EGU General Assembly 2025 - Sessioni proposte dai soci

Vienna and online, 27 April - 2 May 2025.

Abstract submission deadline is 15 January 2025, at 13:00 CET.

All the info regarding the abstract submission, registration and application for financial support are available at link

In the following, the sessions proposed by IAH-Italy members:

1) HS8.2.3 The role of groundwater flow systems in enhancing sustainable water management and solving environmental issues

          Convener: Stefania Stevenazzi | Co-conveners: Manuela Lasagna, Jim LaMoreaux, Xiao-Wei Jiang, Szilvia Szkolnikovics-Simon

In a context of societal development and increasing demand for natural resources, human needs and environmental impacts must be considered together in order to sustainably manage these resources, especially with regard to groundwater resources. The issues become more challenging to solve considering their uneven and complex distribution. Sustainable groundwater resource management involves adopting integrated approaches that take into consideration interconnections among the different components
of the hydrological cycle and understanding groundwater flow systems through the identification of governing processes and conditions from the local to regional and basin-scales, transcending administrative boundaries. This means considering not only the availability and quality of water resources, but also ensuring the preservation of related ecosystems. Moreover, the impacts on groundwater resources, ecosystems and societies due to ongoing climate change should also be considered.
The objective of this session is to gather case studies and scientific contributions connected to sustainable management of groundwater and its protection from degradation and deterioration, e.g., due to over-exploitation, competition for water resources, natural or anthropogenic contamination, and climate change. Contributions are invited, but not limited to, the following subjects: (i) the use of environmental tracers (chemical species and isotopes) for investigating natural processes and
human impacts on water resources, (ii) the assessment of hydrogeological budgets for the evaluation of water availability, and (iii) methods for characterizing groundwater flow systems, and preventing, managing and mitigating harmful environmental impacts related to groundwater, as well as (iv) identifying major existing challenges and critical issues.
The Regional Groundwater Flow Commission (RGFC) of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) is sponsoring the session.

Further information about the session.

2) EOS4.4 Moving beyond research-as-usual: Exploring and assessing the role of geoscientists in the face of the climate and ecological emergencies

         Convener:  Elodie Duyck | Co-conveners: Odin Marc, Rosa Rantanen, Jean-Philippe Vidal, Paolo Colombo

Despite an ever-growing body of scientific literature outlining the need for radical transformations, efforts to address the climate and ecological crisis keep falling painfully short of what is necessary. At the same time, the situation continues to worsen as global warming gets dangerously close to 1.5 degrees. While the role of geoscientists has traditionally been to provide neutral information to be used by the public and policy makers, several studies pointed out that the main blockade to urgent climate action is not currently a lack of understanding or awareness or the situation (Oreskes, 2022, The trouble with the supply-side model of science) but rather opposition to necessary transformations by vested interests and powerful actors (Stoddard et al, 2021, Three decades of climate mitigation: Why haven’t we bent the emissions curve?). Our own institutions, universities, and research centers are also failing to rise to the challenge of this crisis and partly contribute to maintaining the status quo (Thierry et al, 2023, No research on a dead planet).
In that context, what role can geoscientists play to contribute to the urgent transformations necessary to mitigate the climate and ecological crisis? To explore this topic, we invite contributions that broadly address the following questions, whether from a theoretical perspective or through firsthand experiences:
– How to engage with civil society, stakeholders and policymakers to ensure that research findings lead to appropriate policies?
– How to assess and reduce the ecological footprint of scientific institutions?
– How to expand outreach and training efforts, in particular to enable under-represented actors, reduce power imbalances in climate politics, and oppose greenwashing?
– Should scientists engage in disruptive actions and civil disobedience to highlight the urgency of the situation, oppose destructive projects, and/or press on problematic actors?
– How can scientific institutions prevent reinforcing the status quo and instead contribute to radical transformations ?
In 2024, presentations considered: Outreach efforts towards policymakers or in rural areas, campaigns for universities to cut ties with the fossil industry, sustainable travel policies for researchers, strategies to debunk greenwashing, barriers to the public engagement of academics, and discussion about academic activism. We particularly encourage submissions presenting interdisciplinary work including social sciences.

Further information about the session.