22 - Nook Talk@DIATI

Mercoledì 7 marzo 2018 -  - ore 13:00 - Politecnico di Torino, Sala Riunioni - 1° piano, DIATI ingresso 3

WATER RESOURCES FOR AGRICULTURE: WATER FOOTPRINT AND BEYOND

Seminar with Stefania Tamea, RTD-B at DIATI - Prof. Luca Ridolfi moderates the discussion

ABSTRACT - The concept of water footprint has been developed to quantify the human use of freshwater resources. This composite and spatially-distributed indicator enables a great variety of analyses related to the water-food nexus. They include: assessment of water uses by source, improvements of crop water-use efficiency, development of sustainability indicators, modelling of food and water crises, socio-economic aspects of virtual water trade, environmental implications of food consumption and waste. In this presentation, an overview of recent and ongoing studies about these topics, carried out at the DIATI, will be given. Future developments will also be outlined, in line with personal interests and research directions about and beyond the water footprint indicator. The subject, intrinsically multidisciplinary, integrates aspects of water science and management, agronomy and economics, and it may intersect interests inside and outside the environmental engineering.

BIOGRAPHY - Stefania Tamea is a researcher in the field of water resources, with expertise in ecohydrology and statistical and environmental modeling. She holds a PhD degree in Water Engineering from the Politecnico di Torino (obtained in 2007) and she has been working at the Princeton University (Princeton, USA) and at the Politecnico di Torino, where she currently has a tenure-track position. Her work focuses on the use of water resources for agriculture and food production, on virtual water and the relation with international trade network, on sustainability and the nexus between water and food security. Her scientific activity is documented by 22 papers in international ISI journals, 3 book chapters, and by several invited speeches in national and international symposiums. In 2015, she has been appointed “Junior Marchi Lecturer” by the Gruppo Italiano Idraulica. At the Politecnico, she teaches the course of Hydrology for foreign students and has co-supervised several MSc and PhD theses.