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Climate - Water - Soil

Brief description:

In the context of climate change, it is becoming increasingly important in river basins with increasing water withdrawals and rising conflict potential to take water management precautionary measures and to discuss risks of failure and resulting damage as well as existing water pollution as limiting factors of water availability. For sustainable development, the population, agriculture and businesses need clean freshwater in sufficient quantity and quality. This requires an intact water cycle and a healthy water ecosystem. Securing the resource directly affects different areas, such as the landscape water balance, the transregional storage and distribution of water supply, sustainable resource protection, settlement structures and the preservation of ecosystem functions. In view of the rapidly changing framework conditions, necessary measures of a reorientation towards a future-proof and sustainable water supply are to be discussed. Careful use of water and soil resources and their effective protection are essential for their sustainable existence, food security and the preservation of biodiversity. The impacts of climate change are clearly visible in changes in precipitation and evapotranspiration regimes, prolonged droughts with heat records, increased flash floods and landslides, structural failures, reduced ecosystem functions, a changing soil water balance, and declining groundwater recharge rates. Consequently, conflicts of use are increasing and intensifying. Current measures can neither solve nor prevent these conflicts. New goals must therefore be set for future-proof water management that focuses on the resilience of the landscape water balance. Water resources are affected by all human activity, not just their use and consumption. Consequently, the landscape, relief, banks, soil and settlements must be understood holistically as essential factors influencing water management and must be managed sustainably from this perspective.  

Expert Seminar in Florianapolis

A seminar in the frame of the project Climate-Water-Soil took place in Florianapolis, Brazil, from October 22nd to 28th, 2023 under the leadership of the Chair of Geotechnics, University of Siegen and the local partners. 40 international experts from Latin America, USA, Spain an the Netherlands participated in the seminar. After the expert seminar has successfully been concluded with an exchange of information, valuable discussions and innovative ideas we make the presentations available to the participants.