Belmont Forum Collaborative Research: Integrated Assessment of Climate Impacts on Ecosystem Functions and Productivity of Critical-Zone Eco-Hydrology

该奖项为参与由贝尔蒙特论坛（Belmont Forum）发起的9国全球变化研究倡议竞争性选择的项目的美国研究人员提供支持。贝尔蒙特论坛是一个由超过55个国家的研究资助组织组成的联盟，致力于支持跨学科方法来应对全球环境变化的挑战和机遇。它的目的是通过协调和调动国际资源，加速提供最迫切需要的国际研究，以消除可持续发展的关键障碍。每个伙伴国在一个联盟中为它们的研究人员提供资金，以减轻对跨越国际边界的资金的需求。这种方法有助于有效利用国家资源，支持对全球相关主题的优秀研究，最好通过多国方法解决，同时认识到全球挑战需要全球解决方案。该奖项为美国研究人员在至少三个参与国的合作伙伴组成的联盟中进行合作提供支持。研究小组将努力确定可持续的途径，以帮助减轻对自然资源日益增加的前所未有的压力，这些资源相互作用，为社会提供可持续的生命支持系统和基本利益，如粮食生产和水的质量和数量。将评价土地管理和城市化变化的影响，以制定可持续土壤和地下水管理备选办法，帮助建立和维持可持续的陆地生态系统。本项目旨在制定一个框架，以评估、分析和管理人为活动和气候变化对缺水临界区系统造成的环境风险和影响。该项目旨在为关键区域的可持续管理确定和实施可采取行动的缓解措施，旨在阐明人与水之间的相互作用，主要是在盐碱化和地下水入侵方面。本项目利用参与式建模和来自利益相关者参与的叙述来确定研究项目可以帮助解决的关键挑战。该项目将通过一种综合方法，包括环境、社会经济和体制方面以及多方利益相关者的观点，开发有关缺水关键地区系统可持续性的科学知识。这种方法将突出关键的知识空白，一旦填补这些空白，可以帮助利益相关者和决策者提高缺水关键区系统的长期环境和经济可持续性。通过整合科学知识、模型和利益相关者的直接参与，该团队将能够定义“可持续适应途径”，描述未来10- 20年缺水临界区系统可能的动态演变。这些路径将解释与气候变化、土地利用模式、人类行为和相关适应策略相关的不确定性，并最终可用作决策支持工具。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award provides support to U.S. researchers participating in a project competitively selected by a 9-country initiative on global change research through the Belmont Forum. The Belmont Forum is a consortium of research funding organizations representing over 55 countries focused on support for transdisciplinary approaches to global environmental change challenges and opportunities. It aims to accelerate delivery of the international research most urgently needed to remove critical barriers to sustainability by aligning and mobilizing international resources. Each partner country provides funding for their researchers within a consortium to alleviate the need for funds to cross international borders. This approach facilitates effective leveraging of national resources to support excellent research on topics of global relevance best tackled through a multinational approach, recognizing that global challenges need global solutions. This award provides support for the U.S. researchers to cooperate in consortia that consist of partners from at least three of the participating countries. The research teams will work to identify sustainable pathways to help alleviate the increasing and unprecedented pressure on the natural resources that interact to provide sustainable life support systems and essential benefits to societies such as food production and water quality and quantity. The impacts of changes in land management and urbanization will be evaluated to develop sustainable soils and groundwater management options that will help create and maintain sustainable terrestrial ecosystems. This project seeks to develop a framework for the assessment, analysis and management of environmental risks and impacts resulting from anthropogenic activities and climate change on water-scarce critical zone systems. This project seeks to define and implement actionable mitigation measures for critical zone sustainable management, aiming to shed light on human-water interactions, largely in regard to salinization and groundwater intrusion. This project utilizes participatory modeling and narratives derived from stakeholder engagement to identify critical challenges that the research program can help solve. The project will develop science-based knowledge on the sustainability of water-scarce critical zone systems through an integrative approach that will include environmental, socio-economic and institutional aspects, and multi-stakeholder’s perspectives. This approach will highlight key knowledge gaps that when filled, can help stakeholders and decision-makers enhance the long-term environmental and economic sustainability of the water-scarce critical zone systems. By integrating scientific knowledge, models and the direct involvement of stakeholders, the team will be able to define “sustainable adaptation pathways” that describe the possible dynamic evolution of the water-scarce critical zone systems in the next 10- 20 years. These pathways will account for the uncertainties related to climate change, land use patterns, human behaviors, and the related adaptation strategies and can be used ultimately used as decision support tools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.