Twenty-three unsolved problems in hydrology (UPH) – a community perspective

This paper is the outcome of a community initiative to identify major unsolved scientific problems in hydrology motivated by a need for stronger harmonisation of research efforts. The procedure involved a public consultation through on-line media, followed by two workshops through which a large number of potential science questions were collated, prioritised, and synthesised. In spite of the diversity of the participants (230 scientists in total), the process revealed much about community priorities and the state of our science: a preference for continuity in research questions rather than radical departures or redirections from past and current work. Questions remain focussed on process-based understanding of hydrological variability and causality at all space and time scales. Increased attention to environmental change drives a new emphasis on understanding how change propagates across interfaces within the hydrological system and across disciplinary boundaries. In particular, the expansion of the human footprint raises a new set of questions related to human interactions with nature and water cycle feedbacks in the context of complex water management problems. We hope that this reflection and synthesis of the 23 unsolved problems in hydrology will help guide research efforts for some years to come

Coastal management in Portugal : Practices for reflection and learning

Portugal is located in the southwest of Europe. From economic, cultural, social and environmental point of views, Portuguese coastal areas face multiple challenges related to the coastal management policy, the functionality of the governmental services and the responses to the society, in particular, to the affected citizens. Qualitative and quantitative understanding of the coastal morphological processes is necessary, as it is a precondition for a successful coastal management approach. This paper aims to provide a general overview of the recent morphological coastal development in Portugal, summarize some past experiences on coastal protection and identify potential problems and challenges as an attempt to support an integrated coastal management policy that can be applied in Portugal and other countries facing the same difficulties to mitigate and manage coastal erosion. Special focus is given to the legal status and policy on coastal monitoring, by analyzing the administration responsibilities concerning coastal management, legislation and regulations, as well as policy tools schemes, built into the legal structure with different levels of hierarchy. The manuscript ends with a brief analysis of some future coastal protection measures that are part of a national coastal adaptation strategy proposed to fulfill a set of goals to be established by 2050

Impact of institutional change on irrigation management: a case study from southern Uzbekistan

The rapidly growing population in Uzbekistan has put massive pressure on limited water resources, resulting in frequent water shortages. Irrigation is by far the major water use. Improving irrigation water use through the institutional change of establishing water consumer associations (WCAs) has been identified as a way to increase agricultural production and meet the food demand in the area. However, most WCAs are not fully able to organize collective action or generate sufficient funds to carry out their responsibilities. This study investigated the water-resource-related challenges faced by WCAs and local farmers in Kashkadarya Province in Uzbekistan, using semi-structured expert interviews and focus group discussions. The resulting data were analyzed using qualitative analysis software (Atlas.ti). The results indicated that outdated infrastructure, poor governance, and farmers’ non-payment of irrigation service fees hamper sustainable water management. Greater trust and communication within the WCAs would make an important contribution to effective collective action and to the long-term sustainability of local associations

Health impact of drying Aral Sea:one health and socio-economical approach

Abstract Once one of the largest saline lakes, the Aral Sea, was recognized as a significant environmental disaster as the water level decreased dramatically. Water level decrease increases water salinity, affecting biodiversity. Exposed lake beds become the source for fine dust picked up by the dust storms and spread across a long distance, affecting people’s health in surrounding areas. This review paper attempts to evaluate the potential links between the Aral Sea shrinking and the existing health issues in the case of Kazakhstan. The literature-based research revealed that the population of the Aral Sea basin region has been suffering from exposure to various pollutant residues for a long time. There is an apparent increase in morbidity and mortality rates in the region, especially in people suffering from chronic illness. Furthermore, the catastrophic desiccation of the Aral Sea has led to the sharp deterioration in living conditions and negative trends in the socio-economic situation of the region’s population. While the dust storms spread the polluted salts from the exposed bottom across the Aral Sea region, specific contaminants define the relevance and importance of public health problems linked to the basin rather than the Aral Sea drying process. There is, however, no clear evidence that associated dust storms are the only primary source of the deterioration of people’s health. Moreover, One Health approach seems to play a crucial role in achieving better outcomes in the health of people and the health of the environment

Drivers of changing urban flood risk : a framework for action

This study focuses on drivers for changing urban flood risk. We suggest a framework for guiding climate change adaptation action concerning flood risk and manageability in cities. The identified key drivers of changing flood hazard and vulnerability are used to provide an overview of each driver's impact on flood risk and manageability at the city level. We find that identified drivers for urban flood risk can be grouped in three different priority areas with different time horizon. The first group has high impact but is manageable at city level. Typical drivers in this group are related to the physical environment such as decreasing permeability and unresponsive engineering. The second group of drivers is represented by public awareness and individual willingness to participate and urbanization and urban sprawl. These drivers may be important and are manageable for the cities and they involve both short-term and long-term measures. The third group of drivers is related to policy and long-term changes. This group is represented by economic growth and increasing values at risk, climate change, and increasing complexity of society. They have all high impact but low manageability. Managing these drivers needs to be done in a longer time perspective, e.g., by developing long-term policies and exchange of ideas

The Market Price Premium for Residential PV Plants

Real estate literature investigates how housing attributes are capitalized into home prices. In this respect, photovoltaic (PV) plants installation can be viewed as a quality improvement in the home. Domestic PV plants are in fact usually meant to improve buildings energy efficiency and increase savings on energy bills thanks to self-consumption of PV energy. Regardless the continuous growth of the residential solar home market, there is little direct evidence on the capitalization effect of PV systems on real estate assets. Specifically, there is a lack in the Italian literature on the market price premium for solar homes. The aim of the paper is contributing to fill this gap. In detail, we implemented a contingent valuation approach to determine the market price premium for solar homes. Our results show that individuals are willing to pay an additional price for a solar home, and the average market price premium is equal to 2.69% for monocrystalline PV plants and equal to 3.08% for polycrystalline PV plants respectively