Research-based Assessment of Integrated approaches to Nature-based SOLUTIONS

The RainSolutions goal is to develop an integrated framework of methodologies to assess NBS for restoration and rehabilitation of urban water resources. The main objectives include identification of stakeholders and urban ecosystem needs, review of the existing good practices, simulation of the climate variability impact using pilot installations, development of the indicator system for NBS evaluation, ecosystem services mapping, creation of NBS planning and design framework and dissemination of the self-sustainable web-based framework. Oslo Metropolitan University main activities mainly cover developing and disseminating self-sustainable web-based framework. For this purpose the RainSolution tool concept was developed. The tool will utilize cloud technologies including machine learning (semantic search) for easy knowledge building and sharing. The new idea of knowledge building based on users stories was proposed. Each story contains reference data (articles, books, pictures, metadata etc.). User receives knowledge from knowledge producer enhanced by the most up-to-date and relevant data from wide known search engines like Elsevier or Scopus . For this purpose collaboration with Microsoft was established. The tool will not compete with established search engines. Its purpose is to extend their functionalities. The potential users for the NBS planning come from academia, urban planning and/or R&D area, where structured and standardized methods for knowledge transfer are hard to apply due to dynamically changing environment. Firstly, platform will be used for water industry, however it is aimed to be flexible enough to be applied to another branches. The alpha version of the tool was released in March 2022 and will be assessed and evaluated in the next months. The tool will be continously developed through actions taken with research grants, student and academic Staff initiatives.

The RainSolutions knowledge exchange tool was developed and released. The software utilizes cloud technologies including machine learning (semantic search) for easy knowledge building and shearing. The tool is used by the project participants for creating guidelines for innovative planning and assessment of Nature Based Solution (NBS) as part of sustainable water systems. The potential benefits include reducing barriers for NBS knowledge access by inexperienced users from the public and private sector.

There is a need to close the demand and supply gap in terms of both quantity and quality of water resources. For urban areas, there is a challenge of increasing (quantity) water demands (indirectly from food production in rural areas), and direct water use (drinking and other uses). Urbanisation leads to an increase in the built environment, and urban citizens most likely face specific environmental challenges such as water pollution (quality) and deterioration of urban habitats. Additional problems linked to climate variability are expected to increase the threat to humans, urban settlements as well as their natural and built environment. This leads to degradation of urban water resources both in terms of quantity, quality and biodiversity as well as related services for the community. RainSolutions addresses predominantly enabling sustainable management of water resources and developing new guidelines and knowledge management approaches. In particular, RainSolutions is concerned with promoting adaptive water management for global change and primarily on integrative management by implementing natural water retention measures including groundwater recharge. RainSolutions also touches on strengthening socio-economic approaches to water management particularly for disadvantaged communities. Specifically, the project will address integrating economic and social analyses into decision-making processes, by promoting the reuse of water and also by promoting new governance and knowledge management approaches. Finally, RainSolutions will also focus on providing numerical tools for sustainable integrative water management.