Call for Abstracts // European Geoscience Union General Assembly 2023

About the event

The European Geoscience Union is Europe’s most significant earth and planetary science organization and its annual assembly will be held in Vienna and online from 23-28 April 2023.

About the session

Within the framework of the EGU General Assembly, the Università degli Studi di Firenzeare is organising a session on ‘Impacts of land use and land cover changes on water resources and water-related ecosystem services: from assessments to solutions’.

Land use and land cover (LULC) changes are one of the main drivers of change to hydrological processes, altering the ecosystem dynamics and impacting the production of water-related ecosystem services (WES) with different levels of societal impact. These LULC changes can emerge directly from anthropogenic interventions, or indirectly as the result of climate change. There is an extensive body of research investigating the impact of LULC changes on streamflow dynamics, but less so on other elements of the hydrological cycle (e.g. groundwater quantity and quality, evaporation and transpiration, soil moisture and rainfall interception) and associated ecosystem services. Changes to these elements can possibly lead to non-local and non-linear effects on ecosystem services, which need to be understood to inform effective and equitable water resource management.

This session welcomes studies that address the impacts of LULC changes on all water resources and hydrological processes, and associated WES, such as flood regulation, moisture recycling, temperature regulation, and food provisioning. Furthermore, beyond impact assessments, we welcome scholars that address policy options to mitigate harmful impacts on WES. More specifically, we welcome studies including, but not limited to:

• Advances in the quantification of hydrological impacts of land use and land cover (LULC) changes through modelling and experimental data, including water quantity and quality

• Disentanglement of LULC change impacts on all water resources (blue surface and ground water, green water, atmospheric water) and associated water-related ecosystem services (WES)
• Analysis and evaluation of policy interventions to mitigate impacts, such as ecological restoration schemes and nature-based solutions, with respect to their effectiveness and feasibility to protect and/or restore WES
• Advances in (interdisciplinary) methodologies for identifying WES, as well as studies highlighting spatial assessments of WES

General information

Two participation support schemes have been put in place by the EGU Council to facilitate the widest possible participation in EGU23: Roland Schlich travel support for on-site participants and a registration-fee waiver scheme for virtual participants.

Registration fee waivers for virtual participants

Registration fees are waived for virtual participation by:

• Scientists with a permanent affiliation in a low- or lower-middle income country according to the World Bank definition.
• Undergraduate and Master's students. A proof of student status is required.

See the registration page for further details.

Roland Schlich Travel Support for on-site participants

On-site participants who wish to apply for a Roland Schlich travel support must be the contact author, as well as the first and presenting author of their contribution, and they must submit an abstract by 1 December 2022, 13:00 CET. The EGU support selection committee will decide about awarding support to individual contributions by 22 December 2022. All applicants will be informed after the decision.

It is generally expected that authors of abstracts scheduled for on-site presentation will secure their own funding for attending the conference. However, a limited amount of the overall budget of the conference is reserved to assist early career scientists in attending the conference. Roland Schlich travel support includes a registration fee waiver and a refund of the abstract processing charge (APC) for the abstract for which support was granted. Additionally, financial assistance towards travel expenditures may be provided at the discretion of the support selection committee to a maximum of €300.

Furthermore, a very limited amount of the overall budget of the conference is reserved for assisting established scientists from low- and lower-middle income countries.

• Please note, that the APC is applied for abstracts for which support is requested, but will be refunded if the support application is successful.
• Only 2023 EGU members can submit an abstract, including honorary/life members. The EGU membership fee is not refunded.
• Each support grant is awarded to the contact author for a particular abstract. Should this abstract be withdrawn before the conference or should this abstract not be presented at the conference although the author who has been awarded is present at the conference, the financial support has to be returned, and the registration fee will be charged to the author's account.
• Support grants are non-transferable.
• Only the granted amount mentioned in the financial support email will be paid out to the supported contact author.

Further information

More details on the session, eligibility and how to submit an abstract can be found here.