On the 5th of June 2024, CMCC attended on behalf of the SDGs-EYES project, the 8th Europe Congress of the International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR). On this occasion, CMCC provided an oral presentation entitled SDGs-EYES: a novel European project to enhance, integrate, and monitor water-related SDG indicators during the special session Examples and proposals for innovative water governance.
IAHR is an international non-profit organisation that supports and promotes the collaboration between academia, and private and public sectors to enhance the common knowledge about water sciences and their applications. Every two years IAHR organises a congress for each of its geographical divisions, among which is Europe. The 8th IAHR Europe Congress was held on June 03-07 2024 in the bustling city of Lisbon, Portugal, to gather experts and professionals from the water sector around the world, therefore representing an unmissable opportunity for networking, collaboration, and the exchange of innovative ideas under the overarching theme Water – Across Boundaries.
CMCC’s active engagement in this congress led to several contributions in addition to the oral presentation of the project provided by Roberta Padulano (University of Naples, former CMCC). CMCC attended different sessions of Theme 6: Governance and Water Resources Management and Roberta Padulano was selected as the convener of the session on this theme. The session, Emerging solutions for water governance, has highlighted the need for innovative and interdisciplinary approaches to manage water resources effectively and has gathered diverse perspectives, fostering a dialogue on the current and future of water governance and the implementation of sustainable practices.
Finally, Melissa Latella (CMCC), who is also the European representative of young professionals in the IAHR Council and who is currently working on the indicator about soil erosion (SDGs-EYES pilot 4), provided an oral presentation on a related topic, Modelling sediment delivery in river catchments: a review, thus delving into the challenge of choosing the most adequate solution for monitoring erosive processes, which in turn influences water quality and ecosystem health.
Future editions
Alternating with the regional congresses, IAHR organises its biennial World Congress. The next one will be the 41st, hosted by Singapore in June 2025. The leading theme will be Innovative Water Engineering for Sustainable Development. The whole event will focus on the importance of innovative water engineering towards meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets related to water resources, thus being perfectly aligned with the SDGs-EYES rationale and objectives.
