development, Dresden (Germany)

Dr. Michael Förster, Technische Universität Berlin (Germany)

Dr. Sven Rannow, Leibniz Institute of Ecological and Regional Development, Dresden (Germany)

Mateusz Grygoruk, Biebrza National Park (Poland)