INNOVATE - Interplay among multiple uses of water reservoirs via innovative coupling of substance cycles in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems

The Itaparica reservoir, built in the 1980ies, dams up the São Francisco River in the semi-arid hinterland of Northeastern Brazil. The lake’s water quality is unsatisfactory with frequent algae blooms. About 40,000 people were dislocated. They could choose between compensation payments for moving out or resettlement in newly established smallholder irrigation schemes. Some of the irrigation lands suffer from poor soils and insufficient drainage systems.

The INNOVATE project aims at a sustainable watershed management, exemplarily focussing on the Itaparica reservoir. Measures to reduce the nutrient content of the reservoir will be tested and assessed economically. The Green Liver System will be further developed to purify contaminated lake water. The impact of see sediment and biochar application on soil fertility and crop yields in mixed smallholder systems will be evaluated. Changes of biodiversity and C sequestration accruing from management alterations will be monitored. Land use and hydrology will be modelled, accounting for climate change. Governance options for a sustainable aquatic and terrestrial management will be developed, based on constellation analysis.

German partners are the Technical University Berlin (TUB), the University of Hohenheim (UHOH), the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), and the University of Applied Sciences Dresden (HTWD) together with the Senckenberg Natural History Collections Dresden (SNSD). The Brazilian partners comprise two federal universities at Recife (UFPE and UFRPE), the Agricultural Institute of Pernambuco state (IPA), the Technology Institute of Pernambuco (ITEP), the soil section of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA Solos), and the National Institute of the Semi-Arid Region (INSA).