Orals

Synergistic approaches to respond to water, food and energy increasing needs, incorporating the need to hinder impacts on the environmental (land) and socio-economic realities, are essential to attain the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2, 6, 7 and 15. Such nexus approach is highly challenging given the substantial and highly contextual interdependencies between sectors. It becomes more daunting if we consider the need to adapt to climate change.

In response to this global development challenge, this session brings together the community of engineers, scholars, scientists and decision makers, with a common interest on novel frameworks and methodologies for an integrated water resources management taking into account its connections to energy production, land use and impacts and societal implications in a context of climate change adaptation. We discuss improved approaches for water related nexus, which not only considers the effects in the geophysical system (water, sediment, landscape) but also further implications related to socio-economic and ecological spheres. The works presented contain conceptual and applied models with references to energy production, engineering response, management, nature protection, agriculture and society. New approaches to analyse and manage superficial water storage, essential to sustain and stabilize water supply, food and energy production, reduce hydro-climatological hazards, and adapt to climate change, are discussed as well.

More generally, the session presents integrated models for assessment and optimization which identify co-benefits and trade-offs between different Sustainable Development Goals at several spatial and temporal scales: global, regional and basin; and short, middle and long- term perspectives, respectively. Contributions integrate the impacts of climate change into long-term planning, dynamic adaptation or simulation models.