Freshwater science for the benefit of society: a perspective from early career researchers

Abstract

This research brief summarises the views of a group of early career freshwater researchers on 3 questions: What are the greatest threats to freshwater resources and how will they change over the next century? Is freshwater science effectively utilised to help society adapt to these threats? How will we ensure the benefits of freshwater science are reaped by society into the future? To address these questions we reviewed the current literature and discussed our findings in a series of group meetings. We concluded that freshwater resources will be most threatened by population growth, climate change, and eutrophication in the future. We provide examples of how the utilisation of freshwater science by society is reliant on effective monitoring systems, data sharing, and effective communication of topical scientific evidence to both the public and policy makers. Developments in these fields increase the likelihood of society benefitting from past and future research in freshwater science.

The European Water Framework Directive facing current challenges: recommendations for a more efficient biological assessment of inland surface waters

“…Inland water resources are affected by multiple stressors, including urban and agricultural land use and hydropower generation, but also by more recent environmental drivers such as climate change and IAS (Hering et al 2015). The impact of these factors is likely to grow in the next decades, along with the increasing demand for clean water as it decreases in availability (Brownlie et al 2017). Hence, knowing the potential consequences of climate change and IAS in the ecosystem and forecasting how they influence biological assessment of surface waters is crucial for more efficient biotic assessment and monitoring of inland surface waters (Jackson et al 2001, Reyjol et al 2014.…”