The European Commission (EC) awarded the “Best of the Best Life Environment project 2012” to the TRUST (Tool for regional – scale assessment of groundwater storage improvement in adaptation to climate change) project.
The project, funded by the EC in the framework of Life+2007 and by the Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea, was the only Italian project awarded. The best LIFE Environment and Nature projects of 2012 were honoured at an award ceremony last month, on June 5th, 2013, in Brussels.

The TRUST project set out to incorporate climate change into river basin management, and identify adaptation measures based on artificial aquifer recharge to mitigate the impacts of drought and water scarcity. The project area includes the Isonzo, Tagliamento, Livenza, Piave and Brenta rivers flowing eastwards, and the far western Bacchiglione river. CMCC was involved in climate modelling, by creating scenarios for the 20th and 21st century and also collaborated for the evaluation of climate change impacts on ground water, by using the analysis of Regional Risk.

The degradation of ground water, in terms of both quantity and quality, is a common problem in many parts of Europe and around the world and is exacerbated by climate change.
The major causes of the problem of groundwater degradation (i.e. drought and water scarcity, salinity, pollution, etc) are still unsustainable use of resources and inappropriate land use policies, added to the impact of climate change.

The award strengthens CMCC’s interest and role as a research center aimed at putting in place climate change impacts assessments and solutions for a more sustainable use of resources.

For more information, visit the official website of the project.