The BMBF-funded project "Climate Services for eXtremes (CS4eXtremes)" is part of the overarching funding priority "Climate Change and Extreme Events (ClimXtreme)", and as such is part of the Research Framework Program Research and Sustainable Development (FONA). It is carried out jointly by GERICS and the University of Koblenz-Landau and with close involvement of practice partners.

CS4eXtremes aims to increase the understanding of the intensity and spatial and temporal distribution of meteorological and climatic extremes relevant to agriculture and forestry. These include periods of drought, heat waves, strong wind events, and heavy rainfall. On the one hand, the potential impacts of changes in the occurrence of such extreme weather events as a result of climate change will be investigated, and on the other hand, adaptation strategies to resulting challenges in both sectors will be developed.

The novel approach of this project takes into account the entire process chain: (i) the sector-specific identification of the characteristics of weather extremes in close cooperation with representatives of forestry and agriculture, (ii) the analysis of past and future weather and climate extremes, (iii) the investigation of impacts of these extremes by means of forestry and agricultural case studies, and (iv) the development of possible needs-based adaptation strategies to future climate conditions and extreme events based on this information.

CS4eXtremes will work with stakeholders to identify practice-relevant characteristics of climate extremes. The identification of weather extremes with a particular impact on agriculture and forestry is based on the evaluation of observational data and high-resolution regional climate projections for the 21st century.

Because there are extensive interrelationships between soil and atmosphere, some of which reinforce each other through feedback effects, soil science studies also play an important role (nitrous oxide emissions (N2O) of agriculturally used mineral soils), thereby providing a better data basis for model simulations of the climate system.

Since forest damage due to windthrow (strong wind events) and drought stress (heat waves and droughts) are the main causes of reduced ecosystem services, such as the recreational function of forests for humans, regional climate model simulations coupled with ecosystem models form a main building block of the project. This approach will be complemented by empirical methods, e.g. to investigate the view of the population. Due to the recent drought-induced forest damages in Germany, forest aesthetics in the context of climate change risks will be investigated as a current issue.

Overall, a self-reflective approach was chosen for the project, whereby the course of the transdisciplinary work will be scientifically accompanied and evaluated, as the exchange with stakeholders is of central importance. The project is rounded off by the discussion of a possible relevance of the results for both sectors considered as a whole as well as the transferability to other sectors.