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.
Re-starting biodiversity monitoring for the Kavouropotamos stream in 2024
As nature-based solutions gain momentum across Europe, a new study from SpongeScapes Italian partners from the University of Padova broadens the lens on how we evaluate sponge measures (Natural Water Retention Measures -NWRMs - in their article)— going beyond flood mitigation and groundwater recharge to also consider, among others, social and economic dimensions.
The study proposes a structured approach to classify both positive (benefits and co-benefits) and negative (trade-offs) impacts of sponge measures, for example: