Periodic Reporting for period 2 - OneAquaHealth (Protecting urban aquatic ecosystems to promote One Health)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2024-07-01 do 2025-12-31
Aquatic urban ecosystems are extremely relevant connectors between people, animals and plants and provide a valuable resource to liaise health and environmental observations with a potential impact on prediction and prevention. In urbanized areas, aquatic ecosystems constitute ecological corridors between fragmented natural areas supporting a wide biodiversity and variety of ecosystem services, improving the sustainability of cities. Yet, these ecosystems are often degraded by lack of space, cuts of riparian vegetation, artificialization of the channels, impervious areas in the margins, water pollution, noise, excessive lights, among others. This degradation can lead to numerous disservices to human populations, and increase the probability of the emergence of pathogens, lower disease resistance of wildlife and humans, increasing the probability of disease severity and diseases associated with reduced physical activity and permanence in stressful environments found in cities.
In view of this, OneAquaHealth aims to demonstrate that the health of freshwater ecosystems and human health and wellbeing in urban contexts are highly interconnected as improving one results in the improvement of the other, reestablishing the balance between nature and humans. To this aim, OneAquaHealth promotes the environmental monitoring of early warning indicators that can assess that balance. It will provide decision-makers with a AI-based Environmental Surveillance System able to support adequate and timely decisions and providing effective recovery measures of aquatic ecosystems health (and consequently human health) adequate for different scenarios, including climate changes.
OneAquaHealth involves all relevant stakeholders in the process raising their awareness to the importance of urban streams and rivers and supporting them with adequate digital tools to guarantee environmental monitoring beyond the project duration. OneAquaHealth collects new information to fill knowledge gaps in 5 cities located across Europe and covering a climatic, environmental and sociocultural gradient. In each city 20 urban stream sites are studies, totalizing 100 streams covering urbanization gradients.
In view of this, OneAquaHealth aims to demonstrate that the health of freshwater ecosystems and human health and wellbeing in urban contexts are highly interconnected as improving one results in the improvement of the other, reestablishing the balance between nature and humans. To this aim, OneAquaHealth promotes the environmental monitoring of early warning indicators that can assess that balance. It will provide decision-makers with a AI-based Environmental Surveillance System able to support adequate and timely decisions and providing effective recovery measures of aquatic ecosystems health (and consequently human health) adequate for different scenarios, including climate changes.
OneAquaHealth involves all relevant stakeholders in the process raising their awareness to the importance of urban streams and rivers and supporting them with adequate digital tools to guarantee environmental monitoring beyond the project duration. OneAquaHealth collects new information to fill knowledge gaps in 5 cities located across Europe and covering a climatic, environmental and sociocultural gradient. In each city 20 urban stream sites are studies, totalizing 100 streams covering urbanization gradients.
The most important achievements by M36 were:
- A network of 100 monitoring urban freshwater ecosystems in the 5 Research sites
- A list of indicators of One Health risks associated with the degradation of urban freshwater ecosystem with a theoretical link to human health (positive or negative)
- Standardized OneAquaHealth Field sampling protocols across cities that will be published in Zenodo and in OAH Hub
- Ecosystem and biological health indicator samples collected in the selected 100 urban streams and processed in the partners labs
- Human health indicators (both physical and mental) potentially linked to the ecosystem services provided by the urban streams or responsive to their degradation, were retrieved from literature and later data was collected at the local (from each city, whenever possible) and European levels
- Data was analysed through multivariate analyses and modelling to: 1) select the final key indicators of ecosystem and biological health that could influence human health; 2) to test the effect of urbanization, climate change and rehabilitation measures over the ecosystem and biological health; 3) test differences among cities; and 4) to demonstrate the connection between ecosystem and human health (results in 15 publications so far)
- Predictive models were built with machine learning techniques to simulate the effect of alterations in environmental conditions in key ecosystem and biological health indicators (so far Flying Diptera and Diatoms)
- A final selection of Key ecosystem indicators and biological health indicators was defined. Factsheets were elaborated explaining the rationale beyond their selection, key results and methods.
- the GEOSSIP Geospatial and Satellite Information Platform (https://apps.oneaquahealth.eu/eo(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)) was developed integrating Earth Observation data enabling the automated retrieval, processing, and analysis of spectral indices across the five OAH research cities
- Several tools are already in place to support decision-making: 1) the OAH Open Information Hub (www.oneaquahealth.eu); 2) the City Dashboards (https://www.oneaquahealth.eu/city_dashboards/(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)) and Resilience maps (https://apps.oneaquahealth.eu/resmap/)(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie); and 3) the OneAquaHealth Citizen Science app (https://apps.oneaquahealth.eu/citizens(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie))
- Community module within the Open Information Hub was created to embed the App within the wider OneAquaHealth digital ecosystem, strengthening user engagement and knowledge exchange.
- The Catalogue of measures for urban aquatic ecosystems rehabilitation (D2.4) which is a public deliverable is ready, as is the basis for the OAH Decision Support System
- Workshops with the Local Alliances, Focus groups and specific Citizen Science frameworks were undertaken at the local scale (five research sites)
- The Theatre-in-Science play, started to be prepared, by undertaking a series of interviews conducted with citizens living near urban streams across Europe
- A concise overview of the liaison and clustering strategy, detailing the procedures for identifying and mapping relevant projects, initiatives, and networks has been completed -
- The OneAquaHealth Open Information Hub launched newsletters and promoted subscriptions, established social media channels
- Outreach reached a broad audience, including network projects and numerous social media followers, newsletter subscribers, and webinar registrants
- 54 external events were attended, new materials were produced, three newsletter issues, produced and distributed
- A network of 100 monitoring urban freshwater ecosystems in the 5 Research sites
- A list of indicators of One Health risks associated with the degradation of urban freshwater ecosystem with a theoretical link to human health (positive or negative)
- Standardized OneAquaHealth Field sampling protocols across cities that will be published in Zenodo and in OAH Hub
- Ecosystem and biological health indicator samples collected in the selected 100 urban streams and processed in the partners labs
- Human health indicators (both physical and mental) potentially linked to the ecosystem services provided by the urban streams or responsive to their degradation, were retrieved from literature and later data was collected at the local (from each city, whenever possible) and European levels
- Data was analysed through multivariate analyses and modelling to: 1) select the final key indicators of ecosystem and biological health that could influence human health; 2) to test the effect of urbanization, climate change and rehabilitation measures over the ecosystem and biological health; 3) test differences among cities; and 4) to demonstrate the connection between ecosystem and human health (results in 15 publications so far)
- Predictive models were built with machine learning techniques to simulate the effect of alterations in environmental conditions in key ecosystem and biological health indicators (so far Flying Diptera and Diatoms)
- A final selection of Key ecosystem indicators and biological health indicators was defined. Factsheets were elaborated explaining the rationale beyond their selection, key results and methods.
- the GEOSSIP Geospatial and Satellite Information Platform (https://apps.oneaquahealth.eu/eo(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)) was developed integrating Earth Observation data enabling the automated retrieval, processing, and analysis of spectral indices across the five OAH research cities
- Several tools are already in place to support decision-making: 1) the OAH Open Information Hub (www.oneaquahealth.eu); 2) the City Dashboards (https://www.oneaquahealth.eu/city_dashboards/(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)) and Resilience maps (https://apps.oneaquahealth.eu/resmap/)(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie); and 3) the OneAquaHealth Citizen Science app (https://apps.oneaquahealth.eu/citizens(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie))
- Community module within the Open Information Hub was created to embed the App within the wider OneAquaHealth digital ecosystem, strengthening user engagement and knowledge exchange.
- The Catalogue of measures for urban aquatic ecosystems rehabilitation (D2.4) which is a public deliverable is ready, as is the basis for the OAH Decision Support System
- Workshops with the Local Alliances, Focus groups and specific Citizen Science frameworks were undertaken at the local scale (five research sites)
- The Theatre-in-Science play, started to be prepared, by undertaking a series of interviews conducted with citizens living near urban streams across Europe
- A concise overview of the liaison and clustering strategy, detailing the procedures for identifying and mapping relevant projects, initiatives, and networks has been completed -
- The OneAquaHealth Open Information Hub launched newsletters and promoted subscriptions, established social media channels
- Outreach reached a broad audience, including network projects and numerous social media followers, newsletter subscribers, and webinar registrants
- 54 external events were attended, new materials were produced, three newsletter issues, produced and distributed
OneAquaHealth is advancing the current state of the art by:
1. Lining up environmental and Earth observation approaches to conduct OneHealth monitoring in urban areas.
2. Developing novel AI-based assessment tools to allow the assessment of the status of urban aquatic ecosystems.
3. Assessing and making explicit the health benefits from healthy urban aquatic ecosystems
4. Empowering citizens and communities to discuss human rights and human duties towards an ethical OneHealth sustainability.
5. Developing a common and standardised early warning Environmental Surveillance System for urban aquatic ecosystems applicable in all Member States deploying the One Digital Health approach.
At M36 all these are in well-advanced.
1. Lining up environmental and Earth observation approaches to conduct OneHealth monitoring in urban areas.
2. Developing novel AI-based assessment tools to allow the assessment of the status of urban aquatic ecosystems.
3. Assessing and making explicit the health benefits from healthy urban aquatic ecosystems
4. Empowering citizens and communities to discuss human rights and human duties towards an ethical OneHealth sustainability.
5. Developing a common and standardised early warning Environmental Surveillance System for urban aquatic ecosystems applicable in all Member States deploying the One Digital Health approach.
At M36 all these are in well-advanced.