River

How do you personally and professionally relate to water and/or space technologies?

Personally, I was always connected with natural environments and would often visit mountain streams and waterfalls. My professional experiences with both water and space technologies started in 2004 when I worked at the Amazonian Manatee Project in a nature reserve in Amazonas, Brazil.

Please describe how your professional (and/or personal) experience relates to space technologies and their applications to water resources management.

I am an expert in hydroinformatics, mainly involved in research projects and research supervision of MSc and PhD students. My research focusses on physically based models for inland waters (rivers and lakes). One of the major fields where modelling is used in water resources is flooding. In order to have adequate representation of floods, most models require large amounts of data, both for model building and model usage.

Since ancient times, people have established communities in river deltas because it provides water, fertile land, and transportation access, making them an ideal place to live. This pattern has been carried forward to the present. With nearly 6 billion people living in river deltas, they are one of the most densely populated places on Earth (Kuenzer and Renaud, 2011). However, they are facing threats such as climate change, sea level rise, land use changes, and ecosystem degradation.

Short description of the Māori community

Our community is made up of direct descendents from our ancestors; Te Huia and Rangiwherowhero. Our Trust is made up of over 700 beneficiaries and is from the Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāti Apakura tribes which has over 60,000 overall affiliated tribal members.

Photo: Tääk ë´mëj (grandmother) cleansing her wooden cane. In Tamazulápam women guide the spiritual life of people in the community and teach younger generations the rituals and forms to interact with nature. Credits: Joselí Martínez-Vidal, Young Ëyuujk man from Tamazulápam del Espíritu Santo, Mixe, Oaxaca.

How do you personally and professionally relate to water and/or space technologies?

Personally, I was always connected with natural environments and would often visit mountain streams and waterfalls. My professional experiences with both water and space technologies started in 2004 when I worked at the Amazonian Manatee Project in a nature reserve in Amazonas, Brazil.

Photo by Garth Lenz.

Short description of the Mikisew Cree First Nation community 

Nestled on the northwest shore of Lake Athabasca, Fort Chipewyan is one of the most northern communities in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo. Isolated by nature, Fort Chipewyan can only be accessed by plane or boat in the summer and by a winter road in the winter.

Short description of the Kaqchikel community

The municipality of San José Poaquil was founded on November 1, 1891. It is located in the department of Chimaltenango with a territorial extension of approximately 100 km² and has almost 30 000 inhabitants. It is one of the 16 municipalities that make up the department of Chimaltenango. It is located in the west of the Republic of Guatemala at a distance of 101 kilometers from the Capital City and distance 47 kilometers from the Departmental Capital.

Please describe how your professional (and/or personal) experience relates to space technologies and their applications to water resources management.

I am an expert in hydroinformatics, mainly involved in research projects and research supervision of MSc and PhD students. My research focusses on physically based models for inland waters (rivers and lakes). One of the major fields where modelling is used in water resources is flooding. In order to have adequate representation of floods, most models require large amounts of data, both for model building and model usage.

Of the 300 million tons of plastic produced every year, an estimated 26 million eventually ends up in the ocean. As a result, some estimates suggest there are now 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic in our oceans and seas. Even more concerning is the fact that this number is expected to increase, with National Geographic predicting that the annual amount of plastic flowing into the oceans will triple by 2040. 

co-organised by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)
and the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water (PSIPW)

Photo by Garth Lenz.

Short description of the Mikisew Cree First Nation community 

Nestled on the northwest shore of Lake Athabasca, Fort Chipewyan is one of the most northern communities in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo. Isolated by nature, Fort Chipewyan can only be accessed by plane or boat in the summer and by a winter road in the winter.

Short description of the Kaqchikel community

The municipality of San José Poaquil was founded on November 1, 1891. It is located in the department of Chimaltenango with a territorial extension of approximately 100 km² and has almost 30 000 inhabitants. It is one of the 16 municipalities that make up the department of Chimaltenango. It is located in the west of the Republic of Guatemala at a distance of 101 kilometers from the Capital City and distance 47 kilometers from the Departmental Capital.

Short description of the Māori community

Our community is made up of direct descendents from our ancestors; Te Huia and Rangiwherowhero. Our Trust is made up of over 700 beneficiaries and is from the Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāti Apakura tribes which has over 60,000 overall affiliated tribal members.

Photo: Tääk ë´mëj (grandmother) cleansing her wooden cane. In Tamazulápam women guide the spiritual life of people in the community and teach younger generations the rituals and forms to interact with nature. Credits: Joselí Martínez-Vidal, Young Ëyuujk man from Tamazulápam del Espíritu Santo, Mixe, Oaxaca.