What was it all about?

In a time of numerous crises and uncertainties, the radar and orientation function of parliamentary technology assessment is becoming increasingly important. For this reason, the TAB has expanded its foresight activities: In addition to the already established horizon scanning, a resilience radar has been introduced which, together with an in-depth resilience check, assesses the resilience of selected infrastructure systems.

This year, the focus of the resilience check is on water management in agriculture. In the face of climate change, increasing droughts and unevenly distributed rainfall in Germany, agriculture must find new ways to deal with the changing conditions. Efficient irrigation techniques, new forms of cultivation and closed production systems offer promising approaches to make better use of water resources and make agriculture more resilient.

As part of the public discussion event "TA in Dialogue", the interim results of this year's Resilience Check were presented by the project team of the Institute for Futures Studies and Technology Assessment (IZT) and discussed together with experts from the scientific community, members of the German Bundestag and other social actors.

The following questions guided the discussion:

• How does climate change affect water supply in agriculture and what specific risks does it pose?
• To what extent can new forms of cultivation, closed production systems and innovative irrigation techniques increase the resilience of agriculture, and what long-term potential do they offer?
• What political and legal framework conditions are required to ensure a sustainable water supply in agriculture, and what governance structures are necessary for this?

(Recording of the live broadcast)

Programme (PDF)

The expert discussion was broadcast live on parliamentary television and is available on the documentation page or on the German Bundestag's YouTube channel. 

• Zum Analyseformat Resilienz-Check 
• Überblick Foresight-Aktivitäten des TAB