Newsletter April 2022

The United Nations has released the 2022 edition of the UN World Water Development Report on “Groundwater: Making the invisible visible” during the opening session of the 9th World Water Forum in Dakar, Senegal, held on 21 March 2022. Groundwater accounts for approximately 99 % of liquid freshwater on Earth. This valuable resource provides critical benefits for people and ecosystems, and must be protected from pollution and exploitation.

The report describes the challenges and opportunities associated with the development, management and governance of groundwater throughout the world.  It aims to establish a clear understanding of the role that groundwater plays in daily life, of its interactions with people, and of the opportunities for optimizing its use in order to ensure the long-term sustainability of this largely available yet fragile resource. Unlocking the full potential of groundwater will require strong and concerted efforts to manage and use it sustainably. And it all starts by making the invisible visible.

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The European Commission launched the ‘European Research Area for Ukraine' (ERA4Ukraine) portal, a one-stop-shop for information and support services to Ukraine-based researchers and researchers fleeing Ukraine. The portal brings together initiatives at the EU level, per country and from non-governmental groups. It aims to help affected researchers find housing and job opportunities, facilitate the recognition of their diplomas, and offer other services.

The ERA4Ukraine portal is launched on the existing EURAXESS network, which supports researchers by connecting more than 600 centres and 43 national portals across the EU Member States and countries associated to Horizon Europe. All information will soon be available in both English and Ukrainian. Each Member State and associated country has a national portal on which support services are listed in a structured way. So far, 30 country portals are available.

Press release: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_22_1942

More information: https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/ukraine

Recognising nature-based knowledge gaps is crucial for identifying research priorities and fostering the uptake of nature-based solutions. Biodiversa+ has led the development of NetworkNature's searchable database of knowledge gaps on nature-based solutions. The database compiles an evidence base for nature-based solutions, to support defining research and innovations avenues and bolster the development of new knowledge in support of policy and practitioners’ knowledge needs.

The database currently gathers 171 gaps identified through a desk study and online consultations that are gathered into 30 overarching topics. Topics cover a broad range of themes such as monitoring and valuation tools, cost/benefit evaluations, stakeholder engagement and much more.

Explore the database.

Stem growth of tropical trees is reduced in years when the dry season is warmer and drier than normal. This is the main finding of a global tree-ring study published in Nature Portfolio led by Wageningen University & Research. The study is based on a new global network consisting of over 14,000 tree-ring data series from 350 locations across the tropics. The researchers found that the effect of drier and hotter years is larger in more arid or warm regions. This suggests that climate change may increase the sensitivity of tropical trees to climatic fluctuations.

IHE Delft Rector and member of the Water JPI Stakeholders Advisory Group, Eddy Moors, was one of the 100 contributing authors to this paper. "With the creation of this open data database, it will be possible to fill the 'no data' spots, in particular for the African continent. I hope this will make further research possible", he said.

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