間眅埶AV

Research Themes

How can we foster sustainable, climate-resilient and carbon-neutral water development in major cities?

Rapid urbanization leads to social, health, and ecological impacts. The impacts of most concern to PWRC include fluctuations in water quality and resource availability, diminishing food security, increasing costs associated with sustainable and renewable energy generation, inadequate delivery of safe water to urban populations, and extreme weather events leading to drinking water contamination and flooding.

Can coastal fisheries be effectively conserved in view of increasing global threats and challenges, particularly considering concerns of indigenous populations?

Coastal fisheries are a central pillar for the economy and food security of coastal communities. The coastal, as well as inland, fisheries are increasingly threatened by habitat destruction and infrastructure development, ecosystem impacts related to climate change, and ecological stresses. PWRC aims to bring together experiences, inform policies for enhanced responses, and create new scientific knowledge. Development of international knowledge-sharing networks would facilitate and support research outputs and policy engagement.

How can a national strategy for achieving long-term food and energy security be achieved in response to the threats of drought and drastically changing water flows?

Climate change poses unprecedented challenges to food and energy security across the world. We need to better understand the interactions and trade-offs between competing uses of water, land and energy-related resources. Working towards development of a consolidated national picture of the water-food-energy security nexus is of primary interest to PWRC.

What approaches would work best to integrate management of river deltas and estuaries to achieve a balance between intense human activity and the need to protect riverine ecosystems?

River deltas and estuaries frequently see intense economic activity and transport of goods, and are exposed to human-influenced pressures. Upstream activities, notably construction of dams and other diversionary infrastructure, impact the flow of water and sediment, disrupt aquatic habitats and impinge on cultural uses of rivers. The research conducted at PWRC fosters a geographically and thematically comprehensive view of river deltas.