The Open Universiteit published the second edition of the research magazine called "OPEN Magazine" in February 2022 and at the article entitled "Smart use of climate data crucial for water management" the EIFFEL project team sheds light on how do we deal with the effects of climate change.
Senior Lecturer Angelique Lansu, junior Lecturer Ruben Hage and PhD student Borjana Bogatinoska from the Department of Environmental Sciences, highlights the urgency of the research being done within the project.
One of the examples mentioned in the article is the flooding of parts of Limburg – where the Open Universiteit is situated – (the Netherlands), Belgium and Germany in July 2021. The researchers describe the situation near their homes and the link with their research for EIFFEL.
Angelique Lansu: “Right after the flooding, we had an online EIFFEL webinar about the effects of climate change. I had the opportunity to show the European participants some current pictures. Exactly the kind of thing we want to tackle with EIFFEL. The urgency of climate mitigation and adaptation is clear to us. Perhaps the floods are an additional motivation for politicians to live up to the Paris Agreement and the Glasgow commitments. Water management is an important spearhead. This is not just about preventing flooding. We also see very dry periods and heat stress. It is precisely then that it is important to retain the water. The Netherlands and other delta countries have long had the policy of draining water as quickly as possible; now we have to find a balance between drainage and retention. But how do we do that? Build buffers, create wetlands and swamps? Maybe, but what are the side effects? Is it a solution everywhere? For that, local research is needed. Based on data available locally.”
Read the full article here
