Dr. Ulf Stein

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Dr. Ulf Stein

Diplom-Ingenieur (Landscape Planning)

Coordinator Water Studies
Senior Fellow

Team
Topics

Dr. Ulf Stein is a Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute in Berlin, where he coordinates the Institute's work in the field of water. He joined Ecologic Institute in 2011, drawing on more than 10 years of professional experience in academic research and knowledge dissemination. His work focuses on the assessment and improvement of European Union (EU) and German water policies and the sustainable management of water resources, particularly with regard to environmental planning, climate change adaptation, aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem services, as well as governance. Ulf Stein is a native German speaker, fluent in English and has knowledge of Spanish, Danish and Russian.

Ulf Stein has managed and participated in more than 20 projects including large-scale research projects for various European and national institutions. In addition, he was a member of the European Topic Centre on Inland Coastal and Marine waters (ETC-ICM) as well as the European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity (ETC-BD) for several years. Ulf Stein is an experienced and passionate GIS analyst. Over the last decade, he has performed various geospatial analyses and supported the implementation of the INSPIRE Directive.

His current activities include the following projects:

Nature’s Integration in Cities’ Hydrologies, Ecologies and Societies (NICHES): Ulf Stein coordinates this three-year BiodivERsA and Water JPI project aimed at demonstrating that nature-based solutions can be utilized to sustainably transform cities by improving water retention capacities and mitigating the negative impacts of combined sewer overflow events on aquatic ecosystems.

Drought and Water-Use Conflicts in Germany (WADKlim): Ulf Stein coordinates this three-year Umweltbundesamt (UBA) project that provides an overview of the current water availability in Germany, as well as its future development under changing climatic conditions. It predicts emerging conflicts of use and develops possible solution strategies.

Sustainable Management of the Landscape Water Balance to Increase Climate Resilience (KliMaWerk): Within this BMBF project spanning three years, Ulf Stein investigates integrated measures and strategies to increase the hydrological and ecological resilience of landscapes affected by weather extremes. He leads a work package that co-creates coupled climate and land-use scenarios with stakeholders in the Lippe catchment.

 

Before joining Ecologic Institute, Dr. Ulf Stein worked as a junior researcher at the University of Kassel (Germany) for four years. He conducted research on several projects for the German Federal Environment Agency and the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) on practical issues of river restoration and flood protection. During this time, Dr. Ulf Stein also lectured at the University of Kassel in the subject areas of freshwater ecology, water resource management and geographic information systems (GIS), while mentoring students.

Prior to that, from 2002 to 2006, he worked as a landscape planner within the field of impact assessment, site investigation and nature management at the landscape architecture firm Faktorgruen.

In addition to his work for Ecologic Institute, Dr. Ulf Stein completed his PhD at the University of Kassel on the reference conditions of small siliceous mountain streams. His dissertation research was carried out at the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park.

Dr. Ulf Stein studied landscape planning and nature conservation at Leibniz University Hannover (Germany), the University of Guelph (Canada) and the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) with a focus on nature conservation, planning, and environmental management.

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Recent content by Dr. Ulf Stein

Event:Workshop
 
On 14 and 20 March 2024, stakeholder workshops were held in Berlin and Cologne as part of the AMAREX project. In the second series of workshops within AMAREX, the first prototype of an online tool for assessing the potential of rainwater management measures was discussed with stakeholders in Cologne and Berlin. The aim of the workshops was to test the user-friendliness of the tool and to compare the requirements of potential user groups directly on the prototype in order to further develop the tool in line with requirements.

Webtool Prototype Testing in the AMAREX Project

2nd Stakeholder Workshop

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Berlin and Cologne, Germany

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Project
 
The German agriculture sector faces significant climate-related challenges due to extreme weather events along with shifts in temperature patterns, impacting crop yields and biodiversity and exacerbating water scarcity and water quality deterioration. The Panda Fördergesellschaft (on behalf of WWF) is commissioning Ecologic Institute to create a handbook, "Water Stewardship in German Agriculture," aiming to offer practical solutions to enhance water retention, quality, and biodiversity. The handbook will include an overview of Germany's water situation, legal framework, specific measures with contextualised examples, and ways to promote collective action.

Water Stewardship in der deutschen Landwirtschaft

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Project
 
The Pacific Island Countries face severe climate-related challenges affecting water access and sanitation, endangering public health and hindering development. The PacFresH2O project aims to enhance rural communities' water resilience in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands by improving water infrastructure, implementing nature-based solutions and water resource management, integrating climate resilient WASH into national plans, and collaborating with local stakeholders to maximize socio-economic benefits and mitigate climate change impacts.

Protecting Freshwater Resources for Increased Climate Resilience in the Pacific Islands (PacFresH20)

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Event:Conference
 
After three years of intensive work, the results of the project "Drought and Water Use Conflicts in Germany (WADKlim)" were presented and discussed at the conference. The conference was addressed to experts related to water management issues from federal agencies, state offices and ministries as well as from authorities at regional level. Representatives from research institutions, associations, as well as practitioners attended.

Impacts of Climate Change on Water Availability

Final conference of the WADKlim project (Drought and Water Use Conflicts in Germany)


Berlin, Germany

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Publication:Article
 
Cover of the scientific Water journal, issue 2023, 15.
In this article, some of the several economic benefits entailed by digital solutions are estimated with a focus on leakage reduction in water distribution networks, reduction of combined sewer overflows and on the improvement of hydropower generation and operation. The benefits are calculated for each EU Member State and the UK, and then aggregated at the EU scale. Benefits were quantified in EUR 5.0, 0.14 and 1.7 billion per year (EUR 13.2 per person per year, on average), respectively, excluding environmental and social benefits, which may play a non-negligible role.

Digitalisation of the European Water Sector to Foster the Green and Digital Transitions

Year

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Project
 
How does climate change affect water quality and quantity, and thus human health and well-being? What adaptation measures can be taken to avoid or reduce the negative consequences? How can we use the best available information and tools to make informed decisions? These questions are at the heart of a new project, carried out by Ecologic Institute together with partners from Ramboll, Climate Analytics, EREDA Consultants and OIeau.

Climate Change Impacts on Water and Health

Climate-water-health nexus

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Presentation:Speech
 
1st presentation slide
At the Expert Hearing in the European Parliament on "Sustainable management of water and resources in agriculture" on 25 April 2023, Dr. Ulf Stein, Senior Fellow of Ecologic Institute and Coordinator of the Water Studies, was invited as one of four experts. The aim of the event was to speak on the relationship between agriculture and water management in the context of the increasing scarcity of water resources due to climate change. The talk aimed to explore best practices and policy options that can help manage agriculture's impact on water resources, as well as address challenges to agriculture due to weather events such as droughts and floods.

Addressing the Impact of Droughts and Flooding on Agriculture


Dr. Ulf Stein

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Project:Horizon Europe
 
Govaqua Logo
The overall goal of GOVAQUA is to identify, assess, develop and validate innovative water governance instruments and approaches to support and accelerate a transition towards sustainable and equitable water use in Europe. Such a transition is urgently required to reconcile water uses and environmental needs and to reach the aims of the EU WFD, the European Green Deal and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. GOVAQUA is a 4-year Research and Innovation Action (funded by the EU) that brings together 12 partners from across Europe.

Governance Innovations for a Transition to Sustainable and Equitable Water Use in Europe (GOVAQUA)

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