A solution is much needed to fight droughts and preserve crops. Researchers have now developed a device capable of checking the humidity in the soil, and releasing irrigation water as needed – just enough without wasting it .

There are 19 countries in the catchment area of Danube River. The extensive use of water resources in that area has not been without consequences on its water quality. Let alone on the riverside’s biodiversity and environment.

Water is one of humanity’s most pressing issues. Do we have enough of it for drinking, for farming or for industry? Too much, in the shape of flooding? Or too little, in the form of drought? The WATCH project, funded by the EU, was designed to give us better answers to questions of water management .

Flash floods are very localised weather events. They are mostly triggered by heavy rainfall. Typically, over a period of less than 12 hours. They occur very infrequently at any one place.

The Black Sea is known for its severe environmental degradation. Some signs of recovery have been observed in the last years, albeit on a small scale . Scientists believe that it is still possible to limit the negative environmental impact.

Coastal areas offer great challenges when balancing the need to protect natural habitats, with the requirement of human and economic activities . Dikes, for example, may not constitute the solutions of the future.

We know when something is valuable to our everyday lives. We do not need a price tag. This is precisely what the HighARCS project attempts to do:  to measure the socio-economic value of ecosystem services , but without counting in euros, renminbi or dollars.

Tim O’Higgins is a marine biologist in Scotland who has focused on those vital ecostystem services provided by estuarine and coastal waters.

Landslides and floods are increasingly occurring natural events . They continue to damage infrastructures and farmland across the EU. Meanwhile, they are also putting people’s life at risk.

Dealing with sludge is one of the biggest issues of waste water treatment.

Many African regions are prone to droughts. Advances in forecasting and early warning for these phenomena are now becoming available to help mitigate their consequences on vulnerable societies.

But by the time it began in May 2009, the original extreme urgency of the HighNoon project had ‘melted’ so to speak.

Jaroslav Mysiak is a senior researcher in environmental economics at the Fondazione Eni Erico Mattei and the Euro-Mediterranean Center for Climate Change , both in Venice, Italy.

Sea bass or sea bream, by far the most consumed fish species around the Mediterranean area, increasingly originate from aquaculture.

Natural sensory system such as bacteria engineered to detect pollution and placed in a self-contained portable box could be the most effective way to track pollutants .

Nobody knows the underlying biological mechanisms of the European eels migration . Thanks to an EU-funded research project called eeliad , now about toreach completion, biologists have revealed some of its secrets, including a better understanding of its biology and migration route.

We can blame all sorts of things on the weather. But a stomach bug?  It seems unlikely. Yet, scientists say greater quantities of rainfall and bigger storms will lead to more stomach upsets in parts of Europe.

Albert Jansen, membrane expert at the Netherland’s Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), talks about his new seawater desalinisation technology, designed to meet the increasing demand for clean drinking water.

Not all countries are equal in the face of floods. To provide support for the variety of scenarios encountered, the RAMWASS research project developed a tool for gauging and managing the dangers of floods in specific river zones.

Sacha Schlobinski looks to the future when working at his day job as CEO of Cismet. This software company, based in Saarbrücken, Germany, takes the lead role in the information communication technology part of SUDPLAN .