Billions of people worldwide are threatened by extreme weather events. These include flooding and water shortages. The Global Water and Climate Adaptation Center (ABCD Center), supported by the DAAD with resources provided by the Federal Foreign Office, is working on solutions to increase water security for the affected regions and mitigate the consequences of excess or shortage.

Late November 2025 in Cebu City, the second largest city in the Philippines. Local representatives from politics and administration meet with international experts for a workshop. Together, they discuss water risks in cities, the consequences of climate change and possible nature-based solutions. The result is a strategic action plan that quickly has a political impact: initial resolutions on the greater integration of nature-based solutions into infrastructure projects and the creation of new water policy institutions are launched.

Local solutions for global problems

The workshop in the Philippines is an example of the work carried out by the Global Water and Climate Adaptation (ABCD) Centre, one of a total of eight Global Centres with which the DAAD is strengthening research and knowledge transfer worldwide on key future issues such as climate, environment and sustainability. Scientific expertise is combined with local experience to develop concrete action plans that initiate political processes on the ground.

‘This is not classic development aid. We don't bring ready-made solutions from North to South, but learn from each other and develop approaches together,’ explains André Lindner. He is Managing Director and Advisor for Internationalisation at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Dresden University of Technology. The University coordinates the ABCD Centre together with RWTH Aachen University, the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in Chennai, India, the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand and the Institute for Integrated Management of Material Fluxes and of Resources at the United Nations University in Dresden.
 

Closely interlinked research clusters

The aim of the centre, which was founded in 2021, is to pool research activities, promote new collaborations and jointly develop solutions to complex water-related challenges. The DAAD provided a total of €2.8 million in funding for the centre's nearly five-year development phase. A second funding phase began in January 2026 and will run until the end of 2030. The DAAD is also contributing £600,000 per year to this phase.

In terms of content, the ABCD Centre works in three closely interlinked research clusters: Cluster I deals with water security, water resource management, secure water supply and water treatment. Cluster II investigates the resilience of ecosystems and nature-based adaptation measures to climate change. Cluster III is dedicated to transfer strategies, traditional knowledge, local economic conditions and issues of social acceptance.

Pioneering degree programme with an international profile

Another focus of the ABCD Centre is on training future experts in water security. The participating universities have developed an English-language Master's programme in Water Security and Global Change for this purpose. ‘This is the first joint degree programme between a German and an Indian university. We are doing pioneering academic work that is attracting a great deal of interest,’ says André Lindner.

The research-oriented programme is based on a jointly developed curriculum and its content is geared towards the centre's three research clusters. In addition to the fundamentals of engineering, students deal intensively with political decision-making processes, social dynamics and ecological contexts. They begin their studies at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in Chennai, then transfer to the Technical University of Dresden and subsequently to RWTH Aachen University. Depending on their specialisation, they can write their Master's thesis at one of the five institutions that make up the Centre. The degree is awarded jointly by the Technical University of Dresden, RWTH Aachen University and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in Chennai. The first cohort was mainly made up of Indian students. Young people from Germany and other countries in Africa and Asia are now also represented.

Promoting young scientists

In addition, the ABCD Centre provides targeted support to young scientists and practical projects. Master's students, doctoral candidates and specialists use scholarships and the ABCD Centre's network to implement their own research and transfer projects. For example, a graduate of an associated continuing education programme at the Technical University of Dresden for specialists and managers from the Global South developed a rainwater treatment system for a school near Bengaluru. With comparatively few resources, she sustainably improved the water supply for more than 120 children – previously, there was no adequate sanitary infrastructure there.

The ABCD Centre is pursuing ambitious goals to further expand such approaches. Plans include the development of further partnerships with universities and other stakeholders in the Global South, additional on-site workshops and freely accessible online offerings on key topics related to water security. And most importantly, the ABCD Centre is intended to continue operating beyond 2030. In view of the growing global water crisis, this would not only be desirable, but urgently necessary.

Birk Grüling (15 January 2026)