Nowadays, discussions about climate change are almost a guaranteed part of any scientific or academic forum. Tropentag 2011 is no exception. It is not only that climate change had one thematic session and two posters sessions dedicated to it, but the topic was constantly mentioned in other sessions such as Food Security, Ecosystem Services, Soil Fertility, Crop Production, Water and Irrigation, and Forests. I am not implying that climate change is THE ISSUE, but it seems clear that it was one of the key issues connecting the theme of marginality. If you follow the “whereabouts” of climate change (as I do!), you won’t be surprise to hear that nothing really new came out the Tropentag 2011. Don’t get me wrong, there were lots of useful new data, nice climatic models, experimental results and adaptation activities; but they were in most cases, an improved version of what we saw in previous gatherings dealing with the issue -nothing really new-. Where the heat comes from? I was actually surprised to see that during the thematic session, the large lecture room was overflowing with people. It was probably the most attended session apart from the plenary session on Wednesday 6 October, clearly indicating that visitors to Tropentag 2011 considered climate change as one of the hottest issues at the conference.

Part 1: Rattan Lal, Sir Gordon Conway and Paul Richards on how to include small holders into carbon trade Part 2"What you're calling marginal is political opposition"

This is part 2 of a series of 3 videos. Part 1: Rattan Lal, Sir Gordon Conway and Paul Richards on how to include small holders into carbon trade Part 3: Solutions to help people improve their situation, Rattan Lal, Sir Gordon Conway and Paul Richards discuss

Worldbank sets a minimum amount of 2 Mio. € for carbon trade. That avoids small scale farmers from taking advantage of this trading scheme. Hear about the ideas of Rattan Lal, Sir Gordon Brown and Paul Richards! This is part 1 of a series of videos. Part 2: "What you're calling marginal is political opposition" Keynote Discussion Part 3: Solutions to help people improve their situation, Rattan Lal, Sir Gordon Conway and Paul Richards discuss

Tropentag is just two hours away now. All student reporters are ready to bring interesting updates as the conference progresses on the following events: At 13:00 is the welcome address by Prof. Dr. Christa E. Muller, Prorector, University of Bonn At 13:30 Gordon Conway from Imperial College London speaks on 'the double green revolution' At 14:00, Rattan Lal from the Ohio State University, USA, speaks on marginal soils. At 14:30 comes a talk on marginal people: "Surplus Youth" in the Global Taxonomy of Insidious Harm by Paul Richards from Wageningen University and Research Centre, The Netherlands Also, there is a guided poster session at 17:00 and a social gathering at 18:30 to wrap up the day's events.