Newsletter 07 October 2019
Collaborations:
Vera Steinberg - Federal Office for Agricolture and Food, Germany
Water and Facce JPIs at EIFAAC Symposium Dresden, Germany, 9-11 September 2019
This year’s EIFAAC (European Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Advisory Commission) symposium focused on the theme “Food Safety and Conservation in Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture”. More than 90 experts from 15 countries met to discuss the development and advance inter- and transdisciplinary approaches regarding commercial and recreational inland fisheries, aquacultures and conservation questions. Parallel sessions addressed topics related to food safety and security, product and sustainability certification as well as sustainability and conservation, focussing on diadromous species and conservation conflicts. One of the sessions offered an occasion to present the first outputs of the ERA-NET Cofund WaterWorks2015 launched by the Water and FACCE JPIs in 2016. During this session, the state of the art of the Common Vision for adapting the strategies of the Water and FACCE JPI was presented. The audience was informed about the ongoing discussion between both JPIs and was given a short overview of the JPIs themselves. This ensured a common level of knowledge among participants and provided valuable information at European level. The symposium included a one-day excursion to the Lusatia region, where participants learned about the regional carp production, visited the School and Research Institute on Fisheries, the “House of a 1000 Ponds” – the UNESCO biosphere reserve info centre and the lake Bärwald, an old coal mining now used as a lake. The event was organized by the Federal Ministry for Food and Agriculture (BMEL), supported by the Thünen-Institute and the Saxon State Ministry of the environment and agriculture, Germany. More information can be found here.
2019 Workshop for Experts on “COMMON VISION AND ADAPTING THE STRATEGIES OF THE WATER AND FACCE JPIS”, Paris, France 26 September 2019
This workshop was organized in the frame of the ERA-NET Cofund WaterWorks2015. It follows a first workshop that took place in June 2017 in Bonn, Germany. The key objectives of this second workshop were to: (i) strengthen the linkages between Water and FACCE JPIs, and (ii) identify gaps and synergies between the Water JPI SRIA and FACCE JPI SRA. Also, this workshop was an opportunity to investigate the continuity of joint actions (i.e. possible implementation tools) between both JPIs after the completion of the ERA-NET Cofund WaterWorks2015.
In total, 27 participants from all over Europe and beyond met in Paris, France, to discuss and network. The morning session started with an update on the revision status of the Strategic agendas of both Initiatives (SRIA and SRA) and attendees were invited to provide feedback.
This was followed by a presentation of the OPERA project, funded under the 2016 Joint Transnational Call implemented under WaterWorks2015. Attendees had an opportunity to learn about its outcomes as an example of a successful joint collaboration between the Water and FACCE JPIs. In the afternoon, two parallel sessions took place where participants could share experiences, exchange knowledge and views. The topics of the sessions were namely a) How to integrate SDGs and Climate change across both Strategies (SRIA/SRA), b) Identify synergies between FACCE JPI & Water JPI after the end of WaterWorks2015, c) Policy Impact – How to increase the impact of both SRIA/SRA, and d) How to measure the impact of both Strategies (Identify joint SMART Objectives & Indicators).
The minutes of the workshop will be available soon on both Water JPI and FACCE JPI websites. The organizers would like to thank the participants for the lively discussions and are looking forward to future collaboration.
Water JPI Advisory Boards Meeting, Paris, France, 27 September 2019
The French National Research Agency (ANR) hosted the 9th Advisory Board meeting in Paris on 27th February 2019.
The Advisory Boards meeting gathered nine institutions involved in the Stakeholders Advisory Group (SAG) and nine experts involved in the recently renewed Scientific and Technological Board (STB). The items discussed during the meeting included a timeslot to inform on the core expertise needed for the scientific Water JPI Advisory Boards. The two boards were consulted in relation to their future role in the Partnerships under Horizon Europe and provided inputs on the revision of the Water JPI Vision document and Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) during an interactive session. This meeting was also the opportunity to welcome six newly appointed STB members and a new SAG member who started their collaboration with the Water JPI in spring 2019. Welcome on board!
International Conference CITIES, RAIN and RISK, 13-14 June 2019, Malmö, Sweden
The conference CITIES, RAIN and RISK was the joint final seminar of Water JPI (WaterWorks2014) projects MUFFIN (Multi-Scale Urban Flood Forecasting) and INXCES (Innovations for Extreme Climatic Events), together with two national Swedish projects (Sustainable Urban Flood Management and X-band Weather Radar).
The conference was divided into four themes (1) End-user engagement, tailored tools and public perceptions, (2) Rainfall and environmental observation and forecasting, (3) Urban flood modelling and forecasting and (4) Water management, nature-based solutions and climate adaptation. Almost 150 persons attended the conference; the abstract booklet can be found here and for a short glimpse of the conference, see video here.
MUFFIN PROJECT: The aim of MUFFIN project (see webpage here) was to bridge the gap between the urban and large-scale hydrological modelling communities and develop innovative tools for reducing the urban impacts of extreme precipitation, including sensor technology, systems for interpreting and communicating data, and monitoring networks that will contribute to improved integrated risk management solutions to urban floods. One of the tools that have been developed in MUFFIN is RAINVIS, which is a real-time high-resolution high-intensity rainfall visualization prototype. It provides the user the best possible information and decision support both before a flood event (forecasts – for early warning), during the event (observation and forecast – for situation awareness) and after the event (observations – for post-event analysis). Another MUFFIN output is a multi-scale flood forecasting prototype developed for Aalborg City, Denmark. For more information about the MUFFIN results, please visit the project at the Water JPI open data webpage.
The overall objectives of INXCES is to develop new innovative technological methods for risk assessment and mitigation of extreme hydroclimatic events and optimization of urban water-dependent ecosystem services at the catchment level, for a spectrum of rainfall events. It is widely acknowledged that extreme events such as floods and droughts are an increasing challenge, particularly in urban areas.
INXCES PROJECT: Specifically, INXCES has developed a Quick-scan method for flood prone areas in cities. It is based on readily available GIS data coupled with a 3D visualization, which is a key aspect of understanding the consequences of flooding on a policy and development level. Novel methodologies for characterising the behaviour of metals in urban stormwater runoff and snowmelt have been implemented and the implications of new knowledge generated for runoff and snowmelt treatment considered. Further INXCES has identified stormwater filters with high resilience for hydroclimatic extremes and coupled with high performance water treatment. Improved understanding of the snowmelt processes and modelling of climatic influences on such processes has been an important addition to closing the knowledge gap on snowmelt in urban settings. Drought resulting in water stress changes the soil moisture content, which in turn causes changes in the soil surface elevations on a micro scale. It is possible to map these changes through linking multiple time series of satellite observations (InSAR) to hydroclimatic events. This work has been initiated in the first half of the project, and has been expanded in the second half of the project period.
The INXCES project has conducted several collaborative field and laboratory experiments. For example, an evaluation of metal fractionation in rainfall, rain-on-snow and snowmelt runoff events and the full-scale stress test of urban mitigation measures such as raingardens. This adds important knowledge to the evidence base of the impact of precipitation type on pollutant behaviour and how these stormwater measures function during extreme events.
Ahead of the end event “Cities, Rain and Risk” a 2-day Climate Café, targeting young professionals, with the aim of multidisciplinary knowledge exchange by a “learning by doing” event was arranged in Augustenborg Eco-City. 20 young professionals attended this multidisciplinary field event, where most tasks within INXCES was incorporated in demonstration and data collection. Results from the Climate Café can be found at the following links: Climatecafe Malmo & details
