Forecasts of Social-Ecological Transformations

In the exploratory study, links between society, the supply system and Nature were examined. Scientists looked at how the uncertainty involved in forecasting complex interrelations could be reduced through the use of suitable models. In the modern water supply system, for example, natural and social processes are closely interwoven; in the language of physics, one would say they are "strongly coupled": for instance ecologically motivated savings by consumers, the falling away of water-intensive industries, or capacity problems in supply networks due to demographic change. Models can prove helpful in dealing with couplings of this kind.