The DBU Highlights the Importance of the Oceans for Climate, Biodiversity and Food Supply - Seite 3

Pioneering work and capacity development in Jordan  

As advocates for water resource protection, the team around the group of researchers at the Environment and Biotechnology Centre of the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (Müller, van Afferden, Lee) and Wolf-Michael Hirschfeld, the initiator of the Training and Demonstration Centre for Decentralized Sewage Treatment, was honoured for their pioneering work in the area of capacity development in Jordan. Jordan is one of the top three countries in the world most affected by water scarcity and, in recent years, its population has grown by nearly 70 per cent from 5.6 million to 9.5 million (2016) due to the influx of refugees from Syria. The team took an interdisciplinary scientific approach, worked in an advisory capacity in terms of economics, acted as intermediaries in terms of politics, helped to inform the general public, and also took an active role in the practical implementation of the project.

Water scarcity as a major cause of migration  

Decentralised, flexible wastewater management systems, which can also be used to supplement existing systems, allow wastewater to be treated at the point of origin while also protecting the groundwater from wastewater contamination and preserving drinking water as a resource. In order to realise this project, the team had to overcome not only the boundaries between the natural, engineering and social sciences, but above all the boundaries between research and practice. This project is crucial because around two billion people around the world are forced to use drinking water that is contaminated with faeces. Alongside poverty, a lack of economic prospects and a lack of political participation, difficult living conditions including water scarcity are one of the main causes of migration.

Background information: With the German Environmental Prize, which is being awarded this year for the 26th time, the German Environmental Foundation (DBU) recognizes the achievements of persons who have contributed to the protection and conservation of the environment in an exemplary way, or who will contribute to environmental relief in Germany in the future. The prize - which is independent and, with a prize amount of EUR 500,000, the richest prize of its kind in Europe - can be awarded for projects and individual measures, as well as to honour an individual's lifetime achievements. Candidates for the German Environmental Prize are nominated to the DBU by groups such as employer's associations and labour unions, churches, environmental organisations and nature conservancies, scientific associations and research councils, as well as media, trade and commercial associations. Individuals may not nominate themselves. A jury of independent, prominent experts from the fields of industry, science and technology as well as from various societal organisations is selected by the DBU Board of Trustees and makes a recommendation on who they feel should be awarded the prize for that year. The DBU Board of Trustees then makes the final decision. For more information on the 2018 prize winners, please see: https://www.dbu.de/123artikel37810_2442.html