This recenly published  Methodological Guide  presents how dredged sediments can be beneficially used in road engineering with a view to sustainable development and to the protection of the environment and of populations. This is the result of research carried out by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DGCE) at the School of Mines of Douai for more than ten years on the theme of using dredged sediments. It is coherent with French regulations and the methodological framework (ADEME, 2010; SETRA, 2011) that prevailed at the time of the work. The proposed methodology was developed by the Ecole des Mines de Douai as part of France’s SEDIMATERIAUX project and may be reviewed in the light of feedback received at the French national or European level.

SedNet promotes since 2004 beneficial uses of dredged sediments, in a perspective of sustainable development and of circular economy. Road engineering is one of these beneficial uses, as it reduces both waste and mineral extraction.

This guide is not intended for use of sediments abstracted from a river system. It is only intended for harbour and canal dredgings, where restitution to river systems is usually not possible – at least economically.

Otherwise, it should be first considered to reintroduce them where the river system may need them, before considering any engineering use.

End of April / early May the abstracts and presentations given at the conference will be uploaded on the website:

https://sednet.org/events/sednet-conference-2019/

Please tell us if you are willing to review papers for a Special (SedNet) Issue of the Journal of Soils and Sediments “Sediments as a dynamic natural resource – from catchment to open sea”. See for details about the Special Issue the Call for papers.

Authors of abstracts that have been selected for oral or poster presentation at the 11th International SedNet Conference, 3-5 April 2019, Dubrovnik, Croatia, are invited to submit an extended paper for a Special Issue of the Journal of Soils and Sediments “Sediments as a dynamic natural resource – from catchment to open sea”. This Special Issue is anticipated to be published in 2020.
Each author can submit one manuscript for publication. Please note that no more than one manuscript per participant will be considered.

Manuscripts should be prepared in the strict format of the Journal of Soils and Sediments. Recommended number of pages is 6 to 8. The instructions for authors can be found at:
https://www.springer.com/environment/soil+science/journal/11368

Please note that the Special Issue “Sediments as a dynamic natural resource – from catchment to open sea” is not yet listed on the JSS-website. We will inform you as soon as the JSS-website has been updated.
Manuscripts should be submitted by June 2nd, 2019.

Click here if you are interested in reviewing papers that will be submitted for the Special Issue.

The Circular Economy Stakeholder Conference (6-7 March 2019 in Brussels) is the main gathering of the European circular economy community. The 2019 edition, organised in Brussels on the initiative of the Commission and the European Economic and Social Committee, will take stock of the Circular Economy Action Plan’s achievements, it will set the ground for new horizons in the circular economy and give participants the opportunity to grow their network of circular partners.

The conference will explore the action plan’s implementation as a successful framework for the transition, while discussing policies to capitalise on the current global momentum. It will also widen the discussion to consider the circular economy as an enabler to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

Registration for this conference closes on 31 January.

The US National Reservoir Sustainability and Sedimentation Team (NRSST) has the opinion that we need to take reservoir sedimentation seriously and we should be implementing solutions more widely than we do at present.  NRSST has organized several webinars this year, the webinars are available for viewing on a webpage, hosted by the University of Colorado Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences:

https://cires.colorado.edu/news/announcing-reservoir-sedimentation-management-webinar-series

These are excellent, up-to-date summaries of issues in managing sediment in reservoirs. One of the seminars concerns permitting of sediment management actions, which is US-centric, but the others are more universally applicable.

The Conference ‘Marine sands as a precious resource’ will be held in the Museum of Natural Sciences, Brussels

To frame long-term resource use, keynote speaker Prof. dr. Ester van der Voet, Industrial Ecologist at Leiden University, and member of the UNEP Resource Panel, will speak about methodology development, such as material flow analysis, natural resource accounting, and sustainability indicator development. Applications include bio-based economy and circular economy.

Interactive demonstrations will be held on the newly developed tools: volumetric 3D pixel (‘voxel’) models, numerical impact models accounting for geological boundary conditions, a geological data portal and the resource decision support module. Side events include a Virtual Reality experience, and a discussion on data fusion in a European context. Free participation, but register before May 26. E-mail to: vvanlancker@naturalsciences.be. Project info: https://odnature.naturalsciences.be/tiles/

Flyer with conference topics: https://bit.ly/2HxUwag

On 9 March 2018 a symposium will be organized on  

Sediment management in deltas – Implications and challenges of disturbed sediment continua for society

River to the coastal sea sediment continua are disturbed, globally. Several river-sea-systems are short of sediment mostly due to damming. This causes dramatic impacts such as drowning deltas. Scientists and stakeholders should team-up urgently in research and innovation to find solutions. This symposium addresses the status in the Rhine/Meuse – North Sea system. Furthermore, the DANUBIUS-RI research infrastructure (RI) is presented as disturbed sediment continua may become a key research topic in this RI. The symposium also aims to gain support and ingredients for drafting of a sediment continuum call text to promote as topic under EC FP9, i.e. the follow-up of HORIZON2020.

The symposium will be held in Vlaardingen, the Netherlands, and is organized by the Netherlands Centre for River Studies (NCR), Netherlands centre for Coastal Research (NCK), DANUBIUS-RI, Deltares, and Utrecht University Future Deltas.

More info and registration on https://ncr-web.org/events/5/seminar-sediment-in-deltas/#registration

A peer reviewed paper on the outcome of the INSPIRATION project has been published in the journal Science of the Total Environment (STOTEN).
INSPIRATION’s aim was to set a strategic research agenda on soil, land-use and land management in Europe. The project has received funding from European Union’s H2020 research program. It ended in December 2017.

• The paper presents and offers critique of a bottom-up research agenda on soil and land use.
• The paper links soil-sediment-water system use and knowledge demands with research needs.
• Research agenda setting was an iterative process involving more than 500 experts.
• Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the approach are identified.
• Key recommendations include preparation of implementation network early on.

The link to the article is freely accessible until 1st February: https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1WDCqB8cccp~k

More info INSPIRATION see http://www.inspiration-h2020.eu/

The Scientific Committee of the 28th SETAC Europe Annual Meeting in Rome (13-17 May 2018) has planned the session “Holistic Risk Assessment of Chemicals in Sediments and Soils Using Weight of Evidence Approaches”  (chairs: Sebastian Höss, Ute Feiler, Susanne Heise, Lucie Bielská) under  track 4: Ecological risk assessment and human health risk assessment of chemicals, mixtures and stressors and risk mitigation strategies). The description of the session can be found on the submission site: https://rome.setac.org/programme/scientific-programme/call-for-abstracts/

Deadline for abstract submission: Wednesday 29 November 2017.
Please note that for an oral presentation you must submit an extended abstract.