Cash boost for uni experts at work on global solutions to the climate crisis
WATER engineering experts from Loughborough University are to work on global green projects with the help of £287,000 in grants.
The funding has gone to projects which build on the commitments of last year’s COP26 environmental summit.
Dr Tim Marjoribanks, a lecturer in water engineering, has been awarded £126,000 for ENACT, short for “evaluating the feasibility and efficacy of integrated catchment-scale nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation in India”.
Loughborough academics and three Indian institutes will work on the six-month project.
Climate change increases flood risk in India, a threat compounded by rapid urbanisation.
Two possible solutions are urban blue-green infrastructure – defined as “a planned network of natural and semi-natural areas designed to deliver a wide range of ecosystem service” – and wetland restoration. ENACT will investigate the effectiveness and feasibility of combining the two, using the Brahmaputra River and the city of Guwahati as case studies.
The project aims to provide insight into how the success of large-scale, nature-based solutions can be maximised.
Dr Marjoribanks said: “The adaptation is a crucial goal of COP26.
“We are excited to be working with our Indian partners to understand how we can effectively use naturebased solutions to protect communities and restore natural habitats.”
Dr Huili Chen, also a lecturer in water engineering at Loughborough, has been awarded £161,637 for FLASH, short for “fit-for-purpose high-resolution risk assessment and forecasting system for rainfall-induced hazards in Bhutan”.
It will focus on the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region, home to 240 million people, many among the world’s poorest.
Bhutan is a Buddhist kingdom on the Himalayas’ eastern edge undergoing rapid development and urbanisation.
HKH is sensitive to climate change and Bhutan’s department of disaster management and National Centre for Hydrology and Meteorology is in need of a strategy for disaster risk reduction using modern technologies.
FLASH will update current practice and provide more reliable tools to support hazard risk management. It will also inform economic development and increase resilience and adaptation to climate change to ensure sustainability.
The project, involving UK and Bhutan academics, will run for six months.
Dr Chen said: “FLASH aims to bring the latest high-performance modelling and data tools to update current practice in hazard risk assessment/management in Bhutan.
“The learning achieved in Bhutan will be of great interest to the wider HKH region, and lessons learned will be shared internationally.”
Funding for the research projects has come from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Natural Environment Research Council.
Project details were shared at the UKRI stand in the Green Zone exhibition at COP26 on Adaptation, Loss and Damage Day (November 8 last year).
The learning achieved in Bhutan will be of great interest to the wider region and lessons learned will be shared internationally.
Dr Huili Chen