Despite their limited spatial extent, freshwater ecosystems host remarkable biodiversity, including one-third of all vertebrate species. This biodiversity is declining dramatically: Globally, wetlands are vanishing three times faster than forests, and freshwater vertebrate populations have fallen more than twice as steeply as terrestrial or marine populations. Threats to freshwater biodiversity are well documented but coordinated action to reverse the decline is lacking. We present an Emergency Recovery Plan to bend the curve of freshwater biodiversity loss. Priority actions include accelerating implementation of environmental flows; improving water quality; protecting and restoring critical habitats; managing the exploitation of freshwater ecosystem resources, especially species and riverine aggregates; preventing and controlling nonnative species invasions; and safeguarding and restoring river connectivity. We recommend adjustments to targets and indicators for the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Sustainable Development Goals and roles for national and international state and nonstate actors.

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Bending the Curve of Global Freshwater Biodiversity Loss: An Emergency Recovery Plan.

"Oriental despotism : A Comparative Study of Total Power", Karl A. Wittfogel, Yale University Press, New-Haven 1957 : [recenzja] / Leszek Dzięgiel.

The 2018 edition of the World Water Development Report seeks to inform policy and decision-makers, inside and outside the water community, about the potential of nature-based solutions (NBS) to address contemporary water management challenges across all sectors, and particularly regarding water for agriculture, sustainable cities, disaster risk reduction and water quality. Water management remains heavily dominated by traditional, human-built (i.e. ‘grey’) infrastructure and the enormous potential for NBS remains under-utilized. NBS include green infrastructure that can substitute, augment or work in parallel with grey infrastructure in a cost-effective manner. The goal is to find the most appropriate blend of green and grey investments to maximize benefits and system efficiency while minimizing costs and trade-offs.NBS for water are central to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development because they also generate social, economic and environmental co-benefits, including human health and livelihoods, food and energy security, sustainable economic growth, decent jobs, ecosystem rehabilitation and maintenance, and biodiversity. Although NBS are not a panacea, they will play an essential role towards the circular economy and in building a more equitable future for all.

The United Nations World Water Development Report 2018: Nature-based Solutions for Water

The June 2013 flood in the Upper Danube Basin was one of the largest floods in the past two centuries. An atmospheric blocking situation produced precipitation ex- ceeding 300 mm over four days at the northern rim of the Alps. The high precipitation, along with high antecedent soil moisture, gave rise to extreme flood discharges in a number of tributaries including the Tiroler Ache, Saalach, Salzach and Inn. Runoff coefficients ranged from 0.2 in the Bavar- ian lowlands to 0.6 in the Alpine areas in Austria. Snow- fall at high altitudes (above about 1600 m a.s.l.) reduced the runoff volume produced. Precipitation was distributed over two blocks separated by a few hours, which resulted in a sin- gle peak, long-duration flood wave at the Inn and Danube. At the confluence of the Bavarian Danube and the Inn, the small time lag between the two flood waves exacerbated the downstream flood at the Danube. Because of the long dura- tion and less inundation, there was less flood peak attenu- ation along the Austrian Danube reach than for the August 2002 flood. Maximum flood discharges of the Danube at Vi- enna were about 11 000 m 3 s 1 , as compared to 10 300, 9600 and 10 500 m 3 s 1 in 2002, 1954 and 1899, respectively. This paper reviews the meteorological and hydrological charac- teristics of the event as compared to the 2002, 1954 and 1899 floods, and discusses the implications for hydrological research and flood risk management.

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The June 2013 flood in the Upper Danube Basin, and comparisons with the 2002, 1954 and 1899 floods

. With projected changes in climate, population and socioeconomic activity located in flood-prone areas, the global assessment of flood risk is essential to inform climate change policy and disaster risk management. Whilst global flood risk models exist for this purpose, the accuracy of their results is greatly limited by the lack of information on the current standard of protection to floods, with studies either neglecting this aspect or resorting to crude assumptions. Here we present a first global database of FLOod PROtection Standards, FLOPROS, which comprises information in the form of the flood return period associated with protection measures, at different spatial scales. FLOPROS comprises three layers of information, and combines them into one consistent database. The design layer contains empirical information about the actual standard of existing protection already in place; the policy layer contains information on protection standards from policy regulations; and the model layer uses a validated modelling approach to calculate protection standards. The policy layer and the model layer can be considered adequate proxies for actual protection standards included in the design layer, and serve to increase the spatial coverage of the database. Based on this first version of FLOPROS, we suggest a number of strategies to further extend and increase the resolution of the database. Moreover, as the database is intended to be continually updated, while flood protection standards are changing with new interventions, FLOPROS requires input from the flood risk community. We therefore invite researchers and practitioners to contribute information to this evolving database by corresponding to the authors.

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FLOPROS: an evolving global database of flood protection standards

Remarkable progress in cultivating the concepts of flood risk management has taken place over the past decade, across many countries as diverse as India, China, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, and in many instances this progress has been transferred into decision-making practice. This change in practice highlights a risk management paradigm as potentially more complex than a more tradition- al standard-based approach as it involves 'whole systems' and 'whole life' thinking; yet this is also its main strength - paving the way for more integrated and informed decision making that utilizes a portfolio of re- sponses across a full range of flood risk management activities whilst recognising their inter-relationship and contribution to integrated basin planning. This paper is the result of an international collaborative effort to review and distill approaches to water man- agement in challenging large scale and inter-related environments, providing new insights into good strategic planning and risk management of water resources and floods. The paper provides an overview of the com- mon process and frameworks of flood risk management and provides guidance on the specific techniques available and to describe how and when these techniques might be used, illustrated with case studies from around the world. It is not intended, however, to provide guidance on the detailed technical tools and means of analysis that form part of the flood risk management analytical process, for example detailed hydrological, hydraulic, ecological or economic assessment methodologies, as these are easily found elsewhere. Instead, it is intended to provide an overview of the emerging good practice in strategic risk-based flood risk manage- ment, the process of developing plans and policies, and the appropriate times and places at which these more specific techniques can be used. In particular the paper is focused on strategic flood risk management policy and practice and provides an overview of:  The historical developments and emerging trends  The purpose and characteristics of modern flood risk management.  The goals, objectives and outcomes sought  The on-going challenges in developing and implementing flood risk management in practice together with some of the common pitfalls and misconceptions  A summary of some specific and techniques and how they support good decision making

/pdf/flood-risk-management-a-strategic-approach-1udddj9krs.pdf

Flood risk management: A strategic approach

Over recent decades, remarkable progress in cultivating the concepts of flood risk management has taken place across countries as diverse as India, China, Australia, the UK and the USA. This change highlights a risk management paradigm as potentially more complex than a more traditional standard-based approach as it involves ‘whole systems’ and ‘whole-life’ thinking; yet this is also its main strength – paving the way for more integrated and informed decision-making. Strategic flood management (SFM) uses a portfolio of responses to manage flood risks and promote opportunities ecosystem services. It recognizes the interrelationships between the actions taken and the contribution flood management provides to integrated river basin and coastal zone planning. The paper results from an international collaborative effort for research and distils approaches to flood risk and water management in challenging large-scale and complex environments. The paper provides an overview of the emerging good practice ...

Strategic flood management: ten ‘golden rules’ to guide a sound approach

The mechanical response behavior and multi-scale simulation methods of organic ballistic fibers were summarized in this paper, including aramid fibers, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fibers, and their composites. Simulation methods are summarized, and the current common problems of multi-scale simulation methods are analyzed in the article. The author is convinced that the application of multi-scale simulation methods of organic fibers with core-skin structure can effectively predict the macroscopic mechanical properties of composite materials and explain the mechanism and mechanical behavior evolution.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/2478/2/022010/pdf

Multi-scale simulation methods of mechanical properties of organic ballistic fibers and their composites: a review

Atomic or molecular simulation technology is gradually used in the performance simulation of organic ballistic fibers and their composites, to reveal their various performance mechanisms and evolutionary mechanisms from the molecular point of view. Atomic or molecular simulation technology in the mechanical properties, thermal properties, aging properties, properties of aramid fiber composite fibers, and interface properties of aramid fiber-reinforced composites are summarized in this paper.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/2478/4/042008/pdf

Chen Yiwei

Papers

Flood risk management: A strategic approach

Strategic flood management: ten ‘golden rules’ to guide a sound approach

Multi-scale simulation methods of mechanical properties of organic ballistic fibers and their composites: a review

Properties of Aramid Fibers And Their Composites Based on Atomic/Molecular Scale Simulation Technology: A Review