Research

SASSCAL

ICWRGC Collaborating on New PhD Programme to Advance Water Science in Southern Africa

ICWRGC is part of the team working to build the foundation of the new PhD programme in Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), along with the Southern Africa Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCAL) and the Namibian University of Science and Technology (NUST). The overarching objective of the SASSCAL Graduate Studies Programme in Integrated Water Resources Management (SGSP-IWRM) is the development of innovative, excellent and collaborative education and research at PhD degree level, complemented by selected tailor-made training programmes for decision-makers and industry.

Fifteen scholarships have been provided to students from Angola, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Zambia to enroll in a three-year programme.

The key themes of the research program include:

  • Hydrology and Hydrogeology
  • Climate Change, Water Security, and the Environment
  • Water for Sustainable Agriculture and Health Systems
  • Governance, Economics, and Rights in the Water Sector

The thesis projects that the students will complete have been identified by the Academic and Scientific Advisory Committee (ASAC) because of their relevance in advancing the scientific agenda of the southern African region. Student research will be supervised by faculty at NUST, as well as by an international team of German and southern African experts. To prepare the students to carry out the research, the students will engage in common blocks of coursework to deepen their familiarity with IWRM concepts and advanced technical tools. The course of study will also include a research period in Germany hosted by a German institution.

Dr. Luna Bharati is a member of the ASAC, while ICWRGC Director Harald Köthe provides key implementation support and leadership.

URSACHEN Project

Ursachen-project Flyer

Uncertainties of an often unknown magnitude are often inherent in data on water quality and suspended matter concentrations.,This is due to the spatiotemporal variability of the dissolved and suspended matter in combination with the representativity of the sampling process (duration, spatial distribution, measurement interval). The consequences are major uncertainties in the calculation of yearly loads, posing a considerable challenge to the monitoring of river systems. The URSACHEN project investigates the spatiotemporal variability of dissolved and suspended substances in rivers and derives methodological implications for the uncertainty determination of global substance loads.

URSACHEN Flyer

Download: PDF, 2 p., 2,4 MB

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MedECC

A research initiative about climate change and environmental degradation in the Mediterranean Region

The initiative “Mediterranean Experts on Climate and Environmental Change” (MedECC) is committed to ensuring that the risks associated with environmental and climate change in the Mediterranean region are presented in a transparent and scientific way, thus providing a basis for political decision-making. The MedECC network consists of more than 600 scientists from 35 countries.

Our Centre is actively involved in this initiative with Dr. Marianela Fader as part of the Steering Committee, author of MedECC publications, and supervisor of educational activities (mainly Master theses in topics of interest to the initiative).

This initiative has been highly successful in the past, publishing an assessment report in 2020 (see below), winning the North South Prize 2020 of the European Council and being accepted in 2021 as member of the Mediterranean Commission for Sustainable Development (MCSD), a multi-stakeholder advisory body to the parties to the Barcelona Convention, under the auspices of UNEP / MAP. MedECC also directly contributes to the Flagship Initiative for the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development (MSSD), Objective 4 (Addressing climate change as a priority issue for the Mediterranean). It recommends “the establishment of a regional science-policy interface mechanism (…) with a view to preparing consolidated regional scientific assessments and guidance on climate change trends, impacts and adaptation and mitigation options”. Additionally, for the period 2022-2026, Plan Bleu, which hosts the MedECC secretariat, has been accepted as a member of the European Topic Centre on Climate Change Adaptation. MedECC will mainly contribute to this by further developing a science-policy interface and adding case studies to the Climate ADAPT platform.

MedECC will continue working in the future by compiling special Reports on a) Coastal risks , b) The climate-water-energy-food-ecosystems nexus, and c) Environmental change, conflict and human migration.

Full MedECC Report (www.medecc.org)MedECC booklet, PDF, 35 p., 3,2 MB (www.medecc.org)Information about the MedECC Initiative (www.medecc.org)Download the paper “Climate change and interconnected risks to sustainable development in the Mediterranean” (www.nature.com)

National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC)

Planning for sustainable water futures in sub-Saharan Africa in the context of the SDGs

PROJECT SUMMARY
By 2030, average global water requirements are expected to exceed current supply by 40%, necessitating massive investment to fill this ‘gap’. Historically, such investments have focused on often costly and unsustainable ‘grey’ or ‘built’ infrastructure. Hence, interest is rapidly increasing in pathways optimizing the use of ‘natural’ or ‘green’ infrastructure (freshwater ecosystems and the services (FWES) they provide), or on ‘blended’ approaches. The goal of SESYNC’s proposed Pursuit is to aid planning for sustainable water futures in sub-Saharan Africa, built around provision of FWES from healthy freshwater ecosystems, in support of achieving the SDGs.

Mediterranean Region

Synthesis research about climate change impacts in the Mediterranean Region

Dr. Marianela Fader from ICWRGC is in charge of the management and coordination of the working group “Water” of the MedECC initiative. MedECC has produced an IPCC-like report for the Mediterranean region, published in November 2020, dealing not only with climate change impacts but also with certain aspects of environmental degradation. About 190 scientists from 25 countries participate in this initiative. 16 of them are members of the Water Group and authors of our Water Chapter. MedECC is supported by the government of Monaco, the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) and several French institutions.

Water Chapter of the MedECC Report

Download, PDF, 52 p., 2,4 MB

Summary for Policy Makers of the First MedECC Report with the title “Climate and Environmental Change in the Mediterranean Basin Current Situation and Risks for the Future”

Download, PDF, 32 p., 1,2 MB

Full MedECC Report with additional chapters on Drivers of Change, Ecosystems, Food, Energy, Human Security, Health, Development and Resilience

www.medecc.org

MedECC booklet

Download, PDF, 35 p., 3,2 MB

Download the paper published in Nature Climate Change in 2018 “Climate change and interconnected risks to sustainable development in the Mediterranean”

www.nature.com

Take a look at the master thesis summary of our student Veronika Zwirglmaier on “Assessment of Future Impacts of Climate Change, Land Use Change and Water Demand on Freshwater Resources in the Mediterranean Region – A Meta-Analysis”

Take a look at the master thesis summary of our student Mihir Rambhia on “Observed Impact on Water Resources in the Mediterranean Region: A Meta-Analysis”

Obtain information about the MedECC Initiative under

www.medecc.org
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REMODEL

ReproduciblE MODELing in the Geosciences

Software development has become an integral part of the geosciences as models and data processing get more sophisticated. Paradoxically, it poses a threat to scientific progress as the pillar of science, reproducibility, is seldomly reached. Software code tends to be either poorly written and documented or not shared at all; proper software licenses are rarely attributed. This is especially worrisome as scientific results have potential controversial implications for stakeholders and policymakers and may influence the public opinion for a long time.

Logo Remodel project

In recent years, progress towards open science has led to more publishers demanding access to data and source code alongside peer-reviewed manuscripts. Still, recent studies find that results can rarely be reproduced.

In this project, we conduct a poll among the geoscience community which is advertised via scientific blogs (AGU, EGU), research networks (researchgate.net and mailing lists), and social media. Therein, we strive to investigate the causes for that lack of reproducibility. We take a peek behind the curtain and unveil how the community develops and maintains complex code and what that entails for reproducibility. Our survey includes background knowledge, community opinion, and behaviour practices regarding reproducible software development.

We postulate that this lack of reproducibility might be rooted in insufficient reward within the scientific community, insecurity regarding proper licencing of software and other parts of the research compendium as well as scientists’ unawareness about how to make software available in a way that allows for proper attribution of their work. We question putative causes such as unclear guidelines of research institutions or that software has been developed over decades, by researchers’ cohorts without a proper software engineering process and transparent licensing.

To this end, we also summarize solutions like the adaption of modern project management methods from the computer engineering community that will eventually reduce costs while increasing the reproducibility of scientific research.

Preliminary results and data will be available mid-August 2021.

Contactpoll.remodel.globalVideo Introduction
Logos Frankfurt university and potsdam university
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CO-MICC

Supporting risk assessment and adaptation at multiple spatial scales: Co-development of methods to utilize uncertain multi-model based information on freshwater-related hazards of climate change (CO-MICC)

Projections on climate change and its impacts are subject to substantial variance. Therefore, using multi-model ensembles is state of the art in quantifying potential future changes of variables relevant for assessing climate change risks. Such ensembles have been generated in the course of work implemented during the initiative “Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project”, using a number of climate models as input for various global hydrological models. The objective of this project is developing methods for providing and using data of a multimodel ensemble on freshwater-related hazards of climate change, suitable for assessing risks and adaptive measures at various spatial scales. Another goal is providing suitable data for different categories of end users, with a focus on the representation of uncertainties. To this end, PUNI (Providing and Utilizing eNsemble Information) methods are participatorily developed in the project, to optimally characterize and handle uncertainties of future hazards. The outcome of the overall project is 1) a manual on the co-developed PUNI-methods, and 2) a web portal with ICWRGC, providing global-scale multi-model ensembles of hydrological variables and derived products to the public.

www.co-micc.eu
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SDG indicators

Core Group at the Sustainable Water Future Programme titled „The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): From modelling SDG indicators to synergies and trade-offs in the Water-Energy-Food Nexus”

The 17 SDGs include 169 targets whose rate of achievement is to be monitored by indicators. Monitoring the target achievement poses a major challenge due to a lack of data, insufficient definitions and unforeseen trade-offs between sectors. The group aims at exploring how global hydrology, vegetation, land surface, land use and agent-based models can help monitor and project progress towards targets defined by the SDGs. Additionally, we will describe how uncertainty is perceived by stakeholders and policy makers, how trust in models influences implementation and how researchers can best communicate and disseminate their methodologies, results and broader impacts to policy-relevant stakeholders.

Further information:

Agenda and Outputs

  • 2 workshops
  • positioning paper
  • research project proposal
  • recommendations for action

Overview of the group

The group members cover a broad spectrum of competences (from hydrologic modelling to climate sciences, economics, governance, decision science, psychology). They share an active involvement in sustainability science, transdisciplinary contributions to novel approaches and high-level publications in the field. The past and ongoing activities of the members include vegetation and hydrology modelling, perception of uncertainty, integrated assessment, and participatory institutional analysis of the WEF nexus at different scales ranging from local to global. The team is composed of distinguished senior researchers, but also young researchers who are active in publication. Although many members of our group have collaborated on previous work, our group has been established ad hoc for the specific purposes of this Core Group for the Sustainable Water Future Programme. The transdisciplinary character of the group is well grounded in disciplinary competences that were selected with the specific aim of supporting the transformation to water sustainability at the interface between science and policy making.

Core Group
Sustainable Water Future Programme

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Further research projects