| Title | Interdisciplinary Pathways for Sustainable Management of Geological Resources: A Case Study in Flanders |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lamberts-Van Assche H Alejandra T, Verbruggen K, Wallmeier C, Tas L, Deleersnyder W, van |
| Year | 2026 |
| Conference | World Geothermal Congress |
| Keywords | |
| Abstract | The subsurface is often overlooked in sustainable natural resource management, despite its vital geosystem services—supporting, provisioning, regulating, and cultural—and its role in energy storage and geothermal energy for a sustainable future. Presently, subsurface use follows a first-come-first-served model, often resulting in inefficiencies and inequities. As demand increases, sustainable development policies become essential. Six key challenges have been identified: value pluralism, overexploitation, geological interferences, inequalities, multi-actor economies, and uncertainties. Addressing these requires interdisciplinary collaboration, which enhances creativity and problem-solving but also introduces challenges like conflicting viewpoints, disciplinary assumptions, and knowledge gaps. We present ongoing work from the DIAMONDS project, that proposes a framework for effective interdisciplinary collaboration in sustainable subsurface development. We detail methods to integrate diverse expertise and tackle the outlined challenges. The framework includes building interdisciplinary teams, developing integrative strategies, and applying stakeholder-validated case studies. We emphasize the importance of continuous interaction via consortium meetings to address collaboration hurdles. Our research validity is further enhanced through stakeholder mapping and engagement, ensuring inclusive representation. Collaboration is supported by targeted management practices within the project and with external stakeholders, tailored to their expertise—ranging from technical interviews to workshops on equitable resource ownership. Synthesized insights feed into flexible, cross-disciplinary methods like causal loop diagrams, which map interactions within the subsurface system. The framework is applied to a stakeholder-validated case study on potentially interacting shallow subsurface activities: aquifer thermal energy storage and groundwater extraction. This paper presents the interdisciplinary approach and specific methods applied in the case study. |