PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The pace at which the negative effects of climate change are accumulating is much greater than predicted several years ago. In Poland, the average annual temperature has exceeded 10°C in recent years, a level that was not expected to be reached until 2071–2100. As a result, the length of the growing season has increased in some regions by approximately 40 days. Precipitation patterns have changed, with fewer days with light, continuous rainfall, and an increase in the number of heavy rainfall events (over 70 mm/day) and catastrophic rainfall events (over 100 mm/day). This is leading to an increased risk of drought: while droughts occurred every five years in Poland between 1951 and 1980, they occurred every two years between 1981 and 2010. Since 2011, Poland has experienced permanent summer droughts. This is particularly dangerous because Poland is a country with low water resources, significantly lower than the EU average at approximately 1,600 m3/person/year. Even a small change in rainfall can cause significant losses. Therefore, preventing droughts and ensuring good water quality should be treated as a priority.
The effects of climate change have a particularly negative impact on agriculture, both crop and livestock production. All factors determining the success of agricultural production are already being modified by this process, which threatens food security in individual countries, the EU, and Europe as a whole. Surveys conducted among Polish farmers indicate that nearly three-quarters of them experience the negative impact of climate change on their farms and their financial performance. Unfortunately, most of them do not take adaptation measures that would increase their farms' resilience to the effects of climate change. This is due to both a lack of knowledge about available methods of adapting to climate change – primarily nature-based solutions (NBS)– and a fear of their high costs. Therefore, demonstrating and promoting such solutions is essential. Particularly desirable are those that deliver multifaceted benefits: they not only increase agricultural land's resilience to the effects of climate change, but also support biodiversity conservation, improve water and soil quality, and protect their resources. Due to the lack of adequate measures to halt climate change (the probability that average temperatures will not exceed 2°C by 2100 is estimated at approximately 17%), such actions should be more widely implemented across the EU.OBJECTIVES
The LIFE RIVEREASE project aims to support agricultural adaptation to climate change by counteracting and mitigating the effects of drought on agricultural land. This will help reduce the transfer of pollutants (especially nutrients and pesticides) from agricultural land to surface and groundwater, as well as reuse recovered nutrients in agriculture. By promoting nature-based solutions (NBS), the project will also support biodiversity conservation and nature restoration.
As part of the project, the following innovative NBS solutions will be tested in the Ner and Pisia river basins by the beneficiaries: 1) systems enabling the dosing and targeted release of water in drainage ditches depending on the forecasted rainfall; 2) various types of mid-field ponds (with different bank shape, depth, or type of vegetation) supporting their colonisation by desired species; 3) mid-field shelterbelts with a diverse species composition adapted to the habitats and resistant to changing climatic conditions and to intensifying climatic extremes; 4) nitrogen barriers - denitrification walls and organic manure slabs; and, 5) technologies for retaining and recovering phosphorus running off from agricultural land: BioKer (the use of a lightweight material coated with compounds to remove phosphorus) and SCL (using the sonic vibrations to remove phosphorus) that so far are used only in urbanised areas. The tests will allow for the modernisation of existing solutions and the selection of the most effective ones, which will then be patented and widely promoted.
The project's objectives will be achieved by developing, testing, demonstrating the implementation, and then evaluating the effectiveness of two modern IT systems:
- the RIVEREASE OPEN application – a system that will utilise spatial data such as hydrographic maps, digital terrain models, and water management plans. Its primary goal will be to provide farmers with information on potential threats such as droughts, floods, and excessive nutrient pollution, as well as to identify areas where NBS should be implemented. This system will enable farmers to optimise their operations by analysing land use patterns, identifying areas requiring increased retention, and assessing the environmental benefits of the different NBS tested;
- the RIVEREASE REAL TIME application – a system designed for more advanced users (local and government authorities, agricultural advisory services, research institutions, etc.) that will integrate satellite and in-situ monitoring data and provide real-time information on environmental parameters such as soil moisture and nutrient concentrations in soil and surface water. The system will warn of droughts and support the management of NBS solutions in agricultural areas.
RESULTS
The project's most important outcome will be the creation and testing of two applications supporting decisions regarding agricultural adaptation to the effects of climate change. The RIVEREASE OPEN application will be implemented in six surface water bodies (two demonstration catchments in Poland and four replication catchments in Germany and Denmark) during the project and in 10 others within five years of project completion. The RIVEREASE REAL TIME application will be implemented in the same six catchments during the project and in five additional catchments within five years of project completion.
Demonstration NBS solutions implemented in the Ner and Pisia river basins will allow for the achievement of the following environmental effects:
- improved landscape retention: optimisation of 20 existing drainage systems, creation of 30 in-field ponds with areas of 50-80 m², planting of in-field trees with a total length of 1,200 m and 1,000 m of field margins;
- reducing the transfer of pollutants to the surface waters: construction of five denitrification walls, each at least 100 m long; recovery of 1,286 kg of phosphorus in a phosphorus retention and recovery facility to be built;
- Improvement of soil conditions within the catchment area over an area of 10,000 m²;
- Improvement of biodiversity over an area of 3.55 km²; creation of 46 new habitats for flora and fauna, inhabited by 15 new species of animals (birds, amphibians, fish) and plants;
- Improvement of the ecological condition of rivers: restoration of two rivers over a 1,000 m section;
- increase in landscape water retention by 1,215 m³ during the project, and by 3,085 m³ within 5 years after its completion;
- increase in drought-resistant areas by approximately 33 ha during the project, and by approximately 42 ha in the 5 years after its completion;
- improvement of the morphological condition of the restored rivers and extension of water retention time in the riverbeds.
Informational, and educational activities will include:
- 12 educational activities involving 660 people and 7 training activities for a minimum of 930 participants;
- creating 13 types of educational materials (in Polish and English) with information on NBS solutions and adapting agricultural land to climate change. These materials will be distributed to a total of 20,000 people.