Networking and cooperation for sustainable future we want

Networking and cooperation for sustainable future we want

Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology 16 (2016) v Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/loc...

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Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology 16 (2016) v

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecohyd

Preface

Networking and cooperation for sustainable future we want

The 21st century as an era of the Anthropocene, globalisation and exponentially increasing pressure on environment with a negative feedback from the climate change generates, as a general challenge for humanity, the necessity to strive towards achievement of sustainable future (Sustainable Development Goals, United Nations). As far as the major driver of biosphere functioning and evolution is water, the profound understanding of the interplay between water and ecosystems becomes fundamental for reversing the degradation and enhancement of sustainability potential of the biosphere. This potential have to be comprehensively described by the five parameters: water, biodiversity, ecosystem services, resilience and culture (compare Zalewski, 2014; Wantzen et al., 2016). Such a very complex challenge needs an urgent development of an integrative problem solving and policy-oriented sustainability science. Due to the diversity of ecosystems around the world and differences in the hierarchies of impacts and drivers across geographical zones, there is a need for a broad international cooperation. Such networking potential has been developing in the framework of International Hydrological Programme of UNESCO, in which Ecohydrology has been instrumental for the development of integrative environmental science for twenty years. One of the other important opportunities was the Europe-China forum when, during the 2011 International R&D Institution Mission to Chongqing two parties, European Regional Centre for Ecohydrology under the auspices of UNESCO, Polish Academy of Sciences (Poland) and Faculty of Urban Construction & Environmental Engineering, Chongqing University (China) signed the agreement on creation of Joint Research Centre on Ecohydrology (see Photo 1). The dynamic and increasing effort in China in the development of methodology and measures to compensate various human impacts on water resources and progress made in the environmental science, especially in the last decade, provided a framework for further cooperation. The next step is joining the Key Laboratory of Reservoir Aquatic Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences as a partner in publishing of Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology journal beginning from 2016. We believe

Photo 1. Front: Professor Maciej Zalewski (European Regional Centre for Ecohydrology u/a UNESCO, PAS, Poland) and Professor Jin-song Guo (Chongquing University, China) signing the agreement on creation of Joint Research Centre on Ecohydrology, Chongquing, China, October 22, 2011.

that, this agreement will work in two ways. From the one side, it will boost dissemination of Ecohydrology across China and accelerate the development of integrative sustainability science in South-East Asia. From the other, the scientific knowledge, understanding and experience of Chinese colleges will accelerate the new and creative development and application of Ecohydrology science and methods for achieving the common goal–sustainable future we want. References Wantzen, K.M., Ballouche, A., Longuet, I., Bao, I., Bocoum, H., Cisse´, L., Chauhan, M., Girard, P., Gopal, B., Kane, A., Marchese, M.M., Nautiyal, P., Teixeira, P., Zalewski, M., 2016. River Culture: an ecosocial approach to mitigate the biological and cultural diversity crisis in riverscapes. Ecohydrol. Hydrobiol. 16, 7–18. Zalewski, M., 2014. Ecohydrology and hydrologic engineering: regulation of hydrology-biota interactions for sustainability. J. Hydrol. Eng.. doi:10. 1061/(ASCE)HE.1943-5584.0000999, A4014012, 1–14. http:// ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/%28ASCE%29HE.1943-5584.0000999.

Maciej Zalewski

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecohyd.2016.02.001 1642-3593/ß 2016 Published by Elsevier Sp. z o.o on behalf of European Regional Centre for Ecohydrology of the Polish Academy of Sciences.