This document summarizes a presentation given by Dr. Gwyn Rees on water resources research and sustainable development. Some key points: - UKCEH is the UK's center for environmental science, with over 500 scientists across four sites researching water, land, and air. Their water resources department has 120 specialists studying rivers, lakes, and wetlands. - UKCEH's research aims to monitor water resources and ecosystems, understand processes affecting hydrology and aquatic health, detect environmental impacts, and develop tools to support management, predict droughts, and build resilience. - International examples of their research include advising China on river basin management, studying small-scale water interventions in India, and analyzing water quality

1. Water resources research
&
sustainable development
Dr Gwyn Rees
Science Area Head - Water Resources
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
UK-Finland Sustainability Knowledge Exchange:
Adaptation and Resilience
19 October 2020

2. • An introduction to UKCEH
• Water resources and sustainability
• UKCEH WR research: international applications
• Future challenges and opportunities
2
Outline of talk

3. • UK’s centre for excellence in environmental
science across water, land and air
• Capabilities: research, field surveys, monitoring,
laboratories, data management, statistical
analysis, modelling, impact studies, expert advice
& reporting
• Home to 500 scientists, across four UK sites
• 120 water specialists: hydrologists, ecologists,
water chemists, laboratory & field technicians…
working on rivers, lakes & wetlands
• Responsible for: National River Flow Archive; UK
National Hydrological Monitoring Programme; COSMOS-
UK; Biological Records Centre; Environmental Change
Network; etc.
• Our science underpins progress towards meeting
these UN Sustainable Development Goals
UKCEH at a glance

4. UKCEH International Outreach

5. 5
• Undertake long-term monitoring of rivers and lakes to assess
current status and detect trends, turning-points, regime shifts
etc.
• Advance new methods for monitoring water resources and
aquatic ecosystems
• Understand the processes that affect the hydrological regime of
catchments and the healthy functioning of aquatic ecosystems
• Detect, understand and mitigate the impacts of environmental
change on water availability and aquatic ecosystems
• Improve the ability to more accurately predict water availability
over various spatial scales and time horizons
• Develop and apply new methods, tools & systems to…
o support water resources management
o predict droughts & manage/mitigate their impacts
o help society adapt to change, mitigate impacts and build
resilience
UKCEH Water Resources Research

6. Water and sustainability: a potted history
• Rio Earth Summit 1992 adopted Agenda 21-
Chapter 18 calls for integrated approaches to
the development, management & use of water
resources
• Millennium Summit 2000 committed to the 8
MDGs, to reduce extreme poverty by 2015
• UN Sustainable Summit 2015 adopted the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development and its
17 SDGs
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7. Integrated/Sustainable Water Management
Image courtesy of SWEEP, NERC/University of Exeter
Peatland
conservation &
restoration
Soil conservation, conservation tillage
Sustainable
urban drainage
IWRM, IRBMPs, SCaMPs
Restoration
of meanders
Demand
management
Water storage/
infrastructure
Natural flood
management
Water harvesting
Sustainable agriculture
Riparian planting/shading
Efficient irrigation
Climate resilient
planning & design
Monitoring & Obs’
Scientific research
Stakeholder engagement
Remediation of
lakes and ponds
Management of fertilizers, pesticides, NVZs
etc.

8. Example #1: System for Ecological Protection
in the Yangtze River Economic Belt
• Helping Yangtze (Changjiang) Water
Resources Commission to improve its
management of the river basin
• Providing advice on international best
practice in water resources
management, ecological protection
and river basin management
• Policy recommendations on methods
for monitoring and evaluation of
established systems

9. Example #2: Upscaling Catchment Processes for
Sustainable Water Management in Peninsular India
How do the many local, small-scale water
management interventions affect water
availability at the large basin scale, now
and in future?
RCP4.5 SSP1
(sustainable)

10. Example #3: Winam Gulf water quality & fisheries
P concentrations
Fish farms, spawning
grounds & WH
hotspots

11. Example #4: WMO Hydrological Status & Outlook
System

12. Future challenges, future opportunities

13. Global challenges, global collaboration

14. Thank you!
Kiitos paljon!
Dr Gwyn Rees
hgrees@ceh.ac.uk