Conclusions and Perpectives

The workshop on .Sustainability in rural and urban environments" focused - as already explained earlier - on four topics: (1) agricultural and urban environments, (2) future demands and use of water and energy, (3) disaster prevention, (4) implications for land use and land cover changes. It aimed at three major objectives: (1) deepening of the cooperation and academic networks of both countries, (2) identifying future fields of research, teaching and capacity building on both sides and (3) bringing togethe r academics from different disciplinary backgrounds, institutional viewpoints and stages of scientific career to ensure future oriented capacity building within the participating universities. In order to fulfill these requirements, the workshop programme was composed of four keynotes and four impulse lectures from scholars of both countries as well as two workshops for intensive scientific exchange and discussion . The underlying idea was to exchange ideas and viewpoints on relevant research topics , research priorities and to identify common fields of action as well as to consider potential future joint research projects. The following summary of the basic discussions and considerations of the two workshop groups is based on comprehensive notes which were taken by the many authors of this chapter