Research for Sustainable Development

Preface The advancing climate change is one of the most important and most urgent challenges of our time. However, the UN Climate Conference in Copenha-gen in December 2009 made clear how difficult it is to achieve an international agreement on binding climate protection goals. Germany has a pioneering role in climate research and climate modelling, in the development of strategies to adapt to climate change and in climate services, not only in Europe, but also internationally. Germany is aware of its international responsibility and treats it seriously. The issue concerns nothing less than the well-being and the future of upcoming generations. With current technologies and concepts, we will not succeed in overcoming the global challenges. We need a safe data base on the one hand and innovative solutions from industry and science on the other hand to make the impacts of climate change manageable. Research and innovation are needed more than ever to identify new development approaches and to enable technological leaps. Above all, holistic concepts are required which take into account both ecological, economical, and socially relevant issues. The new Framework Programme " Research for Sustainable Development " , with its five fields of action, is going to meet these challenges. With this Framework Programme, we send a strong signal in economically difficult times. By 2015, we will provide funding means of more than 2 billion euros and will launch an unprecedented number of new initiatives. In doing so, we will also enable the bridging between application-oriented and basic-oriented research – in response to the High-Tech Strategy of the Federal Government. Investments in research and development are also investments in new technologies from Germany and in new future-proof workplaces. Therefore, we consistently count on research-and knowledge-intensive areas with pronounced growth potential, such as sustainable water management and resource and energy efficiency. Furthermore, with the new Framework Programme we boost international research in sustainability with commitment, thus providing good preconditions for new and sustainable economic growth – nationwide and globally. However, the main focus is on securing and improving the livelihood of future generations worldwide. We are searching for cooperations – and therefore , collaborations with Third World countries, which are suffering most from the effects of climate change, and are of top priority. But also collaborations with so-called newly industrialized countries like China, Brazil, India, and South Africa are to be intensified. It is these countries that, in Copenhagen, …