Dr. Świąder and Dr. Gruss: – Science can help in the fight against climate change

Over the past 150 years, the average temperature on Earth has increased by almost one degree Celsius. The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that by 2100 the temperature on Earth could increase by as much as 4.0ºC. An increase of two degrees increases the risk of irreversible climate change, so it is vital that we limit the temperature rise to 1.5°C – which is still possible according to the IPCC. Such an increase would still result in heat waves, more intense storms, and severe droughts and floods, but would pose a much lower risk than if the Earth's average temperature increased by 2°C.

It is therefore crucial that we develop strategies and measures preparing us for the effects of climate change and preventing further changes. At the University of Environmental and Life Sciences in Wrocław, research in this area is being conducted, among others, by Dr. Małgorzata Świąder from the Institute of Spatial Management and Dr. Iwona Gruss from the Department of Plant Protection.

Dr. Świąder is currently working on two research projects that deal with aspects of environmental sustainability, vulnerability and resilience. The first of them, FoodSHIFT2030 from the Horizon 2020 program, is an international project being implemented, among others, in Copenhagen, Athens, Avignon, Barcelona, Berlin and Wrocław. It focuses on identifying, developing and scaling innovations driven by the inhabitants of local communities. These innovations respond to social and environmental challenges by making the food system more circular and sustainable.

Dr. Małgorzata Świąder and Dr. Marta Sylla are leaders of a research work package related to the assessment of the current food system in nine city-regions, called LABs, including through the designation of host zones. Apart from the research part, together with the EkoRozwój Foundation and the Wrocław City Hall, they are also working with WRO LAB from Wrocław, which focuses, among others, on developing a model for creating community gardens in Wrocław as an alternative for those who do not have access to their own garden or allotment gardens, but would like to jointly engage in food cultivation.

– We are working on a procedure that will make it easier for a group of friends or families to contact the local authorities and find out how to set up a community garden, on which communal plots is this possible, and what are the costs are associated with it. We have created the position of a gardening advisor, whose role is to help Wrocław residents in this regard. We are also planning an initiative to create edible gardens in schools. Several gardens have already been established by the Municipality of Wrocław, and the EkoRozwój Foundation additionally conducts educational sessions for teachers to learn how to create a school garden. They will then be able to teach young people how to look after such a garden, how to grow fruit and vegetables – explains Dr. Świąder, adding that a great example of a community garden in Wrocław is the existing Olbinski Open Garden. In addition to cultivating flower beds, the residents organise their own events, barbecues and meet to exchange recipes.

As Katarzyna Szymczak-Pomianowska, Director of the Sustainable Development Department of the Municipality of Wroclaw emphasised in the media how establishing community gardens helps fight climate change: – This is very much aligned with the European Union's Green Deal policy. Many of the ideas we are already implementing, together form the city's new climate policy: we are catching rainwater, planting trees and bushes, using less plastic, we are not wasting food, we are promoting community fridges, we drink tap water, we are developing flower meadows, and we are shortening the journey from field to table. Together it all creates a coherent system.

The second project that Dr. Małgorzata Świąder is working on is part of the PRELUDIUM competition. The scientist estimates the pressure on the environment, using the carbon footprint, which applies to both the consumption of resources, such as water, food, energy and gas, and the emission of pollutants, including from solid and liquid waste. So far, as part of Dr. Świąder's doctoral thesis, research has only been conducted for Wrocław. In the future, research is also planned for Voivodship cities and extended to include the aspect of collecting data on food consumption.

– Until now, we only had access to indicative data from the Central Statistical Office, which does not directly reflect the consumption of food of the inhabitants of a given city. Using the application, I want to collect information on how much food we consume and calculate the approximate carbon footprint on an ongoing basis, so that every resident of Wrocław can verify their weekly or monthly emissions or the calculated annual value. The user will also be able to find out how much land is needed to balance their carbon footprint – explains Dr. Świąder, who admits that it is thanks to her thesis supervisors – Prof. Szymon Szewrański and Prof. Jan Kazak, that she had the opportunity to learn from the best, such as the Global Footprint Network, a leading centre in the field of ecological footprint analysis. Her research has already attracted the interest of other researchers - from the University of Trento, with whom she cooperates with regards to development and automation of the carbon footprint estimation method.

Dr. Iwona Gruss is another scientist conducting important research on the impact of climate change on the environment, namely on soil mesofauna.

The mesofauna consists mainly of small arthropods, mites and insects – approx. 2 mm large – living in the soil. They play an important role in the soil, for example in the decomposition process, and are bioindicators of soil quality. Springtails and mites are sensitive to many factors, such as how the soil is used or contaminants found in the soil (e.g. heavy metals or pesticides). The biological quality of the soil can be assessed on the basis of the size of the mesofauna population or the decrease in its species diversity.

Recently, Dr. Gruss has been analysing the use of soil mesofauna as an indicator of climate change. During a research internship at the Helmholtz Institute in Halle, she participated in research conducted on the largest experimental platform devoted to climate change in Europe – the Global Change Experimental Facility (GCEF).

– Following my last two scientific internships, together with foreign partners I have prepared a series of publications on the impact of manipulated climate changes on soil organisms, taking different land uses into account. The manipulations consisted of creating humidity and temperature conditions like those that will occur in 50 years according to the climate warming forecasts. During the research, in addition to counting and determining the species of these organisms, I also analysed the size of their bodies, which lead me to discover that springtails reduce their body size by approx. 10% as a result of soil heating. This phenomenon may indicate a general strategy for arthropods to shrink in size to adapt to climate change, explains Dr Gruss, adding that she is also looking for evidence that the way soil is used may have an impact on protecting mesofauna against climate change. There are currently no studies to support this hypothesis, but finding the right solution is important, because an abundance of mesofauna will lead to better soil functioning – which in the case of agriculture will result in more fertile land and better yields.

The scientist from the Department of Plant Protection is currently also taking part in the project "Innovative methods of breeding and rearing sheep in light of changing climatic conditions in Lower Silesia" under the supervision of Dr. Magdalena Szymura, where she is studying climatic changes in mountain conditions. The project is aimed at increasing sheep breeding in the region by disseminating a new, more profitable breeding model, taking into account changing climatic conditions, but also limiting the impact of breeding on the environment and improving the biodiversity of pasture sward.

Both scientists from UPWr agree that science is an integral part of environmental protection, and that without it we will not be able to stop the advancement of climate change. Dr. Świąder emphasises: – I can see that as a society we are ready to introduce the necessary changes, but we often lack the appropriate knowledge. This is why education is so important. People are curious, they look for reliable sources – such as our research.

Dr. Iwona Gruss adds that continuous monitoring of the environment is also important: – We need to know how fast climate change is progressing. Data on air temperature and humidity alone is not reliable enough. We must observe changes at every level of the ecosystems, because both large and small organisms are at risk. As scientists, we should also propose land management methods aimed at limiting the negative effects of climate change. However, it would be best to deal directly with the problem of greenhouse gases.

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