Zero emissions region north-eastern Brandenburg – between climate adaptation and challenges for innovative land use

Abstract

The German InnoLand Research Area is constituted by the counties Barnim and Uckermark. As part of the State of Brandenburg within North-Eastern Germany, the Research Area is a typical young moraine lowland with domination of crop production. This region – located between the Berlin metropolitan area in the south and the Polish border in the northeast – is characterized by strong gradients with respect to the intensity of land use as well as by impacts due to land use, economic power, and demographic changes. Actual challenges are high unemployment rate and increased production of energy crops despite low yields. Future challenges may arise from droughts and increasing shortages in ground water supply due to climate change. As a result of a regional consensus finding process local authorities made the decision to establish a “Zero Emissions Region” as an optimization for one specific demand. Consequently, a landscape experiment, using untreated or only partly treated waste water as contribution to a environmental sound material flow management exemplified by cultivation of reed will be conducted. A double dividend with respect to landscape functions could be obtained with this approach to solve problems with the water household and water quality and to establish a sustained production e.g. of biomass for energy production.