Analytical framework to assess the incorporation of climate change adaptation in water management : application to the Tordera River Basin Adaptation Plan

Projections indicate that the Mediterranean region is an area where drastic changes in climate will occur, which will significantly affect water resources. In a context of increasing pressure on water resources as a result of the reduction in water availability, it is essential and urgent to structure water management in a way that allows for adaptation to the challenges that the changing climate will bring to an already water scarce region. It is necessary to generate experiences and methodologies that are based on real case studies that will lay the foundations for the generalisation of practices of climate change adaptation in water management. In this study, we have developed a ready to use analytical framework to evaluate the coherence of water management plans and programs with climate change adaptation principles. We have tested the applicability of the framework that was developed on the Tordera River Basin Adaptation Plan (TRBAP). The analytical framework has proven to be easy to apply and to allow for identifying the inclusion or exclusion of key climate change adaptation features appropriately. We have structured this analytical framework as a starting point contributing to further assessments of how climate change adaptation is incorporated in water managemen

El cambio climático y la reducción de la reserva de agua en el bosque mediterráneo

El cambio climático es un hecho aceptado. La mayor parte de los modelos de circulación atmosférica general (GCMs) ponen de manifiesto que, más allá del calentamiento global, existen dos cinturones en el planeta situados aproximadamente entre los 30° y los 40° de latitud norte y sur en los que se prevé una disminución de la precipitación durante las próximas décadas. Es en estas zonas donde se enclavan las regiones mediterráneas del mundo. Los bosques mediterráneos, sometidos a un déficit hídrico estival, pueden verse seriamente afectados por esta disminución de los recursos hídricos. Los autores exploran algunos de los posibles efectos combinando diversas fuentes de información que permiten simular el crecimiento del bosque bajo diversos escenarios climáticos. Algunas conclusiones son que una reducción del 10% de la precipitación se traduce en una reducción del 25% de la reserva hídrica del suelo, la reducción de la vida media de las hojas en las especies perennifolias y un incremento cercano al 80% de la cantidad de hojarasca aportada al suelo. Todo ello compromete el papel de los bosques como sumideros de carbono.Trabajo desarrollado parcialmente en el marco de los proyectos LTEEF-II (Long Term Effects of Climate Change on European Forests: Impact Assessment and Consequences for Carbon Budgets, ENV4-CT97-0577) EU project, Framework IV, SilviStrat (Response strategies to climate change in management of European forests, EVK2-2000-00723) y ATEAM (Advanced Terrestrial Ecosystem Analysis and Modelling, EVK2-2000-00739). EU Projects Framework V. Key action 2 Global Change, Climate and Biodiversity

A participatory approach for adapting river basins to climate change

Climate change is expected to reduce water availability in the Mediterranean region and water management needs to adapt to future conditions. The aims of this study were (1) to develop a participatory approach for identifying and evaluating management options for river basin climate adaptation and (2) to apply and evaluate the approach in four case-study river basins across the Mediterranean. As part of the approach, a diverse group of stakeholders joined a series of workshops and consultations in four river basins located in Cyprus, Slovenia, Spain and Tunisia. In each river basin, stakeholders expressed their views on challenges in their river basins, as well as options to tackle these challenges. We used the information on challenges, as well as the factors contributing to these challenges to develop a fuzzy cognitive map for each basin. These maps were converted into mathematical models and were used to assess the impact of a total of 102 suggested management options for the four river basins. We linked the options and their estimated impacts with a multi-criteria analysis to identify the most preferred options. The approach was positively evaluated by the participating stakeholders and allowed the link of stakeholders' knowledge and perceptions about their river basin with their preferences for options to adapt the management of their river basins to future conditions

Analytical framework to assess the incorporation of climate change adaptation in water management : application to the Tordera River Basin Adaptation Plan

Projections indicate that the Mediterranean region is an area where drastic changes in climate will occur, which will significantly affect water resources. In a context of increasing pressure on water resources as a result of the reduction in water availability, it is essential and urgent to structure water management in a way that allows for adaptation to the challenges that the changing climate will bring to an already water scarce region. It is necessary to generate experiences and methodologies that are based on real case studies that will lay the foundations for the generalisation of practices of climate change adaptation in water management. In this study, we have developed a ready to use analytical framework to evaluate the coherence of water management plans and programs with climate change adaptation principles. We have tested the applicability of the framework that was developed on the Tordera River Basin Adaptation Plan (TRBAP). The analytical framework has proven to be easy to apply and to allow for identifying the inclusion or exclusion of key climate change adaptation features appropriately. We have structured this analytical framework as a starting point contributing to further assessments of how climate change adaptation is incorporated in water managemen

Social Impact Ex-Post Evaluation Protocol

Measuring the societal impact of research has become a key issue in scientific research worldwide. Most competitive research funding agencies demand societal impact in research proposals. We must not only bring science closer to the public, but also make it improve the condition in which the science is found. But how can we measure the societal impact of a research once it has been completed? Through this article we present the Social Impact ex-post Evaluation Protocol (SIEP), a proposal of a tool to gather and measure the social impact of research. It is based on the qualitative work developed in the framework of NET4IMPACT, a Research Network on the Social Impact of Science. The work was developed applying communicative methodology, comparing across disciplines, and culminating in the establishment of a tool that can help in the measurement of societal impact from a great diversity of scientific areas

Social Impact Ex-Post Evaluation Protocol

Measuring the societal impact of research has become a key issue in scientific research worldwide. Most competitive research funding agencies demand societal impact in research proposals. We must not only bring science closer to the public, but also make it improve the condition in which the science is found. But how can we measure the societal impact of a research once it has been completed? Through this article we present the Social Impact ex-post Evaluation Protocol (SIEP), a proposal of a tool to gather and measure the social impact of research. It is based on the qualitative work developed in the framework of NET4IMPACT, a Research Network on the Social Impact of Science. The work was developed applying communicative methodology, comparing across disciplines, and culminating in the establishment of a tool that can help in the measurement of societal impact from a great diversity of scientific areas.The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work has been developed in the framework of the Research Network on the Social Impact of Science NET4IMPACT (RED2018-102779-T). The project was funded by the State Programme for Knowledge Generation and Scientific and Technological Strengthening of the R&D&I System of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation

A participatory approach for adapting river basins to climate change

Climate change is expected to reduce water availability in the Mediterranean region and water management needs to adapt to future conditions. The aims of this study were (1) to develop a participatory approach for identifying and evaluating management options for river basin climate adaptation and (2) to apply and evaluate the approach in four case-study river basins across the Mediterranean. As part of the approach, a diverse group of stakeholders joined a series of workshops and consultations in four river basins located in Cyprus, Slovenia, Spain and Tunisia. In each river basin, stakeholders expressed their views on challenges in their river basins, as well as options to tackle these challenges. We used the information on challenges, as well as the factors contributing to these challenges to develop a fuzzy cognitive map for each basin. These maps were converted into mathematical models and were used to assess the impact of a total of 102 suggested management options for the four river basins. We linked the options and their estimated impacts with a multi-criteria analysis to identify the most preferred options. The approach was positively evaluated by the participating stakeholders and allowed the link of stakeholders' knowledge and perceptions about their river basin with their preferences for options to adapt the management of their river basins to future conditions

Monkeypox virus genomic accordion strategies

The 2023 monkeypox (mpox) epidemic was caused by a subclade IIb descendant of a monkeypox virus (MPXV) lineage traced back to Nigeria in 1971. Person-to-person transmission appears higher than for clade I or subclade IIa MPXV, possibly caused by genomic changes in subclade IIb MPXV. Key genomic changes could occur in the genome's low-complexity regions (LCRs), which are challenging to sequence and are often dismissed as uninformative. Here, using a combination of highly sensitive techniques, we determine a high-quality MPXV genome sequence of a representative of the current epidemic with LCRs resolved at unprecedented accuracy. This reveals significant variation in short tandem repeats within LCRs. We demonstrate that LCR entropy in the MPXV genome is significantly higher than that of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and that LCRs are not randomly distributed. In silico analyses indicate that expression, translation, stability, or function of MPXV orthologous poxvirus genes (OPGs), including OPG153, OPG204, and OPG208, could be affected in a manner consistent with the established "genomic accordion" evolutionary strategies of orthopoxviruses. We posit that genomic studies focusing on phenotypic MPXV differences should consider LCR variability.We would like to thank the work of the Rapid Response Unit of the National Center for Microbiology, especially MªJosé Buitrago, and Cristobal Belda, ISCIII General Director. We also thank Anya Crane (Integrated Research Facility at Fort Detrick, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health) for critically editing the manuscript and Jiro Wada (Integrated Research Facility at Fort Detrick, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health) for helping with figure preparation. The work for this study performed at Instituto de Salud Carlos III was partially funded by Acción Estratégica “Impacto clínico y microbiológico del brote por el virus de la viruela del mono en pacientes en España (2022): proyecto multicéntrico MONKPOX-ESP22” (CIBERINFEC) (M.P.S.S.). The work for this study done at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Department of Microbiology as part of Global Health Emerging Pathogen Institute activities was funded by institutional funds (G.P.) from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Department of Microbiology in support of Global Health Emerging Pathogen Institute activities. This work was also supported in part through Laulima Govern ment Solutions, LLC, prime contract with the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under Contract No. HHSN272201800013C. J.H.K. performed this work as an employee of Tunnell Government Services (TGS), a subcontractor of Laulima Government Solutions, LLC, under Contract No. HHSN272201800013C. Opinions, interpretations, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the authors and are not necessarily endorsed by the U.S. Army. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or of the institutions and companies affiliated with the authors, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.S