Abstract ID: 3.12804 | Accepted as Poster | Poster | TBA | TBA

Climate change and human pressures are increasingly impacting mountain headwaters, the main sources of freshwater in the Alpine Space. Large alterations in water availability and quality pose significant challenges to Alpine communities and have profound implications on the ecosystem services on which they depend. The project WATERWISE aims to leverage recent advances in modelling techniques tailored to assess the vulnerability of headwaters to climate and land-use changes, and to make them accessible to local water and land managers. Through collaboration between scientists, communities and protected area managers, an innovative digital toolbox will be co-designed and tested in eight pilot sites located in six Alpine countries. This toolbox, accessible via a user-friendly web-platform, will facilitate the collection, analysis and visualization of in-situ climatic and ecohydrological data, while also enabling headwaters vulnerability assessments. he project will provide local stakeholders with the necessary scientific basis for co-designing robust and participatory management strategies, thereby enhancing the resilience of mountain water resources, ecosystems and communities, in line with Alpine Space Special Objective 1.1(Promoting climate change adaptation and disaster risk prevention, resilience, taking into account ecosystem- based approaches) and the EUSALP cross-cutting priority Joint Water Management Transition. Once validated, the toolbox will be implemented across a network of complementary sites covering the diversity of headwaters and challenges across the Alps. End-users will be trained to operate and update the toolbox via the web-platform, thus ensuring its continued relevance and value beyond the end of the project. The results of the project WATERWISE will raise awareness among Alpine communities about the vulnerability of headwaters ecosystem services, in combination to educational materials, creative storytelling and public outreach events. WATERWISE also aims at strengthening the dialogue between scientific experts and policymakers and at stimulating the joint development of transnational solutions to secure water resources in the Alpine region.