RECONECT, a 6-year EU project implementing Nature-based Solutions to reduce water-related climate risks, held its 7th General Assembly in Zurich from 23 to 25 May 2022. — The 7th RECONECT GA was the first meeting held in person following the COVID-19 easing of restrictions. The previous four GA’s had been held virtually. The 3-day meeting allowed to take stock of the project’s progress and achievements, as well as allowed for discussions on important enablers and barriers to…

Story by Carlos A Madera P, M.Sc, Ph.D, Universidad del Valle, Cali-Colombia; Daniel Ascuntar R, M.Sc, DAGMA, Cali-Colombia. — The Cañaveralejo, Meléndez and Lili river basin. Cali is Colombia’s second-largest city and third most populous after Bogota and Medellin. As the only major Colombian city with access to the Pacific Coast, Cali is the main urban center in the south and has one of Colombia’s fastest-growing economies.

Nature-based Solutions and the new generation of engineers — Vishal Balaji Devanand, a student who recently graduated from IHE Delft, joins us to discuss his experience of working with the RECONECT project, his keen interest in Nature-based Solutions (NbS) and how he believes we can take NbS to scale, contributing to building resilience to climate change. Vishal Balaji Devanand…

Partners from Operandum, Phusicos, and Reconect, three EU 2020 Horizon projects, gathered on Friday, August 27th to deliver a session at the first fully virtual Stockholm World Water Week. — The event entitled “Reconnecting water management with nature: Upscaling nature-based solutions” highlighted methods to scaling Nature-based Solutions (NbS), focusing on the potential barriers to uptake as well as the possible enablers and solutions to apply NbS to reduce hydro-meteorological risk and mitigate climate change.

When the clouds started gathering and turning dark grey around what was supposed to be a lovely mid-July day, little did we know the devastation the ensuing floods would cause for much of Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. — Authors: Zoran Vojinovic and Inger de Boer, Editor Claire Warmenbol On 11 July 2021, the weather conditions in Western parts of Europe triggered exceptionally high precipitation rates, which in turn led to widespread flooding turning many…

Scaling-up is a core element of the RECONECT project. By demonstrating, monitoring and evaluating the benefits of NBS with regards to hydro-meteorological risk reduction, RECONECT is learning how to amplify the impact of the project by developing a tailored scaling strategy. — Authors: Diana Dushkova and Christian Kuhlicke, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research — UFZ How can social and technical innovations become more widely adopted and lead to a transformative impact beyond the immediate context in which they have been developed? What are the strategic steps needed and which specific measures and…

The river system of Dove and Gose Elbe (Hamburg, Germany) has to cope with floods and, more recently, with droughts. The distribution of the storage volume during flood events is now managed by the monitoring and control system, improved and finalised by RECONECT. Thanks to the project, hybrid solutions will also be implemented combining existing grey infrastructure and Nature-based Solutions — Authors: Dr.-Ing. Natasa Manojlovic, Senior Researcher at Hamburg University of Technology, member of the scientific advisory team for the German Demonstrator; Christian Ebel, The Ministry for Environment, Agriculture and Energy (BUKEA) of the City of Hamburg; Dieter Ackermann, Agency for Roads, Bridges and Waterways (LSBG) of the City of Hamburg.

The RECONECT Bulgarian Collaborator is affected by pluvial, fluvial, and flash floods (generated by the emergency discharge of local dams), even simultaneously. Local communities fight against floods in every way they can, but their home-grown risk management lacks important elements to be fully operational. This is where RECONECT steps in. — Authors: Lyudmil Ikonomov [1], Valeri Penchev [2], Antoaneta Kirova [2], Daniela Stoycheva [1], Sylvia Stoilova [1], Shirin Shukrieva [2]

Close to one of Denmark’s biggest cities, new monitoring is proving how Nature-based Solutions can help in the fight against hydro-meteorological risks, keeping residents safe from flooding and extreme weather by boosting the expanse and services of nature and biodiversity — Authors: Alix Aliaga (Biologist, eDNA specialist), Signe Iversen (Landscape Manager and Climate Adaption Coordinator in Aarhus Municipality), Marzenna Rasmussen (Project Manager on behalf of AMPHI)