Last Wednesday, a diverse group of researchers from Deltares, Waterschap Brabantse Delta, Wageningen University, and Provincie Noord-Brabant went on a field visit to the Chaamse Beken. This area serves as a case study in the SpongeScapes project, as well as the NWO-Nat and NWO-Castor projects, which aim to make the area more resilient against floods and droughts.
On May 16, 2024, SpongeScapes kicked off its first SpongeLab workshop in Loosbroek, The Netherlands, introducing the geodesign approach to local stakeholders in the Aa and Maas management area.
The workshop was organized by Leibniz Universität Hannover, which is leading work package 4 of the SpongeScapes project, “Co-assessing sponge strategies and enabling environments" together with Deltares and the Regional Water Authority Aa and Maas.
Last Friday, 8 March, Ellis Penning and Christopher Wittmann (Deltares) presented SpongeScapes at the NAC2024 conference, during a session dedicated to climate resilient sandy soil research in the Netherlands. The aim is to harmonise the work of the various Dutch-funded research projects on this topic.
Last week, 25-27 October, the EU-Horizon SpongeScapes project kick-off meeting took place in Delft, the Netherlands.
For three intensive days, colleagues from the 10 different partner organisations participated in workshops, a field visit and insightful discussions to enhance the sponge function of soil, groundwater and surface water systems.
Sponge function of landscapes refers to the ability of natural or managed ecosystems to absorb, store and slowly release water, thereby mitigating floods and droughts.
Drought is a growing concern in the Upper Biebrza River Basin in Poland. It is affecting the entire region: both agricultural and wetland ecosystems. Water levels in rivers throughout the catchment have been very low for a long time. In particular, on the Biebrza River at the Sztabin gauge - which closes the Upper Biebrza catchment - the water level has reached a record low of 92 cm on 25 September 2024.