The main objective of the PONCHO project is to encourage the process of internationalization of Latin American Universities partners in the project, with special focus on the Universities of peripheral areas of the region, whose geographical position or the volume of students have been unable to develop their internationalization in the same way as capital universities or major universities in the region. The PONCHO consortium is then composed mainly with universities having no experience in project of capacity building (former Alfa) and only 4 Latin American institutions have experience: Asuncion, Goias, San Simon and Nacional del Sur. Hence the exchange of good practices from the more experienced partners to the not so experienced partners is highly valued in order to increase, not only EU-Third country cooperation, but also Third country-Third country cooperation.To develop its objectives, PONCHO will work at three levels: at technical level: through the training of the IROs staff; at academic and students level: through the organization of Info days and Students Camp where academics and students will receive training and awareness session to approach them to internationalization, intercultural and integration using non-formal training tools; and finally at institutional level: through an online platform and the organisation of International Fair where the institution will be able to develop on one side their support process for a good internationalization and on the other side, through international marketing and network, to increase their international presence. The focus of active participation and collaborative decision making of the project will be implemented in the preparation, management, dissemination and optimization and quality control and through the PONCHO platform the consortium will not only be able to work together but also to develop new collaborations with other universities of the region.

The LeNSin project aims at the internationalization, intercultural cross-fertilization and accessibility of higher education by consolidating and empowering a global network called the Learning Network on Sustainability. This network is composed of 6 existing, functioning regional networks (14 HEIs in 5 partner countries and 4 European HEIs): LeNS_Brasil, LeNS_Mexico; LeNS_South Africa, LeNS_China, LeNS_India and LeNS_Europe. The project stresses curriculum development in the field of Design for Sustainability (DfS) focused on Sustainable Product-Service Systems (S.PSS) and Distributed Economies (DE), both known as promising models to couple environmental protection with social equity/cohesion and economic prosperity. LeNSin fosters capacity building in each region through 5 Seminars and 10 Curricular Courses, designed and implemented by the Partner countries’ and European HEIs in close collaboration and involving local companies/NGOs/institutions.The two supporting structures of the project are:-The distributed Open Learning E-Platform (d.OLEP): a decentralized web platform enabling distributed production&transfer of knowledge, adopting a learning-by-sharing mechanism with an open&copyleft ethos. It is a repository of learning resources (slide shows, video, audio, texts, etc.) and tools that any teacher can download for free and reuse and adapt to contextual conditions. -A set of labs (LeNS_labs) that: support students, teachers, researchers and local stakeholders with DfS tools and resources; host the d.OLEP with regionally developed resources and tools; and act as hubs connecting all LeNS_labs with local and global HEIs and companies/NGOs/institutions in a multipolar scheme. The d.OLEP and the labs will remain after the project end to ensure endurance of the action.An international “Decentralized Conference” (5 simultaneous national Conferences in the Partner countries and 1 in Europe) and a Students’ Design Award further disseminate the project results.

Mass development of aquatic macrophytes (water plants) in rivers and lakes is a worldwide problem, and substantial resources are spent annually on removal of macrophytes. This approach, however, does not address the causes of the mass development and is not sustainable. Macrophyte stands either quickly grow back, or the removal causes other problems to surface (e.g. the mass development of algae or cyanobacteria). Macrophyte mass developments have known negative effects, but well-developed macrophyte stands also provide many ecosystem services, including nutrient and carbon retention (= purification of water), as well as providing shelter and nursery habitat for many organisms (= affecting biodiversity). The ecosystem services provided by macrophytes are often poorly known to the public or to water managers. Consequently, management decisions, despite being costly, are generally based on a prevailing intuitive negative perception rather than a rational knowledge-based decision. The specific regional reasons for macrophyte mass development are still poorly understood, likely because there is typically a combination of factors which together cause nuisance growth (multiple pressures). This makes analysis of causes of nuisance growth at a particular site challenging. Also, there is a lack of standardized before-after-control-impact (BACI) studies on the direct and indirect costs of macrophyte removal (= loss of ecosystem services provided by macrophytes) across multiple sites. This greatly hampers the possibility to generalize results, and makes giving general management advice difficult. In our project, we aim to address the following questions: 1) Which combination of natural conditions and pressures leads to undesired mass development of macrophytes? 2) What are the direct and indirect consequences of macrophyte removal for ecosystem functions and services? Which consequences of macrophyte removal are site-specific, and which are general? In collaboration with key stakeholders, we will execute a set of “real-world experiments” in a harmonized BACI design across six case studies in five countries (Norway, Germany (2), France, South Africa, Brazil). Macrophytes will be removed from an area = 1000 m2 at each site, and the following parameters will be quantified before and after the removal at control and impact sites, respectively: phytoplankton, zooplankton, benthic algae, macrophytes, macroinvertebrates, fish, nutrient and carbon retention and removal, impoundment of flowing waters, shoreline erosion, as well as all relevant ecosystem services related to recreation and water use, including agriculture and industry. We will develop a general risk assessment tool of macrophyte mass development and associated ecological impacts under multiple pressures, as well as of the effects of macrophyte removal, using causal pathway analyses and a probabilistic approach, and the tool will then be tested and improved based on the case study results. We will seek to detect consistent effects of macrophyte presence versus removal, and forecast consequences of macrophyte removal in aquatic ecosystems. This will enable us to directly compare benefits and dis-benefits of macrophyte removal, and generalize the findings. Based on these, we will formulate guidelines for the management of water courses with dense aquatic vegetation (“cookbook” tool to assess and balance benefits and dis-benefits of aquatic macrophyte removal). This can potentially save a substantial amount of money, by preventing management measures which cost more than they gain. MadMacs will help move the management of water courses with dense aquatic vegetation from “perception” to rational knowledge-based decisions.