Project 1. The impact of climatic changes in the natural resources or dry regions
The outlook of this project is to consolidate a research international network on drylands natural resources, with researchers of both basic and applied sciences, interacting in a multidisciplinary and transversal way. It is intended to achieve this goal through: collaborative research; submission of research projects to development institutions (in Brazil and abroad); exchange of students in both directions; co-responsibility in courses; and joint publication of scientific articles. The proposal involves 3 graduate programs (GP): one from the Agricultural Sciences Center (Agricultural Engineering, grade 5); one from the Faculty of Sciences (Ecology and Natural Resources, grade 4); and one from the Technology Center (Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering, grade 7). Each PPG brought together a solid international experience: Agricultural Engineering collaborated with people in Germany (Potsdam, Leipzig), the United States (USDA), the Netherlands (Wageningen, Twente), Spain (Valladolid, Córdoba), Portugal (Madeira, Fernando Pessoa) Switzerland (ETH), France (Lyon) and Cuba (Havana); the Ecology course works with partners in France (IRD, Montpelier) and Portugal (Lisbon); and Hydraulic Engineering with researchers in Canada (Alberta) and United Kingdom (Cambridge). The internationalization proposal is focused on four institutions: U. Leipzig, USDA, IRD and U. Valladolid. The scientific goal is to assess the impacts of climate change on natural resources, focusing on adaptation strategies aiming at water availability and biodiversity. Three tasks were established: (1) to quantify changes in ecosystem services and their impacts on water resources; (2) to investigate the influence of anthropogenic actions in the degradation and desertification of river basins, and methods of recovery; and (3) to investigate adaptation strategies to reduce the risk of water scarcity, including in situ study of evaporation in reservoirs and efficient use of water in food production. This project should consolidate a network of natural resources in drylands; and internationalization must benefit the institutions and, above all, science and society from areas with water shortages. The overall objective of this proposal is to investigate, using an inter and multidisciplinary approach, the impacts of climate change on water resources and to develop adaptation strategies to reduce the risk of water scarcity, to promote soil conservation and to enable the restoration of biodiversity degraded areas.
