Environment
The Swiss water turnaround: wait and see or take a proactive approach?
Politics
Eawag
New technologies in the water sector can contribute to the flexible and sustainable development of urban water management and the sustainable utilisation of water as a resource. In a recent article in the journal Aqua & Gas, a team of researchers from the aquatic research institute Eawag shows what opportunities and risks are associated with this.
Chemicals could undercut global plastics treaty
Research
Empa
Next week the UN intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC) on plastic pollution will meet in Uruguay to develop an international legally binding instrument against plastic pollution. There is concern among scientists that the negotiations will overlook the diversity and complexity of chemicals present in plastics. This would severely undermine the treaty’s effectiveness, according to a new study published in the recent issue of the scientific journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters.
The roman history of the chestnut culture
Research
WSL
The sweet chestnut and the walnut are an economically important tree species in Europe. It is thanks to the ancient Romans that we find their fruits and wood so widespread today. Scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL and the University of Bern have retraced the history of their distribution based on pollen and archaeological evidence.
Architect Anne Lacaton wins the Erna Hamburger Award
Teaching
EPFL
The prize, awarded by the EPFL Women in Science and Humanities (WISH) Foundation, has been delivered at a ceremony at EPFL’s Rolex Learning Center on 7 November.
Green and blue food webs differ
Research
WSL Eawag
Terrestrial and aquatic food webs respond differently to changes in the environment. Understanding these differences is fundamental to identifying the species most important to an ecosystem and to effectively protecting biodiversity. This is shown by a study led by the research institutes Eawag and WSL and published in the journal Nature Communications.
Brazil on the wrong track
Politics
ETH Zurich
To protect tropical forests in Brazil, commodities traders have made voluntary commitments to avoid buying soybeans grown in areas that have recently been deforested. Two new studies reveal just how inadequate these guidelines are in protecting Brazil from deforestation and assess the potential effect of implementing the commitments on a much larger scale.
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