Sustainability Webinar | Green and Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Change – Resilient Infrastructure
Welcome from the Chairs
Dear Colleagues,
For the last two decades, water security and climate-resilient infrastructure have been in the spotlight as key concepts for sustainable development. Almost two-thirds of cities around the world believe that climate change will negatively affect their water resilience. Infrastructure will be affected by the physical impacts of climate variability and change, but will also play an essential role in building resilience to those impacts. Extreme events illustrate the extent of this potential exposure. Water and waste companies and administrations are under increasing pressure to invest in new ways to meet new demands due to population growth, climate change and tightening environmental standards. Many companies are concerned about business risks related to water supplies. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused profound changes in the way we live and work, and digitalization is playing an important role globally in the water and waste sectors and beyond, boosting knowledge sharing and collaboration to address these challenges.
Against the backdrop of growing global urbanization and climate change and unforeseen challenges such as those we have recently seen with the COVID-19 pandemic, this webinar focuses on innovative initiatives to address climate-resilient infrastructure and water resilience, as well as the socio-economic factors influencing vulnerability to climate change, and the wider adoption and replication of green and nature-based solutions for climate change, resilient infrastructure and water security.
The aim of this webinar is to provide evidence of the opportunities that blue-green infrastructures and ecosystems-based approaches bring towards climate-resilient infrastructure and water security. Three prominent keynote speakers will talk about the antecedents of the LIFE GREEN ADAPT PROJECT co-funded with the contribution of the LIFE Programme of the European Union under grant agreement No LIFE20 CCA/ES/00179, that will be used as a case study, the technology advances, global experiences as well as barriers and enablers to accelerate adoption and replication of innovation.
We look forward to seeing you at the webinar and participating during our panel discussion and questions and answers session.
Prof. Dr. Blanca Antizar
Date: 26 May 2022
Time: 4:00 pm CEST | 10:00 am EDT | 10:00 pm CST Asia
Webinar ID: 884 7918 7695
Webinar Secretariat: sustainability.webinar@mdpi.com
Chairs
European Director of Consultancy, Isle, Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor in Environmental Security and Resilience, UCL, United Kingdom
Prof Antizar is the Director of Consultancy at Isle and Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor in Environmental Security and Resilience at University College of London with over twenty years of experience in the development of water and wastewater treatment projects globally. Prior to joining Isle, Blanca held various academic roles for 15 years in research-led universities including The University of Edinburgh and University College London, becoming an international expert in environmental remediation technologies. Blanca is the author of more than 100 peer reviewed scientific papers and technical reports. Her interests are centered in the development and implementation of new technologies in the context of water security and resource recovery. Over the years Blanca has gained considerable experience both in the UK and overseas, working alongside technology companies, end users of technology and investors. She has managed complex projects, coordinated strategic partnerships, and identified and secured appropriate funding sources. Blanca has an extensive portfolio of projects including the World Bank’s Utility of the Future program, and the EU funded projects INCOVER, RUN4LIFE, VIVALDI, PROMICON, BATRAW, LIFE GREEN ADAPT AND LIFE WASTE2COAG. Blanca holds a PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology. She serves as member of the Industrial Advisory Board for the School of Engineering at the University of Glasgow, she is Member of the IWA, and Co-Chair of the Europe Water ‘Water Security’ and ‘Resource Recovery’ working groups. She is member of the Editorial Board of ‘Environmental Technology & Innovation’ (Elsevier) and Sustainability – Sustainable Water Management (mdpi).
Invited Speakers
Ms Luz Herrero holds a Master degree in Environmental Chemistry from the University of A Coruña. She has held a position at AIMEN Technological Center for more than 15 years to date, and she is the present Coordinator of the Environment Unit, R&D area, organizing the definition and execution of the projects of the working group. At AIMEN, the Environment Unit develop technologies that improve wastewater treatment and urban industrial waste recovery processes, transforming waste into new added value products as well as promoting a circular economy. The development of specific sensors for tracking, monitoring and control of pollutants is a complement that guarantees the efficiency of new treatment technologies and the compliance with existing regulations. Each new process or product can be assessed and compared with another existing one, from the environmental, economic and social perspectives, in order to promote resource efficiency at all levels and provide tools to support investment decisions. Our research lines are focused on: waste treatment and valorization, municipal and industrial wastewater treatment, life cycle assessment, carbon footprint, and the development of optical technologies for monitoring and control of environmental processes.
Professor, Càtedra UNESCO de Sostenibilitat, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain
Prof Jordi Morato holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology, with 20 years of experience in research, education and management of sustainable human development projects related to resources (water, soil, biodiversity) and circular economy and participatory community development at local and regional level. Founding member of RECNET (www.recitynet.org). He has participated in more than 80 internationally funded research, training and knowledge transfer projects (1996-2018), applying his experience in the field of water quality, appropriate technologies for water purification and wastewater treatment, sustainable management of water, including water management and adaptation to climate change, resilience, and the design and development of urban and socio-ecological transformation projects. He has made more than 60 scientific and dissemination publications, including scientific publications, books and congress communications, and is reviewer of more than 22 international journals.
Dr Arias is an experienced Senior Researcher with a demonstrated history of working in the research industry. Skilled in Waste, Sustainable Development, Environmental Issues, Environmental Compliance, and Water Treatment. Carlos holds a PhD in Environmental Science from Aarhus University. He has worked on numerous international projects focused on the use of nature based solutions to treat wastewaters. Currently he is involved in the projects NATURE, LIFE GREEN ADAPT, NICE, WETCYANO and LIFEPOPWAT to mention a few. Carlos has been a prolific author with more than 230 publications, which have been well received by the international scientific community (h-Index=39) and he presents his work frequently at international meetings.
Senior Technology Consultant, ISLE, United Kingdom
Elvira is a Senior Technology Consultant in Isle. She holds a PhD in Industrial Engineering and has over fifteen years of experience in the water industry. Mostly in wastewater and water treatment consultancy, process design experience in wastewater, water and seawater desalination treatment works, R&D experience in sludge treatment and advanced control systems. Prior to joining Isle, Elvira had over ten years of experience in the water industry sector. She worked in an engineering and consultancy company where she managed and delivered a wide range of water projects for both public water agencies and private water companies. She was also a technical advisor for different regional governments owners of the water and wastewater treatment systems in their area including desalination plants, her role was to assess the regional authorities on how to improve their treatment systems, and how new or well-known technologies could be implemented. She also worked for one innovative technology start-up company specialised in the development of advanced control systems for wastewater treatment works and anaerobic co- digestion systems. In Isle she has been involved in several projects funded by the European Commission (EC) (H202, LIFE) and other consultancy projects, all of them focused on the research, development and implementation of innovation within the water/wastewater sector.
Program
|
Speaker/Presentation |
Time in CEST |
|
Prof. Dr. Blanca Antizar Chair Introduction: Green and Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Change – Resilient Infrastructure |
4:00 - 4:10 |
|
Dr. Luz Herrero LIFE GREEN ADAPT project: addressing resilience, climate change and infrastructure; project and antecedents |
4:10 - 4:30 |
|
Prof. Dr. Jordi Morato LIFE GREEN ADAPT project: previous global experiences, social and economic aspects |
4:30 - 4:50 |
|
Dr. Carlos Alberto Arias LIFE GREEN ADAPT project: barriers and enablers to ensure adoption and replication; culture barriers |
4:50 - 5:10 |
|
Panel Discussion and Q&A Session Moderator: Dr. Elvira Serra |
5:10 - 25 |
|
Closing of Webinar Chair: Prof. Dr. Blanca Antizar |
5:25 - 5:30 |
Webinar Content
Relevant SI
Guest Editors: Prof. Dr. Blanca Antizar, Prof. Dr. Jo Burgess & Prof. Dr. Jan Hofman
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 August 2022
Sponsors and Partners
Organizers
