Das Projekt "Hydropower: Integrated environmental and economical modelling of tidal renewable energy production" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Stuttgart, Institut für Wasserbau durchgeführt. The aim of this project is to address fundamental issues regarding the interaction of marine renewable energy devices with the flow and the environment and also to look at the economical implications of tidal energy extraction from the estuary and related environmental cost. This project brings together experts from two highly regarded civil engineering departments with a long track record in their respective areas of expertise, to provide answers to fundamental questions regarding marine renewable energy. Wales is well suited as a case study in the marine energy sector with considerable natural marine energy potential, a good base of heavy industrial companies to build devices, a number of relatively large ports with good facilities, strong university and governmental support, and a strong commitment to this area in the 'Wales Energy Route Map'. Several marine renewable concepts are in the planning stage around the Welsh coastline at present. A tidal barrage across the Bristol Channel and tidal stream turbines are the two most promising technologies and these two scenarios will be used as case studies in this project. In this study investigations will be carried out to ascertain how energy devices will impact on the water levels and velocities in the Bristol Channel which, in turn, will affect the suspended sediment concentration distributions, the general water quality characteristics and therefore the benthic ecology and the general hydro-ecology of the estuary. This will be achieved by: (a) refining Cardiff Universitys estuarine model DIVAST to predict the impact of a tidal barrage and operating tidal stream turbines on the hydrodynamic, sediment transport and water quality characteristic distributions in the Bristol channel, (b) refining Universität Stuttgarts CASiMiR, WASKRA and Input-Output modelling tools and approaches to assess the influences of new tidal energy structures on habitats, to describe the tidal energy production and dependencies between economical and ecological aspects of the system and (c) analysing and linking the output from all modelling approaches creating a generic integrated physical, environmental and economical impact assessment approach of tidal renewables.
Das Projekt "RP7 Adaptive Food Production Systems and Natural Resources Management with Focus on a Changing Environment (ADFOOD)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität für Bodenkultur Wien, Institut für Hydraulik und landeskulturelle Wasserwirtschaft durchgeführt. The Adaptive Food Production Systems and Natural Resources Water Management is set in a context of the appearing challenges and relevant natural processes, the water balance as well as socio/economic transformations concepts taking into account different soils, climatic conditions and land uses. Inappropriate management lead to a loss of natural resources, of organic matter, salinization, decrease of soil fertility and pollution of ground and surface fresh waters. Research efforts are necessary to allow a more sustainable exploitation of natural resources by African farmers, and support the increasing demand for locally produced food. More sustainable on site food production need to be studied, developed and implemented, which can revitalise the natural regenerative capacities of agricultural soils, reduce fresh water pollution and ensure healthy and resilient environments. Methodologies, devices and indicators, adapted to specific African situations, will be developed for monitoring and assess risk factors for natural resources like soil fertility, as well as for safe fresh water resources. Adapted innovative techniques to improve WRM and keep soil fertility at farm level need to be investigated and field-tested. The prevailing technical/scientific part of the project should be complemented by a true participatory approach by involving local stakeholders at different levels, such as farmers, local NGOs, relevant governmental organisations, as to make better and suitable use of existing potentialities and local knowledge, as well as to facilitate an easier implementation/adoption of the project's selected strategies. Studies on social processes and farmers rationales for implementing, adapting, innovating or rejecting the proposed strategies, should also be part of the project activities, as to ensure their acceptability by the end users (farmers and policy-makers) and thus producing the expected impact. A SWOT analyses is performed to identify the needs, risk and challenges (WP1) for the sustainable management at a cachtment scale and on farm level. Emphasize is given to farmers to have choices and to generate adaptive management concepts. Based on the findings concepts for adaptive management practises are promoted. The expertise of the cooperation partners ensures the coverage of this complex task.
Das Projekt "A Supporting Programme for Capacity Building in the Black Sea Region towards Operational Status of Oceanographic Services (ASCABOS)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von World Meteorological Organization (WMO) durchgeführt. Communications, data and information exchange are the key elements of the operational ocean monitoring and forecasting networks, defined in the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). Development of observing and closely related operational forecasting system in the Black Sea region requires the exchange of significant data and information volumes. ASCABOS is designed to strengthen the communication system ensuring flexible and operative infrastructure for data and information exchange between partners and end users. ASCABOS aims to increase public awareness and to stimulate and motivate the utilization of operational oceanographic information in management and decision-making practices. In the same time, high level of the operational services must be built and retained. ASCABOS will support achievement of these crucial objectives by initiating an educational and training programme designed for young scientists and wide spectrum of end users. Considerable work has been performed on compiling meta-databases on the Black Sea environmental data, information and research within previous international initiatives and projects. To support and to strengthen the exchange between scientists, governmental managers and other users ASCABOS is planning to combine experiences and instruments in order to develop a Black Sea information system, containing all available metadata, validated and efficiently updated through the Internet. ASCABOS plans to organize and realize a cost-effective VOS pilot programme, applying modern technologies and developments for data collection, transmission, storage, use and dissemination. The VOS programme will provide data for model assimilation and respond to the GOOS demand for long-term monitoring of the marine ecosystems. Prime Contractor: Institute of Oceanology - Bulgarian Academy of Sciences; Varna, Bulgaria.
Das Projekt "Comprehensive Tradeoff Analyses of the Environmental and Socioeconomic Implications of Alternative Land-Use and Development Scenarios in the Developing Tropics" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, Institut für Integrative Biologie durchgeführt. Global human population is expected to continue to grow over the next four decades. The ensuing demands for water, food and energy are expected to intensify land-use conflicts, contribute to greenhouse-gas emissions, and exacerbate threats to natural ecosystems and wildlife. It is therefore imperative that we develop ways to balance our growing consumptive needs with environmental protection. In this proposed research, I will frame the issues of food security, rural development, carbon emissions and biodiversity loss to groundings in ecological and economic theory. The overall main objectives of this research are as follows: 1.To develop spatially-explicit computer modelsfor assessing the implications and tradeoffs of alternative land-use and development scenarios in tropical developing countries with regards to: i) food and biofuel production, ii) carbon storage and sequestration, iii) conservation of forests, biodiversity and ecosystem services, and iv) economic development. 2.To contextualize these models for individual developing countries (and for sub-national units) by seeking feedback, through a participatory approach, on scenario development and model outcomes from key stakeholders. Stakeholders may include government officials (e.g. Indonesian Ministry of Forestry), major environmental non-governmental organizations (e.g. WWF), research institutions (e.g. Center for International Forestry Research), agribusiness corporations (e.g. Musim Mas Group Plantations), and local villagers and smallholder farmers. I will target Indonesiaand Colombiaas pilot case studies to capitalize on my research experience and ties to research collaborators in these countries. 3.To build upon the contextualized models to develop land-use decision-support toolsfor national and sub-national level policymakers to reconcile the societal priorities of economic development and environmental protection on the bases of the biophysical, socioeconomic, and technical constraints and considerations within societies and landscapes. 4.To create user-friendly, interactive interfacesfor these decision-support tools to facilitate the dissemination of tools to policymakers, environmental groups, local villagers, educators, students, and the general public. My ultimate goal is to make my tools available to all segments of society: from the village farmer who has to decide how to develop his/her land in the coming year, to the minister of agriculture who needs to make science-based development decisions that would affect the lives of millions of his constituents. 5.Geographic foci: The developing tropics, with special interest in Southeast Asia (Indonesia) and Latin America (Colombia), and with the possibility of extending the scope to Africa (Democratic Republic of Congo).
Das Projekt "Managing water scarcity: Intelligent tools and cooperative strategies" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität für Bodenkultur Wien, Institut für Mathematik durchgeführt. MAI-TAI deals with integrated water resources management. It is designed as a coordination action of leading research and innovation operators, aiming at developing a coherent set of innovative, relevant and cooperative policy options and management strategies. Regionally it works with partners from China and India, and the work will focus around two lead river basins: The Hai river basin in North-East China and the Yamuna river basin in North India, both in arid and/or semi arid regions. The proposal features the following core coordination activities: 1. Enabling a dialogue between researchers and practitioners promoting state of the art and indigenous technologies and practices: The consortium believes that modern systems alone are not capable of solving the water needs of the people in many developing countries, and there is a strong need of generating innovative options through cross fertilization between both worlds. This cross-fertilization will be enabled by methods and rich experiences of user innovations research. 2. Based on (1), innovative policy options and management strategies will be compiled. Then, a multi-stakeholder interaction in order to evaluate these options and strategies will be carried out, supported by intelligent knowledge management tools: In the presence of a variety of actors (institutions, organisations, individuals) each with specific forms of knowledge with respect to scale, topic, reasoning processes, and a large number of information expected to be generated through the multi-stakeholder interaction, the issue of learning and knowledge management is of paramount importance. A strong impact of the coordination action is ensured by a highly inter- and transdisciplinary team, encompassing internationally reputable scientific institutions as well as strong governmental partners and NGOs. The latter two will considerable facilitate a wide and in particular meaningful stakeholder dialogue throughout the project.