Other current projects
GEOmorphic hazards and compound events in a changing TROPical East Africa (GEOTROP / 2022-2025 / Belspo-BRAIN)
The GEOTROP project aims to assess the role of land-use change and climate change in the occurrence of geomorphological hazards (namely landslides and flash floods) in tropical East Africa. In the context of global change, it aims not only to address the current environmental situation, but also to anticipate the potential effects of human-induced climate change and changes in land use/land cover on the occurrence of future extreme events and the associated risks.
This three-year project is funded by the Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO) as part of the BRAIN-be 2.0 programme (Contract No. B2/223/P1/GEOTROP). The project is coordinated by the Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA), in collaboration with the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), the European Centre for Geodynamics and Seismology (ECGS), the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), the School & Observatory of Earth Sciences (EOST), the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ).
Geo-HydrolOgicaL dIsaster riSk and the associated naTural resource degradation in sub-Saharan AfrICa: a transdisciplinary approach in densely-populated changing environments (G-HOLISTIC / 2024-2028 (2033) / FED-tWIN)
Geo-hydrological (GH) hazards (volcanic activity and emissions, floods, droughts, landslides, gully erosion and flash floods) and the degradation of natural resources (soil, water, forest, ecosystems) are often interrelated with self-mutual cause-and-effect reinforcements. In sub-Saharan Africa, high population densities are often found, frequently on the rise and combined with high societal vulnerability. It is therefore no surprise that GH disaster risks and the associated natural resource degradation disproportionately hit these regions. Environmental alterations induced by land-use changes combined to changing climatic conditions are expected to increase these impacts. In sub-Saharan Africa, research on GH disaster risk and resource degradation is often at its infancy and non-adapted to the local population and stakeholders needs.
This FED-tWIN project proposes a unique long-term funding that will allow to undertake longitudinal, co-produced and transdisciplinary strategic research in urban and densely populated rural regions of sub-Saharan Africa. To have real in-the-field impact, the project aims to fill a clear research gap in bringing high resolution, disaggregated information about risk and resource degradation. The short-term (5 years) general scientific objective of the FED-tWIN project is to assess the vulnerability, exposure and resilience to GH hazards. It aims to arrive at integrated/comprehensive highly spatially resolved disaster risk assessments relevant for stakeholders and for the development of adapted mitigation strategies. To provide such detailed analysis, we will focus on selected, densely-populated and rapidly changing regions where GH hazards are being studied by both teams.
In parallel with the focus on GH disaster risk, the project will also progressively start to collect spatially explicit data on natural resource degradation associated with these GH disaster risks. The long-term scientific objective is to extend the transdisciplinary approaches (models, datasets, methods, etc.) that were developed on the GH disaster risks to more universal issues of natural resource degradation. In doing so we go beyond what is usually seen as a full integrated study of disasters risks as we will also tackle their interactions with natural resources; which will add a component in the understanding of the vulnerability and resilience as a whole.
Key will be to develop and implement transdisciplinary approaches around a strong collaboration between RMCA, UCLouvain and African institutions. The project builds upon the unique long term existing expertise and networks of collaborators of both institutions. During the first two years, the FED-tWIN researcher will get familiar with one key study area at the border between Burundi, DRC and Rwanda. A key aspect will also be the integration of the RMCA collection of historical aerial photographs in the research, as it has the potential to complement remote sensing data with key information on the state of the environment from the mid of the 20th century till today. It is expected that the FED-tWIN researcher becomes a world-class expert in his/her field with a large autonomy developing new synergies, partnerships, external project funding, and student (PhD and MSc) supervisions. These key challenges are in line with the current R&D strategies of the two institutions.
GeohazarDs in AfricaN CitiEs: patterns, rates and sustainability in urban sprawling contexts (GuiDANCE / 2020-2024 (2029) / FED-tWIN)
Africa today faces multiple challenges involving economic development, population growth, environmental issues, and climate change, to name but a few. Faced with these challenges, rapidly expanding cities in Africa generate large concerns in terms of the increasing impacts of geohazards such as landslides, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, local subsidence, ground collapse and gully erosion. Although significant progress has been made in establishing institutions and regulations for risk reduction in Sub-Sahara Africa over the last 10 years, knowledge on hazards and capacities to design and implement adequate risk reduction remains extremely limited. The short term (5 years) general scientific objective of this FED-tWIN project is to gain insight into baseline patterns/rates of geohazards in urban sprawling contexts. The research will focus on the study of geohazard patterns/rates that occur under natural conditions as well as the way in which humans have affected these processes or their exposure to these processes therefore increasing the level of risk.
The specific objectives are (1) estimating the surface distribution of ground deformations associated to geohazards in Sub-Saharan urbanized contexts; (2) documenting active geohazard processes using a range of techniques to identify the most suitable strategies for operational monitoring of these events using a combination of data (ground-, air- and space-borne)/platforms and analytical techniques; (3) exploring the interplay between natural (climatic, geomorphologic, seismic conditions) and human-induced parameters (urban expansion, urban infrastructure, land use change) controlling the dynamics and frequency-magnitude relations of these processes in these environments. The long-term scientific objective (10 years) is to develop specific expertise in the field of remote sensing and geohazards in Africa and with Africans around a strong collaboration between the VUB Department of Geography and the RMCA Department of Earth Sciences to tackle the challenges related to Disaster Risk Reduction. The project builds upon the unique existing expertise and networks of collaborators of both institutions. During the first two years of the project, the FED-tWIN researcher will get familiar with new techniques and skills that he/she is expected to master (additional to the ones he/she already has experience with); capitalising on RMCA/VUB expertise in the key techniques to be used.
The recent advent of high frequency satellite data acquisition (e.g. Sentinel-1 and -2, Planet imagery) opens the scope for systematic data analysis for a large series of urban targets using state-of-the art methods. Radar remote sensing techniques are a priority method for the FED-tWIN candidate. A key aspect will also be the integration of the RMCA collection of historical aerial photographs in the research, as it has the potential to reveal key information on the state of the environment from the mid of the 20th century till today. It is expected that the FED-tWIN researcher becomes a leader in his/her field with a large autonomy developing new synergies, partnerships, external project funding, and student (PhD and MSc) supervisions. These key challenges are in line with the current R&D strategies of the two institutions.
