Geoverbund ABC/J leads interdisciplinary excursion to Northern Greece
The Geoverbund ABC/J is on an excursion to northern Greece with 20 scholarship holders from RWTH Aachen University, the Universität zu Köln and the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. The interdisciplinary excursion focuses "Interactions between geoscientific, geoarchaeological and cultural-historical factors in the development of Thessaly and Macedonia (Northern Greece)". The 12-day study trip is organized and led by Geoverbund ABC/J Coordination Office Dr. Konstantin Ntageretzis and Prof. Dr. Frank Wendland from Forschungszentrum Jülich and accompanied by the archaeologist Dr. Chrysanthi Kallini form Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH).
Among other things, the group visited the Pinios Hydrological Observatory in the region of Thessaly, which is based on a long-standing successful German-Greek research cooperation between the working group of Prof. Dr. Wendland from the Institute of Bio- and Geosciences - Agrosphere (IBG-3) of the Forschungszentrum Jülich and the team of the Soil & Water Resources Institute, ELGO-DIMITRA, a research unit of the Hellenic Agricultural Organisation «DEMETER», under the leadership of the director Dr. Andreas Panagopoulos.
The Pinios River Basin (PRB) is one of the most productive basins in Greece in terms of agricultural production, with a significant impact at the regional and national levels. The absence of efficient water resources management manifests in high water consumption and overexploitation of groundwater. On site, the students gained a direct and real insight into the current findings of the Rexus Project (funded in the context of the European Union's Horizon 2020).
Awareness of the dynamic interdependencies between the water, energy and food sectors has grown in recent years, along with the realisation that sectoral perspectives alone will not lead to sustainable solutions. Growing demand for resources creates trade-offs, which are further complicated by the impacts of climate change. The water-energy-food nexus approach is a powerful concept for addressing the interrelationships of resource systems and moving towards better coordination and use of natural resources, taking into account existing trade-offs and moving towards synergies. However, progress in integrating nexus thinking into practical policy-making has been slow.
The Rexus Project aims to bridge the gap between science and policy, moving from nexus thinking to nexus doing. It brings together the scientific tools and integrated vision needed to analyse real-world conditions, including frictions and climate risks. Using systems dynamic modelling, it designs sustainable and actionable forward-looking solutions that increase resilience across sectors. These solutions, clearly visualised, will form the basis for forward-looking and participatory decision-making.
