Lecture on Water
3 November, 2023 - "Water as an Engineered Planetary Space" (Hybrid event)
in cooperation with Kunsthalle Gießen
The lecture takes place on the weekend of our winter workshop in the Fellows in Residence-program and is closely connected to it. Futher information on the workshop can be found here.
We kindly ask for registration until November 1st.
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6 pm c.t. (6:15 pm CET) |
Hermann-Levi-Saal, Kunsthalle Gießen Berliner Platz 1, 35390 Gießen & Online |
Online Registration to |
Lecture
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Prof. Dr. Klement Tockner Director General of Senckenberg Society for Nature Research |
Freshwaters host a remarkable biodiversity, including one-third of all vertebrate species. In addition, freshwaters provide a wide range of ecosystem services that are fundamental for human well-being, including clean water, recreation value, and food. However, freshwaters are under immense and increasing human pressure due to overexploitation, habitat degradation, invasion, climate change, dam construction, as well as emerging stressors such as light, noise, and synthetic chemicals. Hence, we need to carefully, and fundamentally, rethink future management strategies and support coordinated actions to reverse the decline of biodiversity. We need to advocate for hybrid approaches that manage freshwater as a crucial resource for human life support as well as highly valuable and diverse ecosystems. Most urgent, however, is the preservation of the remaining free-flowing rivers, intact wetlands, and unspoiled lakes—for the benefit of humans and nature alike. Otherwise we threaten the viability of our next generations. It is not yet too late to reverse irresponsible trends in climate change and biodiversity loss. |
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Respondents
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Juan Pablo Pacheco (Fellow in the Planetary Scholars & Artists in Residence Program 2023) |
Prof. Dr. Klement Tockner
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Prof. Dr. Klement Tockner is Director General of the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung and Professor of Ecosystem Sciences at Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main (since 2021). He served as President of the Austrian Science Fund FWF (2016–2020), Professor of Aquatic Ecology at the Free University of Berlin (2007–2020), and Director of the Leibniz Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Berlin (2007–2016).
Klement Tockner is an internationally renowned freshwater ecologist, particularly in the research fields of biodiversity, ecosystem science, and environmental management. He has published about 250 scientific papers, including a comprehensive book on European rivers (Rivers of Europe, Elsevier; 2nd edition in 2022). Klement Tockner successfully led large inter- and transdisciplinary projects such as the “BioFresh” project funded by the European Commission. He is a member of several scientific committees and advisory boards as well an elected member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina - National Academy of Sciences, and the Mainz Academy of Sciences and Literature. In 2023, he was rewarded as “National Champion” at the first Frontiers Planet Prize. |
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