The interdisciplinairy project The Amstelpark – the trees tell their stories, centers on the 6000 trees of 300+ species that were planted in the Amstelpark in Amsterdam on the occasion of the Floriade in 1972. Tree biologist Ute Sass-Klaassen, environmental-lawyers Jessica den Outer and Jan van de Venis, and artist Elmo Vermijs, will investigate how the trees in the Amstelpark can become legal entities and how this new legal status can contribute to better protection and management of trees and forests. This consortium sees this as an essential condition for a successful transition to a circular economy and sustainable society.

The future of tropical forests is uncertain because we lack insights in the effects of droughts on the trees in those forests. This proposed study will reduce this uncertainty. Trees will therefore be measured intensively in contrasting tropical climates, from dry to moderately dry. Mechanistic tree models are developed and tested to understand how drought affects tree growth at short and long time scales. Such understanding is required to predict the effects of current and future droughts on trees of tropical forests, and improve the management of these forests with climate change.

Clean groundwater is an essential source of drinking water. However, our use of pharmaceuticals, household chemicals, and pesticides is leading to the release of increasing quantities of organic micropollutants. These chemicals enter the water cycle via wastewater effluent and agriculture runoff, and subsequently infiltrate into groundwater, threatening water quality. Groundwater contains naturally occurring microorganisms that can biodegrade contaminants. However, these specific micropollutants present a challenge to successful biodegradation due to their complex structure and low concentrations. Very little is known about the biological mechanisms in water systems that enable micropollutant biodegradation. I aim to elucidate the fundamental set of factors that control the biodegradation of micropollutants in groundwater. My approach is multidisciplinary: I will use geochemical and microbiological techniques to perform fundamental laboratory research and apply this in field experiments. First, to obtain a mechanistic understanding of micropollutant biodegradation, I will perform laboratory experiments to examine the roles of redox conditions and dissolved organic carbon on the biodegradation of a select list of micropollutants. Second, I will characterize biological activity and biodegradation at field locations using novel advanced monitoring methods, including DNA-based techniques and isotope analysis. Finally, I will take a step towards developing robust and reliable technologies for micropollutant biodegradation. My findings will provide the necessary fundamental scientific framework for prediction and application of biodegradation of micropollutants in groundwater as well as other portions of the water cycle. Thanks to my multidisciplinary background and my experience in designing scientific investigations at field locations, I am well qualified to perform fundamental scientific research projects of this scale and complexity. I will work closely with the drinking water institutions Vitens and Water Laboratorium Noord (WLN), who will provide access to drinking water production sites and financial support. Their involvement ensures that my results will be developed further and applied in practice.

The coastal planes of the southwestern shore of the island of Taiwan host several cities with a population in excess of 1 Million (Tainan, Taichung, Kaohsiung). Groundwater is a main source of drinking water, industrial water use. and irrigation. As in many coastal areas worldwide, urban growth associated with population rise is putting the long-term security of water supply under stress. Aquifers in these coastal plains consist of sedimentary deposits of sand, which are separated by clay units. Groundwater is fresh, but abstraction has led to a gradual salinisation by seawater intrusion in some places; moreover, the abstraction of groundwater has resulted in land-subsidence, which in turn makes coastal areas more prone to seawater flooding. The efficient management of coastal groundwater resources aiming to minimise the detrimental impacts of groundwater abstraction under threat of rising seas must be informed by the monitoring and modeling of hydrogeological dynamics in these coastal areas. The purpose of this short workshop is to bring together experts from the Netherlands, Canada, Japan and Taiwan to discuss novel and current practices of hydrogeological monitoring and modeling in the framework of coastal groundwater management in western Taiwan. The knowledge exchange between these experts will lead to the development of a research proposal covering a multi-year program.