Olaf Pollmann | German Aerospace Center (DLR) (original) (raw)

Papers by Olaf Pollmann

Sustainable Food Security in the Era of Local and Global Environmental Change, 2013

Addressing the challenge of global food security in our era is strongly linked with other global ... more Addressing the challenge of global food security in our era is strongly linked with other global issues, most notably climate change, population growth and the need to sustainably manage the world’s rapidly growing demand for energy, land, and water. Our progress in ensuring a sustainable and equitable food supply chain will be determined by how coherently these long-term challenges are tackled. This will also determine our progress in reducing global poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The challenge is to deliver nutritious, safe and affordable food to a global population of over nine billion in the coming decades, using less land, fewer inputs, with less waste and a lower environmental impact. All this has to be done in ways that are socially and economically sustainable. In this paper, we try to analyze the different challenges affecting the global capacity to build a food system with the potential to enhance a sustainable food security. Actions needed to make such a paradigm and policy shift, in both developed and developing countries, have been demonstrated.

Open and Distance Learning in Europe …, 2002

515 ACCE-APPLIED COMPUTING IN CIVIL ENGINEERING VIRTUAL STUDY COURSE REALIZED! Olaf Pollmann, Gün... more 515 ACCE-APPLIED COMPUTING IN CIVIL ENGINEERING VIRTUAL STUDY COURSE REALIZED! Olaf Pollmann, Günter Nitsche Fachhochschule Nordostniedersachsen, Applied Computing in Civil Engineering (ACCE), Germany Introduction Alongside the step into the ...

Climate Change, Food Security and Natural Resource Management, 2018

The current living conditions on our planet with an entire population of approximately 7.5 billio... more The current living conditions on our planet with an entire population of approximately 7.5 billion people (2017) cannot be guaranteed as about one ninth of the world population (795 million) cannot be provided with enough food. Ninety-eight percent of the world's undernourished people live in developing countries e.g. Asia (526 million), Sub-Saharan Africa (214 million), Latin America and the Caribbean (37 million). Countries such as Bangladesh,

Emerging Challenges to Food Production and Security in Asia, Middle East, and Africa, 2021

Climate change is adversely affecting food production systems while increasing the vulnerability ... more Climate change is adversely affecting food production systems while increasing the vulnerability of human societies—especially resource-poor small producers—and diminishing their resilience to food and nutrition insecurity. Even with a 1.5 °C scenario, climate change is believed to leave disadvantaged populations weakly resilient to food, health, and livelihood insecurity. Additionally, the scale of change required to limit warming to 1.5 °C is historically unprecedented and can only be achieved through strategically important societal transformation and ambitious mitigation measures, a requirement still not efficiently met by the majority of countries, especially key carbon emitters. This chapter accordingly aims at analyzing the dynamics through which climate change affects food and nutrition insecurity and drawing the pathways towards resilience building in this area. The analysis starts with investigating the predominant impacts of climate change on food security and resilience;...

The first resource, 2007

Most people, including whole industries and economies, classify a range of resources as 'wast... more Most people, including whole industries and economies, classify a range of resources as 'waste', which should be taken 'away', without trying to find ways of realising the residual values in this 'residual' stream of resources.

Africa is classified as the continent with the highest thread caused by changing earth climate. T... more Africa is classified as the continent with the highest thread caused by changing earth climate. This thread is a result of interaction between diverse stressing factors which are already indicated in local ecosystems. These climatic effects are more visible in Africa than on any other continent or regions in the world. The interactions of climate change and anthropogenic caused environmental influences are specifically distinct like inequalities, education, food security etc. Environmental and agricultural resources are fundamentals for social, economic and ecologic development and essential for countries in Africa. With increased interferences in the ecological balance of ecosystems soil degradation and lack of education are major and most serious effects on booming economies. With indicators like illiteration, poverty, food insecurity / soil fertility etc. the productivity and stability of different regions in Africa can be evaluated. With this evaluation it will be possible to es...

Human and Environmental Security in the Era of Global Risks, 2018

Almost all important natural resources – e.g. oil, diamonds, gold, platinum, coal, copper, ore, p... more Almost all important natural resources – e.g. oil, diamonds, gold, platinum, coal, copper, ore, phosphate etc. – including rare earth metals for industries functioning in the international arena, are available on the African continent. Roughly 15% of the total world market of resources is in Africa. International interest in Africa is via the relatively political and economic stable countries of the ‘Africa 7’ – South Africa, Botswana, Morocco, Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt and Kenya. According to Doing Business Report and the World Bank, statistically, about 60% of the resources from agriculture in Africa are still reserves. Based on the international trends to support developing countries by establishing a market for biomass production, with the aim of advanced energy production, resource efficiency, emission reduction, it has to be balanced with the internationally supervised and important sector of food security. As markets in Africa show, the agricultural sector, including cattle produ...

Climate Change, Food Security and Natural Resource Management, 2019

The scientific and policy debate on environment and human rights linkages increasingly perceives ... more The scientific and policy debate on environment and human rights linkages increasingly perceives climate change as a risk multiplier and a key crosscutting issue. Recent research has shown that climate change is putting both human security and several fundamental rights at risk. Not only are the human implications of climate change serious, but also the global climate regime is not sufficiently shaped to reduce them and a large part of response mechanisms, including on domestic and regional levels, do not systematically refer to justice, equity, and human rights frameworks and, in some instances, may even exacerbate environmental damage and human rights violations. Therefore, the significant challenge currently being faced is how to ensure that human rights are widely recognized and genuinely mainstreamed in the global climate regime. A key issue is how to bring the discourses of human rights and climate change together into the climate multilateral negotiation process without impor...

ABSTRACT By optimising anthropogenic material streams for the example of paper recycling the proc... more ABSTRACT By optimising anthropogenic material streams for the example of paper recycling the process steps of paper production and paper recycling are analysed and reduced to the tracer carbon. Carbon was chosen as a tracer because it is not more reducible and in spite of reaction it appears in all steps of the process. The passing of the trac-er carbon in the process of production is detected by the balance of carbon and finally compared with results of the optimisation. Evolutionary algorithms are used as a sub range of artificial intelligence to calculate the optimisation of anthropogenic material streams. The advantage of this method is the rapid and precise search of the local and global optima of the discussed optimisation problem. By using this method the biological model of inherits with mutation, recombination and selection, the optimisation calculates one of the best results of the large amount of potential solutions. With this procedure the quota of wastepaper used in the practice production was verified and potentials of optimisation are pointed out. Because of the defective calculation by evolutionary algorithms a validation by comparative calculation – in this case by Nelder-Mead-Optimisation-Algorithm – is necessary. For inductive method of proof the banana-function by Rosenbrock – as a general optimisation problem – was additionally calculated by evolutionary algorithms. With this the usability of evolutionary algorithms was proofed and verified for modelling anthropogenic material streams. The result of optimising the paper recycling was an improvement of the rate of waste paper in two different paper brands by keeping the equal quality. The same result was shown by the formulation of balance by means of the tracer carbon. Because of the correlation of the fibre length and the carbon part it is possible to compare the formulation of balance with the formulation of calculation. The result of waste paper components confirm with the results of the balance of carbon. By comparing the relation of secondary fibres to fresh fibres including auxiliary material it could be shown that the increased use of waste paper raised the relation of carbon as well as the relation of quantity only insignificant. The implementation of the example of paper recycling has shown that sub ranges of anthropogenic produced material streams can be optimised by the use of evolution-ary algorithms. In many other range of uses is secondary material created of anthro-pogenic metabolism. This secondary material can be optimised by using evolutionary algorithms as well. With this research the possibility of using evolutionary algorithms to optimise different anthropogenic material streams, which produce secondary material was proofed.

Africa is classified as the continent with the highest threat caused by a changing earth climate.... more Africa is classified as the continent with the highest threat caused by a changing earth climate. This threat is a result of interaction between diverse stressing factors which are already indicated in local ecosystems. These climatic effects are more visible in Africa than on any other continent or regions in the world. The interactions of climate change and anthropogenic caused environmental influences are specifically distinct like fire clearance, overfishing, and food security. Environmental and agricultural resources are fundamentals for social, economic, and ecologic development and essential for African countries. With increased interferences in the ecological balance of ecosystems, booming productions are one of the major and most serious effects on soil degradation. With indicators like soil wetness, pH, water-holding-capacity, soil fertility, drought etc. the productivity of different soils can be evaluated. With this evaluation, it will be possible to estimate the economi...

Sustainable Food Security in the Era of Local and Global Environmental Chang, 2013

By optimising anthropogenic material streams for the example of paper recycling the process steps... more By optimising anthropogenic material streams for the example of paper recycling the process steps of paper production and paper recycling are analysed and reduced to the tracer carbon. Carbon was chosen as a tracer because it is not more reducible and in spite of reaction it appears in all steps of the process. The passing of the trac-er carbon in the process of production is detected by the balance of carbon and finally compared with results of the optimisation. Evolutionary algorithms are used as a sub range of artificial intelligence to calculate the optimisation of anthropogenic material streams. The advantage of this method is the rapid and precise search of the local and global optima of the discussed optimisation problem. By using this method the biological model of inherits with mutation, recombination and selection, the optimisation calculates one of the best results of the large amount of potential solutions. With this procedure the quota of wastepaper used in the practice...

ABSTRACT This volume discusses a broad range of vital issues encompassing the production and cons... more ABSTRACT This volume discusses a broad range of vital issues encompassing the production and consumption of food in the current period of climate change. All of these add up to looming, momentous challenges to food security, especially for people in regions where malnutrition and famine have been the norm during numerous decades. Furthermore, threats to food security do not stop at the borders of more affluent countries – governance of food systems and changes in eating patterns will have worldwide consequences. The book is arranged in four broad sections. Part I, Combating Food Insecurity: A Global Responsibility opens with a chapter describing the urgent necessity for new paradigm and policy set to meet the food security challenges of climate change. Also in this section are chapters on meat and the dimensions of animal welfare, climate change and sustainability; on dietary options for mitigating climate change; and the linkage of forest and food production in the context of the REDD+ approach to valuation of forests. Part II, Managing Linkages between Climate Change and Food Security offers a South Asian perspective on Gender, Climate Change and Household Food Security; a chapter on food crisis in sub-Saharan Africa; and separate chapters on critical issues of food supply and production in Nigeria, far-Western Nepal and the Sudano-Sahelian zone of Cameroon. Part III examines Food Security and patterns of production and consumption, with chapters focused on Morocco, Thailand, Bahrain, Kenya and elsewhere. The final section discusses successful, innovative practices, with chapters on Food Security in Knowledge-Based Economy; Biosaline Agriculture in the Gulf States; Rice production in a cotton zone of Benin; palm oil in the production of biofuel; and experiments in raised-bed wheat production. The editors argue that technical prescriptions are insufficient to manage the food security challenge. They propose and explain a holistic approach for adapting food systems to global environmental change, which demands the engagement of many disciplines – a new, sustainable food security paradigm. ISBN 978-94-007-6718-8, ISBN 978-94-007-6719-5 (eBook)

Sustainable development and resource efficiency are the common global strategies of the 21st cent... more Sustainable development and resource efficiency are the common global strategies of the 21st century. The actual global natural resource consumption of humankind went far over the limit and to cover this worldwide resource consumption the productivity of 1.5 earths is now necessary. The work “Reduction of anthropogenic environmental influences by advanced and optimized technologies” discussed the problem of advanced resource efficiencies with mining activities in South Africa as an example. Related strategies to reverse anthropogenic impacts to such an extent that it resembles former natural conditions were also discussed. Heavy metal contaminated soil and water were treated with natural techniques and different natural media to reduce and eliminate contamination and to provide a market value for former unusable material. Specially developed soil ameliorants and natural filter media could increase the total quality of soil and water. Even plants could be established in these changed...

Sustainable Food Security in the Era of Local and Global Environmental Change, 2013

Open and Distance Learning in Europe …, 2002

Climate Change, Food Security and Natural Resource Management, 2018

Emerging Challenges to Food Production and Security in Asia, Middle East, and Africa, 2021

The first resource, 2007

Human and Environmental Security in the Era of Global Risks, 2018

Climate Change, Food Security and Natural Resource Management, 2019

Sustainable Food Security in the Era of Local and Global Environmental Chang, 2013

This volume discusses a broad range of vital issues encompassing the production and consumption o... more This volume discusses a broad range of vital issues encompassing the production and consumption of food in the current period of climate change. All of these add up to looming, momentous challenges to food security, especially for people in regions where malnutrition and famine have been the norm during numerous decades. Furthermore, threats to food security do not stop at the borders of more affluent countries – governance of food systems and changes in eating patterns will have worldwide consequences. The book is arranged in four broad sections. Part I, Combating Food Insecurity: A Global Responsibility opens with a chapter describing the urgent necessity for new paradigm and policy set to meet the food security challenges of climate change. Also in this section are chapters on meat and the dimensions of animal welfare, climate change and sustainability; on dietary options for mitigating climate change; and the linkage of forest and food production in the context of the REDD+ approach to valuation of forests. Part II, Managing Linkages Between Climate Change and Food Security offers a South Asian perspective on Gender, Climate Change and Household Food Security; a chapter on food crisis in sub-Saharan Africa; and separate chapters on critical issues of food supply and production in Nigeria, far-Western Nepal and the Sudano-Sahelian zone of Cameroon. Part III examines Food Security and patterns of production and consumption, with chapters focused on Morocco, Thailand, Bahrain, Kenya and elsewhere. The final section discusses successful, innovative practices, with chapters on Food Security in Knowledge-Based Economy; Biosaline Agriculture in the Gulf States; Rice production in a cotton zone of Benin; palm oil in the production of biofuel; and experiments in raised-bed wheat production. The editors argue that technical prescriptions are insufficient to manage the food security challenge. They propose and explain a holistic approach for adapting food systems to global environmental change, which demands the engagement of many disciplines – a new, sustainable food security paradigm.