German government signs up to new marine research institution
The German government and the north German states signed Thursday (July 18, 2019) an agreement to set up the German Alliance for Marine Research (Deutschen Allianz Meeresforschung or DAM). A total of EUR 56.25 million is to allocated by 2022 of which the German government will contribute 80 per cent and the states of Hamburg, Bremen, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein will jointly contribute 20 per cent.
Boosting Hamburg
Katharina Fegebank, Senator Science, Research and Equality, noted: “Oceans and seas play an important role in global climate processes. It is important to understand and preserve them. We wish to strengthen the effectiveness and raise visibility by setting up the alliance. This will benefit Hamburg as a centre of science.” Around 4,000 people in northern Germany are employed in marine research.
Participating research institutions
DAM brings universities and non-university research institutions together to do cutting-edge research. The Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M), the Helmholtz Centre Geesthacht – Centre for Materials and Coastal Research (HZG) as well as the University of Hamburg i.e. the Centre for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN) are part of the alliance.
Sustainable marine management
The new alliance aims to develop ways of sustainably managing the oceans. Topics during the pilot phase include options for protecting and using marine spaces in a bid to preserve biodiversity and ecosystem functions and analysing the future of marine carbon reservoirs for climate policy. DAMwill also lend its to support data management, digitisation in the marine sciences and to co-ordinating and improving the use of large marine infrastructures in the long term.
sb/pb
Sources and further information:
www.hamburg.de
www.allianz-meeresforschung.de