Natasa Atanasova
- Title: Natasa Atanasova
- Author: Čedo Maksimović, profesor, Imperial College London i UNESCO
- Date: 28.05
- Tags: debate, environment, urbanism
Reducing urban pressures to coastal ecosystems
Worldwide increasing pressures to the coastal zones due to urban development, agriculture, tourism, and industry cause impacts to the coastal waters, such as decrease in water quantity and degradation of water quality. Finding long lasting solutions requires a profound knowledge on how to control the pressures and on the ecosystems functioning, so that solutions are compatible with the aquatic ecosystems requirements and thus with the sustainability of their uses and services.
With such aim, ICCE a newly established centre under the auspices of UNESCO located in the Algarve region, Portugal, is developing research on the integrated management of land and coastal ecosystems, based on the ecohydrology concept, developed by UNESCO-IHP. The ICCE articulates science development, education and capacity building as pillars for supporting good governance of coastal waters and is focused mainly in the Mediterranean, African Portuguese speaking countries and Latin America. The ICCE was also entitled as the European and Mediterranean region Node for the Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ).
Within this workshop the ICCE will present the on-going and planned activities towards the reduction of urban pressures to the coastal zones, including research, dissemination and knowledge transfer in the framework of integrated water resources management. Particularly, the ICCE has been and is active in pollution control, integrated modelling, treatment and mitigation options for pollution prevention, and in the application of machine learning tools in ecohydrology.
The activities include dissemination of the results of the FP6 project ScorePP (Source Control Options for reduction of emissions of Priority Pollutants), by organizing a workshop for researchers and stakeholders in the Algarve region, as well communication with the water authorities for applying advanced tools for control of priority substances. ICCE is establishing links and collaboration with municipalities (Lagos Faro) in order to promote blue-green solutions in cities by including them in various project proposals, to name few: Biodiversity in the Edible Blue Green City, within the ERANET BIODIVERSA program or Urban Nexus On The Move Towards Sustainability (UNOS), within the COST Action programme. Within these activities the ICCE is also establishing collaboration with networks, such as the SLOW CITIES network in Portugal.
In near future the ICCE shall organize a set of short courses for various aspects in the Integrated water resources management, where urban pollution control, blue-green urban solutions and advanced modelling tools shall be included.
Biography
Dr Nataša Atanasova is a researcher at the University of Algarve and associated researcher of the UNESCO International Centre for Coastal Ecohydrology. She is active in developing research in the area of environmental engineering and modelling as well as in ecological modelling of aquatic ecosystems. Her latest research activities are focused in the applicaton of the ecohydrology concept for assesing and improving ecosystems (including urban areas) functioning and their services. Her work was presented and published in noumerous conferences, journals and books.