PONDERFUL - pond ecosystems for resilient future landscapes in a changing climate

Description

Because of their small size, the significance of ponds has long been underestimated. They are largely excluded from the Water Framework Directive in Europe, even though the Directive is actually intended to protect ‘all waters’. In North America, their inclusion in the protections provided by the Clean Water Act are contested, and in other areas they lie largely outside regulatory systems. However, research over the last 10-15 years has shown that, because of their abundance, heterogeneity, exceptional biodiversity, inherent naturalness and biogeochemical potency, ponds play a role in catchments, landscapes, and potentially at continental scale which is completely out of proportion to their small size.

The main aim of the research in PONDERFUL is to increase understanding of the ways in which ponds, as Nature-Based Solutions, can help society to mitigate and adapt to climate change, protect biodiversity and deliver ecosystem services.

The project has five main components:

1. Developing a strategic approach to engagement with stakeholders, to ensure that they are able to effectively implement the benefits of ponds as Nature-Based Solutions.
2. Generating extensive new biodiversity and ecosystem services datasets, to better establish the relationship between pond biodiversity and the delivery of ecosystem services.
3. Establishing models that enable us to test and optimise practical scenarios for the use of ponds and Nature-Based Solutions.
4. Creating a set of demonstration sites across Europe which show to practitioners and policy makers how ponds can help to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change.
5. Ensuring that the project’s outputs are widely known to policy makers, practitioners and other stakeholders.

We lead Work Package 1 of PONDERFUL.

Read more about the project