Project EcoAlpsWater
The Interreg Alpine Space is a European transnational cooperation program for European regions that occupy the entire Alpine area. The main objective is to facilitate cooperation between key economic, social and environmental actors in seven Alpine countries, and among the various stakeholders: universities, administrations, business sector, innovation, and decision-making processes. The program is financed through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and through the national public and private co-funding of partner countries. In the current programming period, 2014-2020, the program is investing 139 million euros in projects through which key players develop shared solutions for Alpine territories.
As part of the Alpine Space program, ISPRA is Project Partner of the project "Innovative Ecological Assessment and Water Management Strategy for the Protection of Ecosystem Services in Alpine Lakes and Rivers (Eco-AlpsWater)". The Eco-AlpsWater project aims to analyze environmental DNA (Environmental DNA - eDNA) in water bodies, using the Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technique. The NGS technique is based on the amplification and analysis of millions of DNA sequences and on the use of smart technologies, automation in data processing and archiving and information retrieval, allowing a rapid and low cost identification of aquatic organisms, from bacteria to fish. These results aim at integrating and implementing traditional approaches for monitoring freshwater in the Alpine region and at European level (Water Framework Directive-WFD and, in Switzerland, Water Protection Ordinance-WPO) with advanced and innovative technologies, providing a solid basis for support water management plans. One of the main objectives is the identification and the overcoming of gaps in the traditional monitoring approaches in all the Alpine regions, the new technologies will allow improving the experimental monitoring protocols to be applied in selected areas, which include over fifty large alpine lakes, smaller water bodies, and key rivers. The main results will, therefore, include metagenomic tools and latest-generation bioinformatic technologies to monitor the ecological status of the waters and their biodiversity. The data will, in particular, identify the areas most at risk due to the presence of toxic cyanobacteria, pathogenic bacteria, and invasive or potentially invasive organisms.
The transnational approach envisaged by the European Strategy for the Alpine Region (EUSALP) agenda is essential to foster interactions between neighboring countries and bridge the scientific gap between the academic world and the governmental agencies through the creation of networks and infrastructures involving the entire Alpine Region, and the conservation and enhancement of natural resources.
The EcoAlpsWater project involves twelve partners from six countries located throughout the Alpine region: Austria, France, Germany, Slovenia, Switzerland, and Italy, for which in addition to ISPRA are involved Arpa Veneto as partner and Edmund Mach Foundation as project leader.
The activity of ISPRA in addition to supporting the other partners in the definition and development of the methods includes a pilot study on freshwater collected form Apennines to implement and develop the methods applied on the Alpine territory and the transfer of knowledge acquired within the SNPA (Agencies of National System for Environmental Protection) on a national scale. ISPRA interdepartmental working group consists of numerous researchers, technologists, technicians and administrative staff to guarantee multidisciplinary support ranging from sampling, management, data analysis, training, dissemination, and communication.
The entire three-year project, from 17/04/2018 to 16/04/2021, has a total budget of 1,804,495 euros and ISPRA will receive a loan of 131,164.75 euros.
ISPRA Cordinator contact:
serena.bernabei@isprambiente.it
Lead partner contact:
nico.salmaso@fmach.it
Communication manager contact:
tina.elersek@nib.si