Information technology and climate change

KurzbeschreibungIn present times, climate change is driven by natural as well as by man-made influences in a global scale. That means, the future development of climate and society will be an interactive one, characterized by coupling of two highly complex and strongly non-linear systems. The development of satellite observation and monitoring systems on the one hand and of information technology on the other hand may enable the mankind to overcome challenges of a – may be rapid – climate change. The strategy of all social systems must be focussed on “avoiding the unmanageable and managing the unavoidable” as emphasized in a report prepared in 2007 by an expert group on climate change for the United Nations Commission on sustainable development. Thus, ICT is a part of the response management system by providing meaningful feedback loops and related regulatory and control systems. In some cases ICT can be a direct part of the solution by providing remote communications as a substitute for people movement and thus reducing the carbon foot print. The international conference on IT and climate change was held at the FHTW Berlin, university of applied sciences, in Berlin on September 25/26 2008. The conference brought together academics, researchers, developers, and practitioners who were interested in theoretical and/or applied aspects of environmental informatics and climate change. It served as a platform for networking, exchange of research ideas, practical applications and best practices. Authors were invited to submit original and unpublished work on all aspects of ICT to combat the climate change, covering topics from environmental informatics and the climate change, potentials of ICT for limitation and mitigation of the human induced climate change, environmental data, information and knowledge management.