Das Projekt "Climate Change and Variability: Impact on Central and Eastern Europe (CLAVIER)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie durchgeführt. Observational records show that the global climate is changing and ongoing changes are also visible in Central Eastern Europe. About 64 percent of all catastrophic events in Europe since 1980 can directly be attributed to weather and climate extremes. Climate change projections show even an increasing likelihood of extremes. Certainly negative impacts of climate change will involve significant economic losses in several regions of Europe, while others may bring health or welfare problems somewhere else. Within CLAVIER three representative Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) will be studied in detail: Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. Researches from 6 countries and different disciplines, will identify linkages between climate change and its impact on weather patterns with consequences on air pollution, extreme events, and on water resources. Furthermore, an evaluation of the economic impact on agriculture, tourism, energy supply and the public sector will be conducted. This is of increasing importance for CEEC, which are currently facing a rapid economic development, but also for the European Union as e.g. Romanias and Bulgarias high vulnerability from extreme events such as floods will impact not only the respective economic goals for joining the EU but also the EU solidarity fund. CLAVIER will focus on ongoing and future climate changes in Central and Eastern European Countries using measurements and existing regional scenarios to determine possible developments of the climate and to address related uncertainty. In addition, climate projections with very high detail will be carried out for CEEC to fulfill the need for a large amount of detail in time and space which is inherent in local and regional impact assessment. CLAVIER will establish a large data base, tools and methodologies, which contribute to reasonable planning for a successful development of society and economy in Central and Eastern European countries under climate change conditions.