Climate change poses tremendous challenges in the realm of water resource management. For central Europe this has become especially apparent after the droughts of 2018 and the floods of 2021. As a response the Joint Cooperation Programme for Applied Scientific Research (JCAR-ATRACE) was launched on November 29^th, 2023 at the Benelux Water Day in Maastricht. It aims to address challenges posed flood risks and water availability by fostering collaboration among Belgium, Germany, Luxemburg and the Netherlands. Research will be performed by several well-known top-level European research institutes from all four countries. These will work in tandem with policymakers and regional stakeholders to prepare for extreme climate events in 21 transnational river basins. Conceptually, research topics are based on the IPPC risk framework and categorized by 5 themes: extreme hazards, exposure, vulnerability, compound risks and adaption measures and technology development.

Besides many research collaborations the GFZ Section Hydrology is leading the research on understanding and preparing for High-Impact and Low-Probability Flood events (HILP). The project aims to create plausible scenarios for HILP events, evaluate their effects on flood defences and critical infrastructure, and design risk reduction strategies in collaboration with stakeholders. To this end he Section Hydrology can draw from a wealth of expertise in the entirety risk chain. This includes the triggering of meteorological events, catchment and river processes down to resulting economic losses