An online platform supporting the analysis of water adaptation measures in the Alps

Climate change may result in reduced water supply from the Alps – an important water resource for Europe. This paper presents a multilingual platform that combines spatial and multi-criteria decision-support tools to facilitate stakeholder collaboration in the analysis of water management adaptation options. The platform has an interactive map interface that allows participants to select a location of their interest within the Alpine Arc. By utilising the decision-support tool, stakeholders can identify suitable adaptation solutions for different geographical units, according to their experience and preference. The platform was used to involve experts across Alpine borders, domains and decision-making levels, as well as a group of university students. The experts favoured the planning instruments for saving water, while the students inclined towards the measures that would improve water conservation. The initial results confirmed the suitability of the platform for future involvement of decision-makers in spatio-temporal analyses of adaptation pathways in the Alps.     

Ersatz oder Erg?nzung? Schnittstellen zwischen REACH und produktbezogenen Regelungen am Beispiel von Bauprodukten

Hintergrund und Ziel Seit Juni 2007 ist in der EU die neue europ?ische Chemikalienverordnung REACH gültig. Wesentlicher Inhalt der neuen Regelung ist die Einführung eines einheitlichen Systems zur Registrierung, Bewertung, Zulassung und Beschr?nkung von Chemikalien. Die Hersteller/Importeure von Chemikalien müssen wesentliche Angaben zu den inh?renten Stoffeigenschaften vorlegen und die Bedingungen für eine sichere Verwendung der Stoffe über den gesamten Lebenszyklus nennen, d. h. für die Herstellung, Verarbeitung, Nutzung und Entsorgung der Stoffe. Damit birgt REACH das Potenzial von Schnittstellen zu produktbezogenen Regelungen, sofern bei diesen ebenfalls eine Bewertung der enthaltenen oder emittierten Chemikalien erfolgt.     

Methane oxidation by Dutch grassland and peat soil microflora

The ability of Dutch grassland soil and Dutch peat soil for methane oxidation was investigated. The kinetics of methane oxidation by soil from different depths were determined in batch cultures incubated with 1; 10; 100; and 10,000 ppmv methane, respectively. All 4 applied concentrations of methane were degraded by both types of soil. Thereby, the highest oxidative activities were observed between 5 and 10 cm soil depth. Most importantly, these experiments demonstrated that this soil acts as a sink for methane even at concentrations well below 1 ppmv. Especially at higher methane concentrations (100 - 10,000 ppmv) much higher degradation rates were found in the peat soil. This also correlates with the higher methane production rates which had been observed in peat soil.