LandCaRe-DSS - a model- and GIS-based interactive information and decision support system for the development of economic effective application strategies of agriculture to climate change

The expected change of climate will influence agriculture in a. manifold manner. Up to now there are few suitable tools and methods for agricultural farms and other decision makers to give helpful answers on questions like: How will climate change influence regional agriculture and ecosystems and what will be possible adaptation strategies for agriculture, taking into account the local site potentials and the specific structure of farms and agricultural enterprises. The newly developed information and decision support system - LandCaRe-DSS - closes this gap. The LandCaRe-DSS is designed as a user friendly, interactive, model-based, and spatial oriented information and decision support system. It can be used on different spatial scales while being fully interactive. Long-term and ensemble simulations with a high spatial resolution can be supported. Those simulations include coupled climate and agro-economic scenarios. The easy-to-use software is controlled by a zooming user interface, known to many users from Google Maps(.) or Google(.) Earth. It can be extended with further modules for different tasks. The LandCaRe-DSS system particularly assists strategic planning in agriculture and sustainable development of rural areas (regions) and provides answers concerning the effects and costs of possible adaptation measures to climate change and the range of both. Being still a prototype, LandCaRe-DSS is parameterised and validated for two regions in the North-Eastern part of Germany.