Andrea

The Special Issue in the journal “Advances of Geosciences” has been produced as a follow-up to the 17th Biennial Conference ERB 2018. It contains contributions summarising conference presentations, edited by B. Schmalz (TU Darmstadt), S. Dietrich (ICWRGC), and J. L. M. P. de Lima (University of Coimbra).

The ERB 2018 international conference on “Innovative monitoring techniques and modelling approaches for analysing hydrological processes in small basins” was held in Darmstadt, Germany, 11–14 September 2018. It was attended by scientists from 19 different countries.

ERB is the Euromediterranean Network of Experimental and Representative Basins (https://erb-network.simdif.com/index.html).

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Date: 28–31 May 2019
Venue: Lisbon, Portugal

The 4th European Climate Change Adaptation Conference (ECCA, www.ecca2019.eu) will be held from28–31 May 2019 in Lisbon. At this biennial conference, results from projects receivingfunding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Framework Programme will be presented. This year, Dr. Carina Zang (ICWRGC) will present first results from the ongoing project CO-MICC (www.co-micc.eu) in form of a poster together with colleagues from Goethe University, Frankfurt. The poster shows how the planned knowledge portal on climate change impacts on global water availability is co-developed with stakeholders and implemented.

www.co-micc.eu www.ecca2019.eu

Date: 6 February 2019
Venue: Federal Institute of Hydrology, Koblenz

After several years’ break, the ICWRGC has reactivated its so-called University Day. Due to the current and multifarious developments of UN water programmes, requiring stronger linkage with national research activities, this initiative by the ICWRGC was welcomed by the Hydrological Chairs in Germany.

The event, prepared in cooperation with the ICWRGC’s scientific advisory board, focussed on two key topics: on the one hand on presenting first ideas on relevant themes for Phase IX (2022-2029) of UNESCO IHP, on the other hand on coordinating cooperation between ICWRGC and Hydrology Chairs in teaching and research.

Harald Köthe, Director of the ICWRGC, presented the current and trailblazing developments within WMO (Governance Body Reform, Seamless Global Data-Processing and Forecasting System – GDPFS, Hydrological Status and Outlook System – HydroSOS), UNESCO (planning of IHP IX) and UNEP (GEMI 2, GEMS/Water, World Water Quality Assessment), currently requiring Germany’s active participation. In a round table discussion, the universities reported on the technical foci of the chairs and their linkages with the ICWRGC’s activities, thus showing the Chairs‘ specific orientation. In small groups, ideas on relevant themes for the upcoming UNESCO IHP IX were developed, the results of the scientific advisory board presented by its Chairwoman, Prof. Dr. Evers (Bonn), and the ongoing Phase VIII classified. Another issue was cooperation in teaching and research, and specifically the question what the German universities can contribute to the UN programmes and vice versa. In the concluding session, the following topics were recorded:

Regularly holding the University Day
Establishing exchange opportunities (common working platform, newsletter, etc.)
Providing more information on IHP activities
Request for closer networking, especially between scientists working abroad, and with German Water Partnership, Water Science Alliance, DHG, i.a.
Idea of setting up a “network of networks” (decentralized data availability to strengthen national data centres)
Creating incentives enabling scientists to contribute

Date: 07 March 2019
Venue: Federal Institute of Hydrology, Koblenz

Upon the acknowledgement of the ICWRGC as a UNESCO Category 2 Water Centre in 2014, a Governing Board with international members was established, which convenes annually to take note of and actively shape both activities and focus of the ICWRGC. In addition to representatives from federal ministries, the Chairwoman of the Scientific Advisory Board, the German UNESCO Commission, the Director of the BfG, heads of other international UNESCO Water Centres from Iran, Japan, Poland, Sweden and USA as well as of the IHP-Secretariat in Paris come together.

Against the background of the preparations for Phase IX (2022-2029) of the International Hydrological Progamme (IHP) of UNESCO, this year’s sixth session proved particularly interesting. Mr. Abou Amani, Head of section „Hydrological Systems and Water Scarcity“ (HSS) of the IHP-Secretariat of UNESCO, Paris, therefore gave a keynote address on the IHP Phase IX “UNESCO looking ahead within the context of global water-related agendas”. Mr. Amani underlined the vital role of Water Centres within UNESCO and presented a historical review of the various phases of IHP and an outlook of the process leading to the development of Phase IX.

As regards the ICWRGC, Mr. Köthe, Dr. Fader, Mr. Saile and Dr. Dietrich presented various developments and highlights of the ICWRGC in the field of international water programmes. The governing board appreciated these achievements and claimed that the ICWRGC was the only one of currently 36 UNESCO Water Centres worldwide that does not only hold mandates of various UN organisations (UNESCO, WMO, UNEP), but also hosts an operational data centre (running global data centres in cooperation with BfG and DWD). Along with the coordination of the Global Terrestrial Network – Hydrology (GTN-H), this data centre is to be extended by the parameters soil moisture and sediment on a medium to long-term basis. The highly productive and appreciative exchange resulted i.a. in a unanimous understanding of the fact that efforts must be increased to join all forces in the field of water supply at the UN level, to tackle complex future questions regarding services of general interest for human beings and the environment. Likewise about the fact that research and development need to have a stronger focus on applied questions with a proven record of practical success. The tour of the new fish ladder at the Koblenz barrage on the Moselle river and the Mosellum visitor centre has also been placed in this context. Moreover, it was underscored that the technical work implemented within the scope of the international community’s politics needs to focus further efforts on highlighting the role of freshwater.

Date: 21-22 March 2019
Venue: Thessaloniki, Greece

Harald Köthe, Director of the ICWRGC located at Koblenz, Germany, attended the International Forum for SDG 6, held by the UNESCO Cat 2 Centre for Integrated and Interdisciplinary Water Resources Management (CIIWRM) at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh). Mr. Köthe gave a lecture on “Striving for water bodies with good ambient water quality (SDG 6.3.2)”. The Forum provided an opportunity for cooperating with the Greek Cat. 2 Center.

Frankfurt/Main, 20–21 February 2019

Under the topic “Global analyses and local solutions for sustainable water resources management ” the GRoW Mid-Term Conference will be held in Frankfurt/Main (Germany), from 20–21 February 2019. The initiative “Water as a Global Resource (GRoW)” is part of the Sustainable Water Management (NaWaM) funding priority within the Research for Sustainable Development (FONA) framework of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The conference will be rich in variety: 90 research institutions cooperating in 12 GRoW projects will present their latest results, and discuss them with more than 200 expected participants from research, business and practice within 4 thematic clusters – global surface water resources, global groundwater and water supply, water footprint, global analysis and governance.

The ICWRGC supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals within the scope of several projects (SDG 2, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 15). As an invited keynote speaker, Harald Köthe, Director of the ICWRGC, will give a keynote lecture in the session “Water quality as a challenge for achieving SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation)”.

The keynote will focus on two broader questions:

Where is the biggest need for innovation in order to achieve water quality related SDG targets? What is necessary to ensure that innovations are taken up and thus contribute to achieving SDG 6?
How can research results feed into the UN process in support of monitoring and implementing the SDGs?

Conference homepage Further information on the SDGs

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The article “Toward an Understanding of Synergies and Trade-Offs Between Water, Energy, and Food SDG Targets” by Dr. Marianela Fader and colleagues, published as part of the article collection “Achieving Water-Energy-Food Nexus Sustainability: a Science and Data Need or a Need for Integrated Public Policy?” in the journal “Frontiers in Environmental Science” is in the top 15.0 % most viewed and downloaded articles in the 4th quarter of 2018.

http://journal.frontiersin.org

Le Mans, France, 12–13 November 2018

The first Workshop for the co-development of methods to utilize multi-model information on freshwater related hazards took place in the University of Le Mans in November 2018.

Several stakeholders from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia (MAT) participated in this first workshop. One of the key aims was to gain an understanding of the possibilities of multi-model information. Together with the stakeholders, researchers from the CO-MICC team gathered information on the needs and perceptions of stakeholders in adaptation planning in MAT countries. First ideas for the design of the planned CO-MICC knowledge portal were presented and discussed.

On the second day, the stakeholders were introduced to co-constructing Bayesian network structures. The CO-MICC project will use this as a basis to explore adaptation planning at the country scale.

Download Programme (PDF, 3 S., 120KB)

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Zaragoza, 24–25 January 2019

The aim of the first stakeholder workshop in the Ebro focus region was to gain information on the needs and perceptions of stakeholders in adaptation planning with regard to the possibilities of multi-model based information.

Held at the Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro, stakeholders from several government agencies and different research institutions took part along with a representative of the local irrigation community. After introducing the information to be generated by the multi-model ensemble in this project, we discussed the potential use and ways of presenting this information, including the co-construction of Bayesian network structures. As a key vector of showcasing this information, a first draft of the planned data portal was presented and discussed.

Due to the diverse backgrounds of the stakeholders involved, the discussions gave insight into various perspectives and problems they are facing in the wake of climate change impacts on water availability.

Download Programme (PDF, 3 S., 100KB)

The first CO-MICC Newsletter has been released, informing on key topics and milestones of the year 2018. This current newsletter summarizes interviews in our focus region north Africa (including Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia), informs on workshops with scientists and stakeholders from this region and presents key findings.