PARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN ACADEMIA AND NGOs IN TECHNICAL STUDIES IN ITALY

This paper presents selected partnership experiences between technical universities and NGOs in Italy aimed at promoting Sustainable Human Development (SHD) through formal higher education initiatives. It stems from the GDEE project (Global Dimension in Engineering Education) as part of a series of actions aimed at assessing and reinforcing cooperation between NGOs and academia which is recognized as a key factor in reinforcing the presence of SHD in formal teaching programs at all levels of university education. Four higher education programs based in technical (science and engineering) university departments are presented, which reveal several common traits in their goals, approach and activities. The paper is co-authored by both academic and NGO staff. In all the examined initiatives, partnerships between academia and NGOs both at local and international level are seen as a fundamental element of the educational approach. Thanks to the adopted multi-perspective viewpoint, the paper critically discusses the main strengths, open challenges and future perspectives of the selected initiatives. This preliminary analysis can serve as a basis for programs aimed at systematically reinforcing NGO-University partnerships as a win-win strategy within both the higher education and international development cooperation systems

In situ measurements of fine sediment infiltration (FSI) in gravel-bed rivers with a hydropeaking flow regime

The overpresence of fine sediment and fine sediment infiltration (FSI) in the aquatic environment of rivers are of increasing importance due to their limiting effects on habitat quality and use. The habitats of both macroinvertebrates and fish, especially spawning sites, can be negatively affected. More recently, hydropeaking has been mentioned as a driving factor in fine sediment dynamics and FSI in gravel-bed rivers. The primary aim of the present study was to quantify FSI in the vertical stratigraphy of alpine rivers with hydropeaking flow regimes in order to identify possible differences in FSI between the permanently wetted area (during base and peak flows) and the so-called dewatering areas, which are only inundated during peak flows. Moreover, we assessed whether the discharge ratio between base and peak flow is able to explain the magnitude of FSI. To address these aims, freeze-core samples were taken in eight different alpine river catchments. The results showed significant differences in the vertical stratification of FSI between the permanently wetted area during base flow and the dewatering sites. Surface clogging occurred only in the dewatering areas, with decreasing percentages of fine sediments associated with increasing core depths. In contrast, permanently wetted areas contained little or no fine sediment concentrations on the surface of the river bed. Furthermore, no statistical relationship was observed between the magnitude of hydropeaking and the sampled FSI rate. A repeated survey of FSI in the gravel matrix revealed the importance of de-clogging caused by flooding and the importance of FSI in the aquatic environment, especially in the initial stages of riparian vegetation establishment

Trade-Offs Model Of Multi-Objective Reservoir Operation With Uncertainties

As the increase of water resources management and exploitation goals, it is gaining increasing weights for reservoir operation to seek optimal options for the balance between multiple and contradictory water resources use objectives. This study develops a trade-offs model to quantify the economic benefits of reservoir operation rules on the downstream water supply yield. Uncertainties of different water use benefits are considered by using a Monte Carlo method in the trade-offs model. The case study is analyzed to evaluate its performance in terms of water use benefits of agriculture, hydropower, flood control and environmental water requirements in the Yellow River, China. Trade-offs results are got among water resources needs of social development and environmental protections under the reservoir operation. The results indicate that there are magnificent trade-offs between ecological benefit and social economic development under different management policies and scenarios. This study could provide a simple but robust framework for quantifying the consequences of management options with reservoir operations under control. The results could be used for reference of compromised solutions to the ecological and human negotiations for water. Acknowledgement: This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

Moving waters to mitigate hydropeaking: a case study from the Italian Alps

We assessed the effect of a hydropeaking diversion mitigation measure that allows for additional hydropower production, which markedly reduced hydropeaking on a 10-km stream reach in the north-eastern Italian Alps. Hydropeaking, caused by a storage hydropower plant, affected the study reach from the 1920s to 2015, when a cascade of three small run-of-the-river plants was installed to divert the hydropeaks from the plant outlet directly into the intake of the RoRs plants, and hydropeaking was released downstream the confluence with a major free-flowing tributary. The flow regime in the mitigated reach shifted from a hydropeaking-dominated to a baseflow-dominated regime in winter, with flow variability represented only by snowmelt and rainfall in late spring and summer. The application of two recently proposed sets of hydropeaking indicators, the hydraulic analysis of the hydropeaking wave, together with the assessment of biotic changes, allowed quantifying the changes in ecohydraulic processes associated with hydropeaking mitigation. The flow regime in the mitigated reach changed to a residual flow type, with much less frequent residual hydropeaks; although an average two-fold increase in downramping rates were recorded downstream the junction with the tributary, these changes did not represent an ecological concern. The functional composition of the macrobenthic communities shifted slightly in response to flow mitigation, but the taxonomic composition did not recover to conditions typical of more natural flow regimes. This was likely due to the reduced dilution of pollutants and resulting slight worsening in water quality. Conversely, the hyporheic communities showed an increase in diversity and abundance of interstitial taxa, especially in the sites most affected by hydropeaking. This effect was likely due to changes in the interstitial space availability, brought by a reduction of fine sediments clogging. Besides illustrating a feasible hydropeaking mitigation option for Alpine streams, our work suggests the importance of monitoring both benthic and hyporheic communities, together with the flow and sediment supply regimes, and physico-chemical water quality parameters

Assessing the eco-hydraulic effects of a hydropeaking mitigation measure with increased energy production in the Noce River (Italian Alps)

We investigated the ecohydraulic effects of a recently implemented hydropeaking mitigation measure in the Upper Noce Stream (NE Italy, Italian Alps), which also allows for additional hydropower production. The Upper Noce, a 3rd order gravel-bed stream, was affected since the mid-1920s by storage hydropower production and associated hydropeaking. The mitigation measure consisted in the diversion of most of the released hydropeaks into a sequence of three newly-installed, cascading run-of-the-river power plants, fed by a penstock running almost parallel to the former hydropeaking reach. The hydropeaking-diversion mitigation measure markedly reduced hydropeaking on a 10-km stream reach, and hydropeaking is now released immediately upstream the confluence with a major free-flowing tributary, which increases the hydropeaking baseflow. The flow regime in the mitigated reach shifted from hydropeaking-dominated to baseflow-dominated regime in winter, with flow variability represented only by snowmelt and rainfall in late spring and summer. We applied two sets of indicators (the Hydropeaking Indicators HP1, HP2 and the COSH method) and conducted a simplified hydraulic analysis of the hydropeaking wave propagation. We assessed the ecological effects of the mitigation measure using three complementary data sources: the analysis of (a) the benthic and (b) hyporheic invertebrate communities, based on datasets collected before and after the implementation of the diversion measure, and (c) ancillary data monitored by the diversion plant manager for required environmental monitoring, which included the suspended sediment regime and the Extended Biotic Index, measured yearly from the year before to the four subsequent years after the implementation of the mitigation measure. Three main changes in eco-hydraulic processes associated with hydropeaking mitigation were detected. i) The flow regime in the mitigated reach changed to a residual flow type, with much less frequent residual hydropeaks, with an average two-fold increase in downramping rates that were recorded downstream the junction with a major tributary. ii) The functional composition of the macrobenthic communities shifted slightly in response to flow mitigation, but the taxonomic composition did not recover to conditions typical of more natural flow regimes. This was likely due to the reduced dilution of pollutants and resulting slight worsening in water quality. iii) The hyporheic communities conversely showed an increase in diversity and abundance of interstitial taxa, especially in the sites most affected by hydropeaking, and this effect was likely due to changes in the interstitial space availability, brought by an alteration of the previous time-space pattern of fine sediment transport, which eventually resulted in reduction of fine sediments clogging of the gravel bed interstices. Besides illustrating a feasible hydropeaking mitigation option for Alpine streams, this work suggests the importance of monitoring both benthic and hyporheic communities, together with the flow and sediment supply regimes, and physico-chemical water quality parameters, for carefully detecting changes in eco-hydraulic processes associated with hydropeaking mitigation that may not be fully expected in the design phase

Measured temporal variations of CO2 concentration and atmospheric emissions in a hydropeaking-impacted river

Rivers are increasingly recognised as active players in the global carbon cycle. They are able to transport, transform, and exchange organic matter, and can emit considerable fluxes of greenhouse gases (e.g., CO2) into the atmosphere, with a magnitude comparable to the global carbon input to the oceans. However, the quantification of these processes is still affected by considerable uncertainties, driven by an incomplete understanding of the interplay between physical, geochemical, and biological parameters, and by a lack of spatially and temporally resolved high-quality data. For instance, and despite a potentially strong impact on kilometres of rivers worldwide, the effects of hydropeaking on riverine CO2 emissions have been almost completely neglected until recently (Calamita et al., Unaccounted CO2 leaks downstream of a large tropical hydroelectric reservoir, PNAS 2020). As a contribution to filling this knowledge gap, we present the results of a field-measurement campaign performed in a single-thread Alpine river (River Noce, Italy) during multiple hydropeaking events. Data of water-dissolved CO2, water temperature, and flow discharge, were collected sub-hourly both downstream and upstream of the outlets of a hydropower plant, revealing a complex pattern of variation in time at both locations. Water released from the hydropower plant during hydropeaking had oversaturated CO2 concentrations relative to the atmosphere, in close agreement with water samples collected in the hypolimnion of the upstream reservoir. Higher flow rates during hydropeaking events were associated with higher rates of gas exchange through the water-air interface. Higher exchange rates and higher CO2 concentrations in water during hydropeaking events enhanced CO2 fluxes, as confirmed by measurements with a floating CO2 flux chamber. Meanwhile, the CO2 concentration upstream of the outlets displayed strong diel fluctuations around the atmospheric equilibrium concentration, which were likely driven by primary production within the residual flow during the day. It is shown that the residual flow can have a previously unacknowledged added value as a CO2 sink during the day, fueled by its biological activity. Hydropower releases bypassed the residual flow and discharged hypolimnetic water oversaturated with CO2 at high flow rates during hydropeaking, offsetting CO2 concentration and fluxes downstream of the outlets and increasing emissions on average. These results highlight the ubiquity of hydropeaking impacts also with respect to greenhouse gas emissions. They illustrate the complexity of the riverine carbon cycle and demonstrate the importance of temporally and spatially-resolved data for the accurate assessment of the riverine carbon balance

International Cooperation and University Agreements: new opportunities for sustainable development.

Internationalization of higher education institutes is becoming a real opportunity of development in environmental and social subjects. This paper explores a case study where university agreements and student exchanges between low-middle income and high-income countries have started a process of international cooperation about environmental themes. The agreements, signed between two Italian and two Bolivian Universities, started formally in 2015 and include the cooperation through local authorities, private companies and non-governmental organizations. This case study proved the importance of Universities for implementing international programs concerning environmental issues in low-middle income countries, opening new opportunities for sustainable development

Transferability Of Mesohabitat Suitability Criteria In Northern Italy

In the framework of water resources planning and management, the MesoHABSIM (MesoHABitat SImulation Model) approach demonstrated high potential to assess suitable environmental conditions for freshwater fish species. In the present study, the transferability capabilities of mesohabitat suitability criteria were evaluated in nine streams across Northern Italy. In particular, the Random Forest (RF) technique was used to calibrate and validate suitability criteria for adult and juvenile life stages of brown trout (Salmo trutta), marble trout (Salmo marmoratus), bullhead (Cottus gobio) Italian barbel (Barbus plebejus), and Italian vairone (Telestes muticellus). Presence/absence binary models were calibrated at the mesohabitat scale (i.e., the geomorphic unit scale) using field data collected in reference sites, selected for their natural hydro-morphological conditions and habitat characteristics. Model transferability tests were performed in streams located in different regions within the distribution area of the fish and not included in the model calibration dataset. Predictive capacities of the models were very good in terms of accuracy (ranging from 75% to 82%) and true skill statistic (ranging from 52% to 75%). The high predictive performances can be related to (i) the use of an ecologically relevant spatial resolution (mesohabitat) to predict fish presence, (ii) a robust and adequate hydro-morphological characterization of the analyzed geomorphic units, and (iii) the large number of mesohabitat descriptors provided by the MesoHABSIM approach. Results showed that mesohabitat suitability criteria based on RF can be considered transferable among streams located in different regions of Northern Italy, especially when river channels are characterized by similar hydro-morphological characteristics

Promoting sustainable human development in engineering: assessment of online courses within continuing professional development strategies

Higher Education Institutions play a critical role in societies transition towards sustainable development, educating future professionals and decision makers. In the last few decades, a number of technical universities have devoted major efforts to integrating sustainable development into engineering curricula. There is still, however, an increasing need to further transform learning and training environments and build capacity of educators and trainers on sustainable development issues.Against this background, this paper assesses the role of online training courses, within continuing professional development strategies, in promoting sustainable human development in engineering degrees. It was built upon the implementation of a European initiative, the Global Dimension in Engineering Education, promoted by a transdisciplinary consortium of technical universities and non-governmental organisations.In terms of method, this study analyses two sets of quantitative and qualitative indicators to assess i) the perceived quality/relevance of the training proposals, and ii) the learning acquisition of participants. Quantitative indicators were complemented by a descriptive analysis of findings from a semi-structured survey. The results provide evidence that online learning can be an effective approach for continuing professional development of academics. The findings also suggest that participants perceived online courses' contents and curricula, developed jointly by academics and practitioners of non-governmental organisations, as relevant and useful for integrating sustainability principles in teaching activities. To conclude, authors recommend the leaders of higher educational institutions to explore the integration of online courses addressed to faculty into university policy and strategies, as a way to promote professional development and the engagement of academics on sustainable development.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft