Addressing Hydro-Climatic Vulnerability through Citizen and Open Science

The project “Addressing Hydro-Climatic Vulnerability through Citizen and Open Science” (or “Hydro-Climatic Variability”) was launched in 2021. This project complements and benefits from existing initiatives, including the FUST-supported project ‘Enhancing Climate Services for Improved Water Management’ (CliMWaR) and Biosphere Reserves as Observatories for Climate Change Adaptation in Southern Africa (Be-Resilient). Moreover, the project continues the efforts in capacity building on monitoring and assessment tools such as CRIDA, FEWS, etc.  

The main objective of this project is to improve the ability to forecast hydro-climatic extremes, such as droughts and floods, and to develop, test and evaluate the use of citizen and open science methodologies to build water resilience against climate change and improve water management in pilot countries of Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. The project also develops synergies with other co-funded projects for knowledge generation and dissemination through capacity-building efforts outside the pilot regions. Using citizen science and open science with new observations and developing new analysis techniques and models with approaches such as the Climate Risk Informed Decision Analysis (CRIDA), the project aims to encourage the involvement of local stakeholders in scientific data collection and knowledge generation for hydrological sciences and water resources planning and management.

The project contributes to the ninth phase of the Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP IX) “Science for a Water Secure World in a Changing Environment” and supports UNESCO’s recommendation on Open Science. The project contributes to the achievement of SDG 1 – No Poverty, SDG 6- Clean Water and Sanitation, SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG 13 - Climate Action, and SDG 17 – Partnerships for the Goals.

The project is implemented along the four different lines of action

• Hydro-climatic vulnerability analysis and water resilience;
• Knowledge co-generation and validation through citizen and open science and Climate Risk Informed Decision Analysis tool (CRIDA);
• Improved capacity of water professionals on citizen science, open science and CRIDA;
• Support hydro-climatic risk management strategies and policies.

The project will develop activities in synergy with IHP flagship initiatives such as the Global Network on Water and Development Information for Arid Lands (G-WADI), the International Drought Initiative (IDI) and the International Flood Initiative (IFI). The citizen science and open science related activities will be achieved in collaboration with partners, such as the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Imperial College London (ICL), Deltares (Netherlands), UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa (UNESCO-ROSA) and the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA), through a set of case studies in Sub-Saharan and Latin America.