The natural capital of forests consists to a great extend of the forests environmental functions for human well-being, which not only include goods and services (source and sink functions) but also include life-support functions that reflect ecosystem performance (ecosystem functioning). Shifting the management approach from a traditional one to one that is more aware of the ecosystem complexity, the idea of 'ecosystem functioning is appearing to tackle gradual declines of ecosystem functions. Within CBDs framework, the Ecosystem Approach has been introduced on account of the necessity for open decision making with strong links between all stakeholders and the latest scientific knowledge due to uncertainty and unpredictability in nature. The Ecosystem Approach is still in need of further elaboration, even though as a concept Ecosystem Approach has been widely accepted. To aim forest enhancement, this approach has been regarded as the most feasible concept for the study area, the Bengawan Solo River Basin - Java, Indonesia. Therefore the principles and operational guidelines will be used to analyse and evaluate the current forest management in those areas of the Bengawan Solo River Basin, in which ecosystem function is the basis for forest development area. This research focuses on ecological functions of forests at various levels of ecosystem management planning, from the forestry sectors point of view.
The development of sustainable and efficient energy conversion processes at interfaces is at the center of the rapidly growing field of basic energy science. How successful this challenge can be addressed will ultimately depend on the acquired degree of molecular-level understanding. In this respect, the severe knowledge gap in electro- or photocatalytic conversions compared to corresponding thermal processes in heterogeneous catalysis is staggering. This discrepancy is most blatant in the present status of predictive-quality, viz. first-principles based modelling in the two fields, which largely owes to multifactorial methodological issues connected with the treatment of the electrochemical environment and the description of the surface redox chemistry driven by the photo-excited charges or external potentials.Successfully tackling these complexities will advance modelling methodology in (photo)electrocatalysis to a similar level as already established in heterogeneous catalysis, with an impact that likely even supersedes the one seen there in the last decade. A corresponding method development is the core objective of the present proposal, with particular emphasis on numerically efficient approaches that will ultimately allow to reach comprehensive microkinetic formulations. Synergistically combining the methodological expertise of the two participating groups we specifically aim to implement and advance implicit and mixed implicit/explicit solvation models, as well as QM/MM approaches to describe energy-related processes at solid-liquid interfaces. With the clear objective to develop general-purpose methodology we will illustrate their use with applications to hydrogen generation through water splitting. Disentangling the electro- resp. photocatalytic effect with respect to the corresponding dark reaction, this concerns both the hydrogen evolution reaction at metal electrodes like Pt and direct water splitting at oxide photocatalysts like TiO2. Through this we expect to arrive at a detailed mechanistic understanding that will culminate in the formulation of comprehensive microkinetic models of the light- or potential-driven redox process. Evaluating these models with kinetic Monte Carlo simulations will unambiguously identify the rate-determining and overpotential-creating steps and therewith provide the basis for a rational optimization of the overall process. As such our study will provide a key example of how systematic method development in computational approaches to basic energy sciences leads to breakthrough progress and serves both fundamental understanding and cutting-edge application.
The broad objective of the research is to gain a fundamental understanding of the surface reaction chemistry of exhaust catalysts operating under cycling conditions. Using an integrated theoretical approach we specifically target NOx abatement, with particular emphasis on the appearance and destruction of surface oxide phases as the reactor conditions cycle from oxidative to reductive during the operation of the NOx Storage Reduction (NSR) catalyst system. Methodologically this requires material-specific, quantitative and explicitly time-dependent simulation tools that can follow the evolution of the system over the macroscopic time-scales of NSR cycles, while simultaneously accounting for the atomic-scale site heterogeneity and spatial distributions at the evolving surface. To meet these challenging demands we will develop a novel multi-scale methodology relying on a multi-lattice first-principles kinetic Monte Carlo (kMC) approach. As representative example the simulations will be carried out on a PdO(101)/Pd(100) surface oxide model, but care will be taken to ensure a generalization of the multi-lattice first-principles kMC approach to other systems in which phase transformations may occur and result in a change in the surface lattice structure depending upon environmental variables.
Irrigation in the Yanqi Basin, Sinkiang, China has led to water table rise and soil salination. A model is used to assess management options. These include more irrigation with groundwater, water saving irrigation techniques and others. The model relies on input data from remote sensing.The Yanqi Basin is located in the north-western Chinese province of Xinjiang.This agriculturally highly productive region is heavily irrigated with water drawn from the Kaidu River. The Kaidu River itself is mainly fed by snow and glacier melt from the Tian Mountain surrounding the basin. A very poor drainage system and an overexploitation of surface water have lead to a series of environmental problems: 1. Seepage water under irrigated fields has raised the groundwater table during the last years, causing strongly increased groundwater evaporation. The salt dissolved in the groundwater accumulates at the soil surface as the groundwater evaporates. This soil salinization leads to degradation of vegetation as well as to a loss of arable farmland. 2. The runoff from the Bostan Lake to the downstream Corridor is limited since large amount of water is used for irrigation in the Yanqi Basin. Nowadays, the runoff is maintained by pumping water from the lake to the river. The environmental and ecological system is facing a serious threat.In order to improve the situation in the Yanqi Basin, a jointly funded cooperation has been set up by the Institute of Environmental Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) , China Institute of Geological and Environmental Monitoring (CIGEM) and Xinjiang Agricultural University. The situation could in principle be improved by using groundwater for irrigation, thus lowering the groundwater table and saving unproductive evaporation. However, this is associated with higher cost as groundwater has to be pumped. The major decision variable to steer the system into a desirable state is thus the ratio of irrigation water pumped from the aquifer and irrigation water drawn from the river. The basis to evaluate the ideal ratio between river and groundwater - applied to irrigation - will be a groundwater model combined with models describing the processes of the unsaturated zone. The project will focus on the following aspects of research: (...)
Globalization raised the importance of food safety and quality concerns. Developed countries implement precautionary food regulation policies to protect their affluent consumers from unsafe food imported from developing and transition countries. However, the alarming number of trade disputes at WTO evidences cases of abuse of such policies. While claims on protectionist nature of food regulations are valid in principle, yet there is little empirical evidence about their economic effects. The questions of 1) quantification of trade impact of food standards and 2) investigation of national food regulation systems are absolutely essential for the new trade agenda. These problems for developing countries are on the focus of trade policy debate, whereas for transition countries are not considered seriously. Such a research for these recently liberalized markets gains a special significance. - The proposed research will employ Gravity Model for quantitative estimation of impact of EU aflatoxin standards on transition countries- exports.- Russian food regulations for cereal value chain, their enforcement and monitoring mechanisms will be investigated through value chain and cost-benefit analysis.- Compliance of Russian norms with EU standards will be estimated applying comparative advantage analysis.The study area is Stavropol region of the Russian Federation. Local experts will contribute to the construction of the research data set and analysis. The results of the research will assist 1) international policy makers in designing new global trade agenda and 2) Russian producers, exporters and decision makers in improving cereal value chain.
Objective: Space heating accounts for more than 50Prozent of the energy consumption of public & residential buildings, and reduction of this energy demand is a key strategy in the move to low energy/low carbon buildings. The careful management of air flow within a building forms part of this strategy through the control of inlet fresh air and exhaust air, maximising air re-circulation, and minimising the amount of fresh air which is often drawn in through a heat exchanger. However, there is a high risk that the air quality is reduced. Continued exposure to environments with poor air quality is a major public health concern in developed and developing countries. It is estimated that the pollutants responsible for poor air quality cause nearly 2.5 million premature deaths per year world-wide. Significantly, around 1.5 million of these deaths are due to polluted indoor air, and it is suggested that poor indoor air quality may pose a significant health risk to more than half of the world's population. Perhaps surprisingly, remedial action to improve air quality is often easy to implement. Relatively simple measures such as increased air flow through ventilation systems, or a greater proportion of fresh air to re-circulating air are sufficient to improve air quality. Low-energy air purification and detoxification technologies are available which will reduce the concentration of specific pollutants. Similarly, filtration systems (e.g. electrostatic filters) can be switched in to reduce the level of the particulate matter in the air (the principle pollutant responsible for poor health). The INTASENSE concept is to integrate a number of micro- and nano-sensing technologies onto a common detection platform with shared air-handling and pre-conditioning infrastructure to produce a low-cost miniaturised system that can comprehensively measure air quality, and identify the nature and form of pollutants. INTASENSE is a 3-year project which brings together 8 organisations from 5 countries.
Objectives: The project aims on developing a dry CO2 capture system for atmospheric and pressurized fluidized bed boilers. The atmospheric option will be developed towards a pilot plant application. For the pressurized option the project seeks for a proof of principle to determine if the advantages of a pressurized capture system can balance the problems known from existing PFBC systems. The quantifiable objectives are: - Low CO2 capture costs (less than 20 Euro/t for atmospheric, less than 12 Euro/t for pressurized sy stems) - Acceptable efficiency penalty for CO2 capture (less than about equal to 6 percent nel). - greater than 90 percent carbon capture for new power plants and greater than 60 percent for retrofitted existing plants - A purge gas stream containing greater than 95 percent CO2 - A solid purge usable for cement production - Sim ultaneous sulphur and CO2 removal with sulphur recovery option Approach: Limestone is a CO2 carrier. The CO2 can be released easily in a conventional calcination process, well known in the cement and lime industry. By integrating a closed carbonation/calc ination loop in the flue gas of a conventional CFB-boiler, the CO2 in the flue gas can be removed. The heat required for calcination is released during carbonation and can be utilised efficiently (high temperature) in the steam cycle of the boiler. Concent rated CO2 can be generated when using oxygen blown calcination. Because the fuel required for supplying heat for calcination is only a fraction of the total fuel requirements, the required oxygen is only about 1/3 of the oxygen required for oxyfuel process es. The work programme: 1.Definition of the technical and economic boundary conditions 2.Selection and improvement of sorbent materials 3.Lab scale and semi-technical scale process development (experimental work) 4.Technical and economic evaluation 5.Des ign of a 1 MWth Pilot plant.
Wildtiere (Arten, Populationen, Individuen, Lebensräume, genetische Vielfalt) werden neben der Jagd von vielen anderen Landnutzungsaktivitäten beeinflusst, die sich im Wildlebensraum vielfach überlagern und oftmals miteinander konkurrieren. Insbesondere in Mehrfachnutzungs-Kulturlandschaften, wie dem Biosphärenpark Wienerwald, können die resultierenden Wechselwirkungen zwischen den Lebensraumansprüchen von Wildtieren, jagdlichen Nutzungsinteressen und anderen Landnutzungsansprüchen oftmals zu Konflikten führen, die der nachhaltigen Erhaltung heimischer Wildtierarten und ihrer Lebensräume, der Nachhaltigkeit der beteiligten Landnutzungen und einer nachhaltigen regionalen Entwicklung insgesamt abträglich sein können. Sektorale Nachhaltigkeitsansätze alleine sind unzureichend und können sogar unbeabsichtigte negative Auswirkungen auf andere Landnutzungen und auf das betreffende Ökosystem haben. Der nachhaltige Umgang mit Wildtieren kann letztlich nur gelingen, wenn alle im Wildlebensraum agierenden Nutzergruppen sich der Auswirkungen ihrer Tätigkeiten auf die Ressource 'Wildtier' sowie auf die jeweils anderen Nutzergruppen bewusst sind. Am Beispiel von 'Wildtieren und Jagd' wurden daher im Biosphärenpark Wienerwald modellhaft Konzepte, Inhalte und Instrumente für eine integrative, d. h. sektorübergreifend abgestimmte Nachhaltigkeitsbeurteilung mehrerer Landnutzergruppen entwickelt. Mittels angewandter und partizipativer Forschungsmethoden (Experteninterviews, breite Nutzerbefragungen, projektbegleitende Partizipation) wurden zentrale Schnittstellen (Antagonismen, Synergiepotenziale) zwischen Wildtieren, Jagd und weiteren regionalen Landnutzungen identifiziert, analysiert und bewertet. Als zentrales Ergebnis liegen sektorübergreifend abgestimmte Sets von Prinzipien, Kriterien und Indikatoren für ein integratives nachhaltiges Wildtiermanagement im Biosphärenpark Wienerwald vor. Die Bewertungssets dienen der Selbstbewertung wesentlicher regionaler Nutzergruppen (Forstwirtschaft, Landwirtschaft, Jagd, Freizeit- und Erholungsmanagement) und ermöglichen es diesen, jeweils eigene Einflussmöglichkeiten auf die nachhaltige Erhaltung von Wildtierarten, deren Lebensräumen und eine nachhaltige Jagd selbst zu überprüfen. Nachhaltigkeitsanforderungen anderer Nutzergruppen wurden dabei jeweils berücksichtigt. Somit wurde am Beispiel der stark vernetzten Thematik 'Umgang mit Wildtieren' erstmals der Schritt von der rein sektorbezogenen hin zu einer sektorübergreifend abgestimmten Erfassung der Nachhaltigkeit vollzogen. Weiters wurden Empfehlungen für ein integratives nachhaltiges Wildtiermanagement sowie für ein diesbezügliches Monitoring ausgearbeitet. Die Projektergebnisse sollen dazu beitragen, Wildtiere und deren Management möglichst konfliktfrei in eine nachhaltige Landnutzung im Biosphärenpark Wienerwald zu integrieren. Die Vollversion des Endberichtes samt Anhängen ist als Download-Publikation auf der Homepage der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
Water repellency (WR) plays a significant role in a large number of soils all over the world. In many regions global warming will lead to drier land surfaces and thus, increasing the likeliness of actual water repellency for such soils. The hydrological effects of WR (surface runoff, water erosion, preferential flow) have been relatively well investigated in the last decades. However, its effect on the energy balance between soil and atmosphere has not been studied yet. We postulate that global warming does not only lead to an increase in WR of soils, but WR has an impact on the energy balance and thus, will lead to a feedback on global warming. In order to test our hypothesis, we want to determine all components of the energy- and water balance between soil and atmosphere for a strongly water repellent soil. As a reference we want to repeat the same measurements for the same soil, at which the WR has been suspended by application of a surfactants. While the laboratory studies aim to give insight into more principle processes, the lysimeter (bare and with plants) and field scale studies shall give information about integrated complex natural processes. The gained knowledge shall be implemented into a numerical simulation tool for modeling water and energy balances in order to predict the effects of WR under different atmospheric conditions and physical soil properties.
The mission of the TIDE project will be to enhance the broad transfer and take-up of 15 innovative urban transport and mobility concepts throughout Europe and to make a visible contribution to establish them as mainstream measures. The TIDE partners will make a range of new and feasible solutions easily accessible to address key challenges of urban transport such as energy efficiency, decarbonisation, demographic change, safety, access for all and new economic and financial conditions. TIDE will focus on 15 innovative concepts in five thematic clusters: financing models and pricing measures (1), non-motorised transport (2), network and traffic management to support traveller information (3), electric vehicles (4) and public transport organisation (5). Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans will be a horizontal topic to integrate the cluster activities. The project will provide a strong approach in methodology, content and outreach. The needs of practitioners in European cities and regions will be a guiding principle. A particular focus will also be on providing guidance for finding cost-efficient solutions (cost-benefit analysis). The project will refine existing and well proven transferability methodologies and integrate them into an easy to apply handbook. Face-to-Face training and exchange events as well as guidelines and e-learning on how to successfully implement innovative solutions will be the key tools to effectively support a wide range of take-up candidates in overcoming real or perceived barriers to implementation. A broad portfolio of dissemination activities will ensure a high visibility of the project. TIDE will actively support 15 committed cities in developing implementation scenarios. They will demonstrate how to successfully prepare implementation of innovative solutions and provide examples to a wider group of cities. An experienced and committed consortium will ensure that the advanced project approach will achieve a well visible impact.
| Organisation | Count |
|---|---|
| Bund | 29 |
| Europa | 9 |
| Wissenschaft | 11 |
| Type | Count |
|---|---|
| Förderprogramm | 29 |
| License | Count |
|---|---|
| Offen | 29 |
| Language | Count |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | 2 |
| Englisch | 28 |
| Resource type | Count |
|---|---|
| Keine | 22 |
| Webseite | 7 |
| Topic | Count |
|---|---|
| Boden | 23 |
| Lebewesen und Lebensräume | 28 |
| Luft | 20 |
| Mensch und Umwelt | 28 |
| Wasser | 21 |
| Weitere | 29 |