Historic Climate Data Unlocks New Insights for Water Security Research in Asmara, Eritrea

Rome, Italy — 10 April 2025. At the closing meeting of the Dieci e Lode project, hosted by the Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA) in Rome, our GLOMOS member Dr Blal Adem Esmail presented recent advancements from the NBS4Water project, a research initiative funded by the Autonomous Province of Bolzano under the Research Südtirol/Alto Adige programme.

The NBS4Water project explores the application of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) for sustainable water management in data-scarce and climate-vulnerable contexts, with Asmara, Eritrea serving as a principal case study. Addressing historical data gaps is a central challenge for resilience planning in such regions.

The Dieci e Lode initiative, focused on recovering and digitizing historical meteorological records from Italy’s former overseas territories, provides an invaluable resource for researchers working to reconstruct climate baselines and assess long-term trends. These efforts enable more robust, locally grounded approaches to water management and climate adaptation.

"Access to long-term climate data is crucial for understanding environmental dynamics in regions like Eritrea, where existing records are often incomplete or inaccessible," Dr Blal Adem Esmail noted during the presentation. "The integration of historical datasets into our analysis not only strengthens scientific rigor but also enhances the relevance and resilience of nature-based interventions."

The event convened leading researchers and practitioners in climate data recovery and application, with contributions from: Alessandro Ceppi (Politecnico di Milano), Alessia Tadiello & Fabio Leali (AISAM), Catherine Ross (UK Met Office), Luigi Iafrate (CREA), Pierfrancesco Coppola (Italian Air Force Meteorological Service), Ali Salem Eddenjal (Libyan National Meteorological Center), Marlies van der Schee (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute – KNMI), Ed Hawkins (University of Reading), and Rob Allan (ACRE Initiative).

The discussions underscored the critical role of historical climate data in advancing scientific understanding and informing equitable, evidence-based resilience planning globally. Participants emphasized the importance of fostering transnational collaborations to expand climate data recovery efforts and promote interdisciplinary research on environmental adaptation.

The NBS4Water project team expressed optimism that the synergies emerging from Dieci e Lode will catalyze further partnerships with Eritrean higher education institutions and local stakeholders, aiming to advance both academic research and practical resilience-building initiatives.

Press contact: Dr.Blal Adem Esmail, Senior Researcher at GLOMOS Center for Global Mountain Safeguard Research, Eurac Research, e-mail blal.ademesmail@eurac.edu