A New Spatiotemporal Risk Index for Heavy Metals: Application in Cyprus

The main aim of this research was to improve risk mapping of heavy metals by accounting for erosion effects. A new spatiotemporal index, namely G2met, is introduced, incorporating the Hakanson index, the G2 model and the Gavrilovic model. The G2met index is expressed in terms of monthly time series of risk maps for each heavy metal and totally. The rich in heavy metals and vulnerable to erosion, island of Cyprus, was selected as a study area, which though was limited to the southern part of the island, where all required data were available. Concentration of major heavy metals was extracted by sampling soil from a grid of 5350 sites. Rainfall, vegetation, soil, land use, topographic, and hydrologic data were collected or calculated from existing European or global databases (WorldClim, BioBar, ESDAC, CORINE, ASTER GDEM, and USGS). A large number of regional-scale risk maps were produced (500-m ell size), i.e. one for each heavy metal and totally per month and annually. Also, choropleth maps per heavy metal are potentially available, in terms of statistics per river basin. The G2met maps provide different patterns in comparison to those depicted by the Hakanson index alone.JRC.H.5-Land Resources Managemen

Renovation and Reuse of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment in the Direction of Eco-Design

Nowadays there is a higher need of strict and broader legislation in waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) recycling industry to reduce environmental effects of WEEE. Environmental challenges include pollution, exhaustion of natural resources, waste management and reduction of landfills. High speed in technological development in many sectors puts many products in great challenge of obsoleting almost immediately after their purchase. In particular, this is the fate for electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). They are forever-improving and incorporate state of the art innovations. This provide many benefits; however, at the same time, its expansion results in rapidly growing waste stream of WEEE. WEEE contains a combination of all these situations, including for example, batteries, plastics of quality, precious metals and toxic soldering metals. The reuse and renovation of WEEE are therefore very critical because of its significant ecological environmental impacts. Sustainable development is not a static situation, but a state of dynamic balance between human and environmental system. The current chapter explores sustainability planning and strategies such as eco-design, and design for dismantling and recycling, and what they mean for electronic products. It examines the incentives, methods and tools for sustainable electronic product design, with particular emphasis on reuse, recycling, selection of sustainable materials and processes, and lack of resources

The impact of the covid-19 pandemic on theworking conditions, employment, career development and well-being of refugee researchers

The ongoing ‘refugee crisis’ of the past years has led to the migration of refugee researchers (RRs) to European countries. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, RRs often had to work from home and/or to continue their social, cultural and economic integration process under new conditions. An online survey carried out to explore the impact of the pandemic on the refugee researchers showed that RRs found it difficult to adapt their everyday working life to the ‘home’ setting. The majority have had neither a suitable work environment at home nor the appropriate technology. Although they stated that they are rather pleased with the measures taken by the public authorities, they expressed concern about their vulnerability due to their precarious contracts and the bureaucratic asylum procedures, as the pandemic has had a negative impact on these major issues. The majority of RRs working in academia seem not to have been affected at all as far as their income is concerned, while the majority of those employed in other sectors became unemployed during the pandemic (58%). Recommendations are provided to the public authorities and policy makers to assist RRs to mitigate the consequences of the pandemic on their life

Impact of Hydrological Modellers’ Decisions and Attitude on the Performance of a Calibrated Conceptual Catchment Model: Results from a ‘Modelling Contest’

In this study, 17 hydrologists with different experience in hydrological modelling applied the same conceptual catchment model (HBV) to a Greek catchment, using identical data and model code. Calibration was performed manually. Subsequently, the modellers were asked for their experience, their calibration strategy, and whether they enjoyed the exercise. The exercise revealed that there is considerable modellers’ uncertainty even among the experienced modellers. It seemed to be equally important whether the modellers followed a good calibration strategy, and whether they enjoyed modelling. The exercise confirmed previous studies about the benefit of model ensembles: Different combinations of the simulation results (median, mean) outperformed the individual model simulations, while filtering the simulations even improved the quality of the model ensembles. Modellers’ experience, decisions, and attitude, therefore, have an impact on the hydrological model application and should be considered as part of hydrological modelling uncertainty

Rethinking ecosystem service indicators for their application to intermittent rivers

© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).In these times of strong pressure on aquatic ecosystems and water resources due to climate change and water abstraction, intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams (IRES) (rivers that periodically cease to flow and/or dry) have become valuable assets. Indeed, not only do they supply water but they also offer services for humanity. Despite a growing recognition towards IRES, information for assessing their ecosystem services (ES) remains scarce. In a first step, an international interdisciplinary group of researchers developed a methodological framework to acknowledge ES provided by IRES using 109 indicators. A subset of selected ES indicators was then applied to two case studies: the Rio Seco in the Algarve (Portugal) and the Giofyros River in Crete (Greece). This paper discusses the applicability of these indicators, including the temporal and spatial variability of IRES flow regimes. Aspects of the framework, such as the methods and time required for data collection, the nature (demand or supply) and functionality of each indicator are discussed. The new framework accounts for flow intermittence in ES analyses and can help scientists and water managers to i) increase the ease and justification for IRES use in management approaches and ii) improve their conservation and restoration with a comprehensive set of appropriate indicators for IRES. In addition, the comprehensive nature of the proposed indicators ensures that they can be understood by a broad audience and easily applicable. Since they were designed through a public participation process, the setting has been prepared for holistic stakeholder analysis and education around IRES functions and associated ES. From a management point of view, it would be particularly relevant to perform an economic evaluation with this new framework to understand the value of each ES category and their trade-offs. For the scientific community, however, it is important to consider public preferences to design socially accepted policies. The proposed indicators can successfully bridge these elements, hereby establishing a solid basis for the assessment of ES provided by IRES.The authors thank the SMIRES COST ACTION CA15113 from the European Cooperation in Science and Technology for funding part of this research and especially the research grant that AV Pastor received in 2017: STSM reference number: CA15113-41532 entitled « Assessment of ecosystem services of an intermittent river in the South of Portugal ». The authors also thank Cristina Viegas, municipality of Faro (PT), Cristina Veiga-Pires (University of Algarve), Marques Afonso (APA-ARH, Faro, Portugal), Miguel Rodrigues (CCV Alg, PT), Helena Correie (Centro de formacao profesionais de Faro, PT), Ines Monteiro (Field Portuguese translator to English) for the Rio Seco CS and Marinos Kritsotakis, Aggeliki Martinou and Ioanna Mari, Manolis Dretakis, Foukarakis Michalis - officer, Antonaki Anna - officer, Filipakis Dimitris, Dimosthenis Isaakiidis and Giannakakis Thanos for the Giofyros CS. Additional funding was obtained from the Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, through funding attributed to the CE3C research center (UIDB/00329/2020). DB was supported by CSIC Interdisciplinary Thematic Platform (PTI) Síntesis de Datos de Ecosistemas y Biodiversidad (PTI-ECOBIODIV).Peer reviewe

Trends in flow intermittence for European rivers

Intermittent rivers are prevalent in many countries across Europe, but little is known about the temporal evolution of intermittence and its relationship with climate variability. Trend analysis of the annual and seasonal number of zero-flow days, the maximum duration of dry spells and the mean date of the zero-flow events is performed on a database of 452 rivers with varying degrees of intermittence between 1970 and 2010. The relationships between flow intermittence and climate are investigated using the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) and climate indices describing large-scale atmospheric circulation. The results indicate a strong spatial variability of the seasonal patterns of intermittence and the annual and seasonal number of zero-flow days, highlighting the controls exerted by local catchment properties. Most of the detected trends indicate an increasing number of zero-flow days, which also tend to occur earlier in the year, particularly in southern Europe. The SPEI is found to be strongly related to the annual and seasonal zero-flow day occurrence in more than half of the stations for different accumulation times between 12 and 24 months. Conversely, there is a weaker dependence of river intermittence with large-scale circulation indices. Overall, these results suggest increased water stress in intermittent rivers that may affect their biota and biochemistry and also reduce available water resources

EUSEDcollab: a network of data from European catchments to monitor net soil erosion by water

As a network of researchers we release an open-access database (EUSEDcollab) of water discharge and suspended sediment yield time series records collected in small to medium sized catchments in Europe. EUSEDcollab is compiled to overcome the scarcity of open-access data at relevant spatial scales for studies on runoff, soil loss by water erosion and sediment delivery. Multi-source measurement data from numerous researchers and institutions were harmonised into a common time series and metadata structure. Data reuse is facilitated through accompanying metadata descriptors providing background technical information for each monitoring station setup. Across ten European countries, EUSEDcollab covers over 1600 catchment years of data from 245 catchments at event (11 catchments), daily (22 catchments) and monthly (212 catchments) temporal resolution, and is unique in its focus on small to medium catchment drainage areas (median=43km2, min=0.04km2, max=817km2) with applicability for soil erosion research. We release this database with the aim of uniting people, knowledge and data through the European Union Soil Observatory (EUSO)

Operating Small Hydropower Plants in Greece under Intermittent Flow Uncertainty: The Case of Tsiknias River (Lesvos)

In arid and semi-arid parts of the world, river exploitation is intensive, involving water storage for irrigation or hydropower generation. In Greece, 100 small hydropower plants (SHPs) take advantage of less than 10% of the hydropower potential of low flow streams (<2 m3/s), a very small amount in relation to the 70% of the European Union. The energy policy of complete decarbonization of the country by 2023 on a national scale opens the road for new investments in SHP projects, especially in intermittent-flow streams of the Greek islands. Simulated flows by the Modello Idrologico SemiDistribuito in continuo (MISDc model) are used to construct the annual flow duration curve (FDC) to study and assess the hydropower potential of an intermittent stream (Tsiknias river, Lesvos, Greece). For Tsiknias River, but also for six other intermittent-flow rivers of Crete island, the capacity factor (CF), which represents the mean annual power of the hydropower plant, should remain >75% to exploit the river’s potential. The FDC and CF are essential in designing SHP projects in intermittent-flow streams with long no-flow periods. The development of public participatory approaches and a closer cooperation among policy makers and stakeholders should work to promote hydropower exploitation and accelerate licensing procedures

A Descriptive Study of the Schooling and Higher Education Reforms in Response to the Refugees’ Influx into Greece

Since 2015, a large number of migrants (refugees and asylum seekers) from the Middle East, Asia, and Africa have arrived in Greece and continued their onward journey to western European countries where they settled. As various European Union (EU) countries have later blocked the flow of migrants from Greece to their final destination, thousands of them have been trapped in Greece, confined in overcrowded, temporary camps (known as “hot spots„) and awaiting the processing of their asylum application. The current article examines the response of the Greek educational institutes (primary, secondary and tertiary levels) to the recent migrant influx, with ultimate goals to integrate, educate, and assist them. The number of refugees and asylum seekers living in Greece is estimated to be 58,000 (2018 data) with 22,500 children among them. Their schooling inclusion follows the plan 111, “Refugee Education Host Structures (REHSs)„, as initiated by the Greek Ministry of Education in 2017. Students’ leakage range is still high (10⁻40% at elementary school and 45⁻56% at high School). The disruption in their life results in the lack of regular attendance. Greek universities responded to the challenge of the refugee influx, especially the University of the Aegean (UAeg), which is located on the eastern Mediterranean migration route. The UAeg’s response plan focuses on four areas: (a) to provide education to refugees; (b) to conduct research on the refugee phenomenon and migration processes; (c) to increase local citizens’ awareness and improve social inclusion toward the migrants; and (d) to develop technologies to improve daily life in the refugee camps. These actions are significant toward the social inclusion and cohesion of refugees and the further improvement of their daily life

Assessing the Economic Damage of Potential Flooding Zones by Combining Cadaster and Land Use Data in the Larnaca Region, Cyprus

Precipitation changes caused by climate change are a phenomenon that may have far more serious consequences in urban areas than previously thought. Preventing the flood extent in rural and urban areas is crucial for the protection of human well-being and private and public land, and for the prevention of human casualties. Modeling potential floods and studying historic ones are key parameters to prevent damages from this natural disaster. European Union Directive 2007/60/EK obligated Member States to compile flood risk maps, showing the potential flood’s extent and depth. Using Cyprus river flood risk maps of the region of Larnaca, Corine land cover data, and open-access cadaster data, this study attempts to assess the economic damage. Cadaster data of buildings such as floor number and basement existence are incorporated in the damage functions used for flood recurrence intervals of 20, 100, and 500 years return periods. The study found that in the 500 year return flood period, 562 buildings would be potentially affected. The flood risk areas in the region of Larnaca consist of mainly urban (48%) and cultivation zones (50%), both economically important. The results suggest that economic damage assessment based on the applied data, combined with flood risk maps, can provide valuable information to disaster responders