The project aims at achieving a better understanding of the processes that drive or limit the response of grassland systems in a world of increasing atmospheric pCO2. We will test the hypothesis that the previously shown increase in below-ground allocation of C under elevated pCO2 provides the necessary energy excess and will stimulate free-living N2 fixers in a low N grassland environment. The project thus aims at assessing the occurrence and importance of free-living N2 fixers under elevated pCO2 and identify the associated microbial communities involved in order to better understand ecosystems response and sustainability of grassland systems. This project had the last opportunity to obtain soil samples from a grassland ecosystem adapted to long-term (10 year) elevated atmospheric pCO2 as the Swiss FACE experiment. The project aims to identify the relevant components of free-living diazotrophs of the microbial community using 15N stable isotope - DNA probing.
The overall goal of the GEOMON project is to sustain and analyze European ground-based observations of atmospheric composition, complementary with satellite measurements, in order to quantify and understand the ongoing changes. GEOMON is a first step to build a future integrated pan-European Atmospheric Observing System dealing with systematic observations of long-lived greenhouse gases, reactive gases, aerosols, and stratospheric ozone. This will lay the foundations for a European contribution to GEOSS and optimize the European strategy of environmental monitoring in the field of atmospheric composition observations. Specifically, we will unify and harmonize the main Europeans networks of surface and aircraft-based measurements of atmospheric composition parameters and integrate these measurements with those of satellites. The access to data and data-products will be coordinated at a common data centre for more efficient use. GEOMon will support data gathering at existing networks if necessary, rescue and compile existing ground-based data, and develop new methodologies to use these data for satellite validation and interpretation.. In addition, GEOMON will enable innovative ground-based measurements complementary to satellites, made by upward looking ground based remote sensing instruments Max-DOAS, FTIR, and LIDAR and by systematic measurement programmes of upper-tropospheric composition using passenger aircrafts CARIBIC and MOZAIC. These data will serve to reduce biases and random errors in satellite observations and facilitate interpretation of the columnar measurements in combination with surface data. This will result in a significant improvement in the use of existing and future satellite data. Common techniques and modelling tools will be used in order to add value to the GEOMON data observations, to facilitate their use in satellite validation and help design an optimal network. Prime Contractor: Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique (CEA); Paris; France.
Based on a better understanding of terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity and ecosystem functioning ALARM will develop and test methods and protocols for the assessment of large-scale environmental risks in order to minimise negative direct and indirect human impacts. Research will focus on assessment and forecast of changes in biodiversity and in structure, function, and dynamics of ecosystems. This relates to ecosystem services and includes the relationship between society, economy and biodiversity. In particular, risks arising from climate change, environmental chemicals, biological invasions and pollinator loss in the context of current and future European land use patterns will be assessed. There is an increasing number of case studies on the environmental risks subsequent to each of these impacts. This yields an improved understanding on how these act individually and affect living systems. Whereas the knowledge on how they act in concert is poor and ALARM will be the first research initiative with the critical mass needed to deal with such aspects of combined impacts and their consequences. So far the ALARM consortium combines the expertise of 54 partners from 26 countries (19 EU, Bulgaria, Romania, Israel, Switzerland, Russia, Chile, and Argentina). Within this call we propose to include 16 new TTC partners from Russia, Belarus, China, South-Africa, India, Croatia, Ukraine, Serbia & Montenegro, The Philippines, Bolivia, Guatemala, and Mexico, in order to complement expertise and geographical coverage of the existing consortium.
Aquifers are the main source of water in most semi-arid areas of the Mediterranean basin. As a result of over-exploitation hydrologic deficits of varying acuity prevail in these areas. Seawater intrusion and pollution have been identified as the primary factors for quality degradation. Further deterioration can be expected based on trends in the precipitation regime attributed to climate change. The objective of this project is to identify alternative sources of water and to investigate the feasibility, both environmental and economic of their utilization. Alternative water sources to be artificially recharged comprise: surface water runoff, treated effluent, and imported water. Furthermore, brackish water bodies, present in many aquifers could be utilised after desalination. The project structured into eight work-packages comprehensively addresses all issues related to the problem: expected precipitation rates, recharge and water budgets, identification of potential alternative water sources and technologies for their utilization, development of tools for the management of groundwater resources under artificial recharge conditions, aquifer vulnerability assessment, characterization of the unsaturated zone, and mixing effects. Four test sites have been selected for practical application of the approach. Substantial field testing, integration of technologies and findings to ensure optimal implementations of aquifer recharge alternatives, quantification of socio-economic impacts and development of dissemination platform are planned. Finally a carefully designed project management shall drive and accompany the project execution in order to ascertain consistency and efficiency.
The ARCHAIA project aims at implementing two training seminars on cultural heritage based on an innovative integrated perspective deriving both from the human and the natural sciences. The seminars address 90 post-graduate students, scholars and professionals of different backgrounds. Starting from the need of disseminating the results of 9 funded EU research projects and COST actions, we aim at presenting these within an innovative framework, i.e. a global approach towards planning and management of archaeological parks starting from the very first steps of field research and going through the characterisation of the materials retrieved and topographical studies in order to mould every bit of historical information within a coherent project, properly displayed for the public. Through an innovative didactic methodology, innovative scientific contents will be disseminated. Dealing with the initial program of archaeological research in the field, integrated with techniques of archeobiological and geoarchaeological investigation, our final goal is to supply the participants with the guidelines for moulding research strategies and managing archaeological sites, in order to be able to publicly display the historical content derived from research results and effectively proceed to the protection of the cultural heritage. One training seminar will be in Copenhagen and another one in Bologna. Five key topics have been selected: Topic 1 concerns Topography, surveying and landscape archaeology, Topic 2 Archaeological research and restoration of monuments, Topic 3 Material culture characterization, Topic 4 Anthropology and environment and Topic 5 Data processing and public presentation. The dissemination of the lectures presented through a monograph and multimedia products will also supply guidelines for integrated protocols on the management of archaeological sites, set in their landscape, within a global perspective.
Waterborne sewage system has proven to be inappropriate to solve sanitation needs in developing countries. Approximately 90 percentt of city sewage in developing countries today is discharged untreated, polluting rivers, lakes and coastal areas (Winblad, 1997). With increasing population density and the resultant groundwater pollution, conventional decentralized disposal systems such as latrines and seepage pits are not viable alternatives either. Many cities are short of water and subject to critical environmental degradation (Niemczynowicz, 1996). Conventional sanitation technologies based on flush toilets, sewers, treatment and discharge cannot solve the problems in urban areas anymore. A sustainable sanitation and wastewater management system is urgently needed in order to address these issues. Ecological sanitation (Ecosan) is proposed as an alternative system to solve the following problems: lack of sanitation and water body contamination by pathogens from human waste. Ecosan does not only provide sanitation facilities for the people, but also seeks to protect public health, prevents water pollution and at the same time returns valuable nutrients to the soil so that it also helps to ensure food security and contributes to the objectives of sustainable development. The objective of this research is to search for a sustainable sanitation and human waste management system that is appropriate to be applied in poor income people living in densely populated urban areas in Indonesia. As Ecological Sanitation has not been applied in Indonesia before, this dissertation also aims to investigate its effectiveness and community acceptance in Indonesia. Two other existing systems are also studied as the comparison, which are the conventional septic tank system and the decentralized wastewater system (Dewats). All of these sanitation systems are assessed based on three sustainability criteria: economical, environmental and social.
The project aims at supporting the implementation of the proposed Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the management of waste from the extractive industries 2003/0107. The Directive was prepared following several major accidents with a serious impact on the environment, and it has the purpose of ensuring a safer management of the mining waste facilities, so that such accidents will not occur in the future. This project addresses particularly Article 9, which provides for the classification of waste facilities with respect to the possible consequences of an accident, and respectively the Annex II: Characterisation of mining waste and Annex III: Criteria for the classification of waste facilities. The activities of the project are divided into four major work packages as follows: - Preparation of a Methodology for the Characterisation of Mining Waste - Elaboration of a Risk Assessment Methodology for the Classification of Mining Waste Facilities, including Old/Abandoned Mining Waste Facilities - Review of Techniques for the Prevention and Abatement of Pollution Generated by Mining Wastes - Development of a Decision Support Tool for Minimising the Impact of the Mining Industry on the Environment. The Consortium co-ordinated by BIUTEC, Austria, includes universities, research institutes, NGOs and implementing authorities from 8 European countries, both Members of the EU and accession countries. The experts team is highly qualified and has many years of experience and research in this area, so that the best outputs can be obtained. The project will build on the results of other projects carried out in this field, and will relate closely to on-going projects, so that there is no overlap in our activities. In order to provide an effective tool for the potential beneficiaries, the project team will consult with representatives of the stakeholders before the final versions of the outputs are publicly made available on the project web-site.
Alum-rosin sizing for paper, which came into commercial use in 1835 caused a shift of pH of paper from pseudo-neutral to acidic regions, which dramatically decreased permanence of paper. As a result, decay of library and archival holdings are reaching catastrophic proportions, with about 25 percent of the books in the general library collections brittle while additional 60 percent are endangered. In order to prevent the decay of paper induced by acids, a variety of mass deacidification techniques are available on the market. While a number of comparative evaluations of the treatments were performed in the past, the processes are continuously changing, while additional three were developed in recently. The proposed project aims to: - develop standard model materials and evaluation criteria, in order to enable superior evaluation of existing processes and ease in assessment of emerging ones - comparatively evaluate immediate and long term effects of treatments - develop quality control criteria and evaluation techniques - address environmental and health aspects The objective of extensive dissemination is to incorporate the most suitable mass treatment into the preservation policy of European libraries and archives.
The 2nd Conference in the series of 'Integrative Approaches Towards Sustainability' is a response to the request of participants of the first conference held in Latvia March 26-29, 2003 (http://home.lanet.lv/ asi/). An impressive forum of excellent key-note speakers was challenged by an ambitious audience of young researchers at the 1st Conference proceedings of which contain 600 pages. The Baltic Rim, a recognised leader in integrated treatment of environmental, social, and economic problems of sustainable development (SD), is facing the challenge of full acceptance of the Baltic Countries and Poland to this worldclass club. The 2nd Conference aims to strengthen the integration of the region's RTD community and promotion of sharing its knowledge and expertise internally, across Europe (including the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions) and worldwide by inviting distinguished researchers to discuss the goals defined by the EU Council in Gothenburg, sciencebased thresholds of sustainability and limits with focus on the Baltic Rim, the corporate responsibility for SD in regional decision making, to share knowledge and expertise with particular focus on agriculture, forestry, education, and universitymunicipality partnership in basic and advanced fields of SD; to train the young researchers of the region and regions of Mediterranean and Black Sea. The 2nd Conference will contribute to creation of a 'critical mass' of human potential for SD in the region and Europe. The Conference tasks will be implemented by an appropriate Agenda and composition of participant list. It is essential for the region to organise a high level conference in a new member state on the East coast of the Baltic Sea in order to address senior researchers, to train the young ones from the Baltic countries and Poland and to encourage them to take the opportunities offered by the ERA and the EC 6th FP. The work under the project consists of 6 Work packages.
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