EMPOWERALL – Consolidarea rolului tinerilor fermieri în transformarea sistemelor agroalimentare prin infrastructuri de cercetare implicate și Laboratoare Vii Agroecologice
Tinerii fermieri pot avea un rol decisiv în tranziția către agroecologie, dar întâmpină bariere economice, sociale, politice și de mediu. EMPOWERALL creează spații de colaborare în care fermieri, cercetători, autorități și comunități dezvoltă și testează împreună practici agricole, inovații sociale și modele de guvernanță adaptate realităților locale. Proiectul lucrează prin patru Laboratoare Vii Agroecologice din România, Slovacia, Franța și Spania. Tinerii fermieri participă la identificarea provocărilor, la luarea deciziilor și la evaluarea soluțiilor. Cercetarea participativă este conectată la infrastructurile de observare pe termen lung, inclusiv la rețeaua eLTER.
• Crearea unor condiții care le permit tinerilor fermieri să contribuie la transformarea sistemelor agroalimentare.
• Co-proiectarea și testarea practicilor agroecologice, a inovațiilor sociale și a modelelor de afaceri.
• Consolidarea participării tinerilor în guvernanța Laboratoarelor Vii și în dialogul privind politicile publice.
• Dezvoltarea unor instrumente și căi de tranziție care pot fi adaptate în alte teritorii.
Studiul de caz din România se desfășoară în platforma LTSER Insulele Brăilei și urmărește legătura dintre cercetarea pe termen lung și Laboratorul Viu Agroecologic. 2026: caracterizarea socioecologică preliminară a platformei și identificarea actorilor relevanți pentru modelarea participativă a sistemelor. 2027: cartografierea actorilor și a rețelelor de cunoaștere și inovare agricolă, dezvoltarea cadrului metodologic participativ și a mecanismelor de implicare a tinerilor. 2028: ateliere de construire a viziunilor și a diagramelor cauzale, analiza inovațiilor și modelelor de afaceri, identificarea blocajelor și a pârghiilor de schimbare. 2029: elaborarea căilor de tranziție, analiza integrării dintre infrastructura LTSER și Laboratorul Viu și formularea recomandărilor pentru politici. Proiectul își propune să dezvolte mecanisme de participare pentru tinerii fermieri, instrumente de analiză a sistemelor agroalimentare, scenarii locale de viitor și căi de tranziție către agroecologie. Pentru studiul de caz din România sunt planificate hărți ale actorilor și rețelelor, un ghid de guvernanță pentru Consiliul Consultativ al Tinerilor, diagrame cauzale, un catalog al pârghiilor de schimbare și recomandări de politici. Partenerii proiectului • CSIC – Consiliul Superior de Cercetări Științifice, INGENIO, Spania • NIBIO – Institutul Norvegian de Cercetare în Bioeconomie, Norvegia • INRAE – Centrul pentru Studii Biologice din Chizé, Franța • GLOBAZ, S.A., Portugalia • Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Spania • Universitatea din București – Centrul de Cercetare în Ecologie Sistemică și Sustenabilitate, România • Stațiunea de Cercetare-Dezvoltare Agricolă Brăila, România • Institutul de Ecologie a Peisajului, Academia Slovacă de Științe, Slovacia • GODS, Franța • SAS DLR, Franța Parteneri asociați Asociación de Agricultores Puerta de Doñana (Spania); AGROSMART Cluster (România); Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ (Germania).
Finanțare Participarea Universității din București este finanțată prin UEFISCDI în cadrul PNCDI IV, Programul 5.8 „Cooperare europeană și internațională”, Subprogramul 5.8.1 „Orizont Europa”, tip proiect COFUND. EMPOWERALL a fost selectat în al doilea apel comun AGROECOLOGY Partnership din 2025, „Integrating environmental, economic and social perspectives in assessing the performance of agroecology. Value-chain and policy implications”.
Contract național: nr. 173/2026 · Cod proiect: COFUND-AGRECOLOGY-EMPOWERALL-1
Perioada contractului Universității din București: 1 septembrie 2026 – 31 august 2029
Studiul de caz din România: platforma LTSER Insulele Brăilei
PathChange – Căi de transformare constructivă a conflictelor pentru a sprijini schimbarea transformativă în restaurarea zonelor umede
Restaurarea zonelor umede aduce la aceeași masă instituții, comunități și grupuri cu interese, valori și perspective diferite. PathChange cercetează cum pot fi înțelese și abordate constructiv conflictele care apar în aceste procese, astfel încât soluțiile de restaurare să fie susținute de actorii implicați și să contribuie la conservarea biodiversității. Proiectul îmbină cercetarea asupra sistemelor socioecologice cu analiza politicilor și cu metode participative. Studiile de caz din Germania, Belgia, România și Spania permit compararea situațiilor locale și schimbul de experiență între parteneri. În România, studiul de caz privește Rezervația Biosferei Delta Dunării.
• Identificarea factorilor care favorizează transformarea constructivă a conflictelor în restaurarea zonelor umede.
• Analiza actorilor, a structurilor de guvernanță și a coerenței politicilor relevante.
• Dezvoltarea participativă a unor viziuni, măsuri și căi de acțiune adaptate contextelor locale.
• Valorificarea rezultatelor comparative pentru soluții care pot fi transferate și adaptate în alte zone umede.
Activitățile din România 2026: sinteza cunoștințelor despre transformarea conflictelor, elaborarea cadrului teoretic, identificarea structurilor de guvernanță și analiza relațiilor dintre politici, conflicte și actori în Delta Dunării. 2027: analiza lecțiilor din inițiative de restaurare, elaborarea hărții instituționale, organizarea discuțiilor de tip focus grup și identificarea unor măsuri și metode creative de intervenție. 2028: analiza coerenței politicilor, elaborarea hărții conflictelor, documentarea studiului de caz și formularea unor soluții cu potențial de adaptare în alte contexte. PathChange va produce un cadru de analiză a conflictelor, hărți ale actorilor, instituțiilor și relațiilor conflictuale, precum și propuneri de măsuri pentru abordarea constructivă a divergențelor. Rezultatele sunt planificate și vor fi actualizate pe măsură ce cercetarea avansează. Partenerii proiectului • ISOE – Institute for Social-Ecological Research, Frankfurt am Main, Germania • EV-INBO – Research Institute for Nature and Forest, Bruxelles, Belgia • Universitatea din București – Centrul de Cercetare în Ecologie Sistemică și Sustenabilitate, România • Universitatea din Almería – Facultatea de Biologie și Geologie, Spania • Universitatea din Gent – Facultatea de Științe Politice și Sociale, Belgia
Participarea Universității din București este finanțată prin UEFISCDI, în cadrul PNCDI IV, Programul 5.8 „Cooperare europeană și internațională”, Subprogramul 5.8.1 „Orizont Europa”, tip proiect COFUND.
PathChange face parte din apelul transnațional comun Biodiversa+ 2024–2025 „Biodiversity and Transformative Change” (BiodivTransform).
Codul contractului național: 163/2026 · Cod proiect: COFUND-PathChange
Perioada contractului Universității din București: 1 martie 2026 – 31 decembrie 2028 Studiul de caz din România: Rezervația Biosferei Delta Dunării
ECO-UNIBUC – Consolidarea excelenței instituționale în rețelele europene de cercetare privind biodiversitatea și serviciile ecosistemice
ECO-UNIBUC sprijină dezvoltarea capacității de cercetare a Universității din București în domeniul biodiversității, al serviciilor ecosistemice și al sustenabilității. Proiectul îmbină dezvoltarea competențelor, sprijinul pentru tineri cercetători, organizarea datelor de mediu și consolidarea infrastructurii digitale, pentru a facilita colaborarea în rețelele europene de cercetare. Direcții de acțiune:
• Formarea cercetătorilor în utilizarea inteligenței artificiale în știință și în analiza avansată a datelor privind biodiversitatea și serviciile ecosistemice.
• Dezvoltarea competențelor personalului în management financiar, audit și pregătirea propunerilor pentru programele europene de cercetare.
• Susținerea masteranzilor și doctoranzilor prin două burse „Eco-Innovation – Soluții Digitale pentru Biodiversitate și Restaurare”.
• Dezvoltarea unei baze de date de mediu interoperabile și menținerea operativității centrului de date și a infrastructurii de calcul de înaltă performanță (HPC).
• Actualizarea echipamentelor IT și a senzorilor de monitorizare, precum și îmbunătățirea prezenței online a centrului și a infrastructurii LifeWatch.
Activități planificate 2026: inițierea burselor, organizarea bazei de date, susținerea funcționării centrului de date și HPC, actualizarea infrastructurii de cercetare și dezvoltarea paginilor web de prezentare. 2027: cursuri de formare specializată, continuarea burselor și a activităților privind datele și infrastructura, precum și actualizarea platformelor online pentru creșterea vizibilității rezultatelor. Proiectul urmărește consolidarea competențelor echipei de cercetare și ale personalului de suport, susținerea cercetării aplicate realizate de tineri, îmbunătățirea gestionării și partajării datelor de mediu și creșterea accesibilității informațiilor despre cercetarea universitară. Baza de date va fi dezvoltată în perspectiva interoperabilității cu infrastructuri și rețele precum eLTER și LifeWatch. Proiectul este derulat de Universitatea din București, prin Centrul de Cercetare în Ecologie Sistemică și Sustenabilitate (CCESS). Activitățile valorifică infrastructura de date și calcul de înaltă performanță și contribuie la prezentarea publică a competențelor, proiectelor și rezultatelor centrului. Platforme vizate: rcses.unibuc.ro și lifewatch.ro.
Finanțare ECO-UNIBUC este finanțat prin UEFISCDI în cadrul Planului național de cercetare, dezvoltare și inovare (PNCDI IV), Programul „Cooperare europeană și internațională”, Subprogramul „Orizont Europa”, tip proiect „Premiere Orizont Europa – Instituții”.
Contract de finanțare: nr. 154PHE/2026 Cod proiect: PN-IV-P8-8.1-PRE-HE-ORG-2025-0376
Durata contractuală: 9 luni; finalizarea execuției este prevăzută pentru 31 mai 2027.
UAV-UB EcoTech – Dezvoltarea instituțională a Universității din București prin consolidarea competențelor în tehnologii UAV pentru monitorizare ecologică, agricultură de precizie și aplicații critice.
UAV-UB EcoTech dezvoltă capacitatea Universității din București de a utiliza drone, senzori și date de observare a Pământului în cercetarea mediului. Proiectul pune în centru formarea practică și schimbul de expertiză internațională, cu aplicații în ecologie, agricultură de precizie, monitorizarea mediului și managementul riscurilor. Principala activitate este școala de vară „UAV Applications for Environment and Society”, un program intensiv de șapte zile care va reuni cercetători, specialiști, masteranzi și doctoranzi, alături de trei lectori internaționali. Programul propus cuprinde module teoretice, exerciții de teren în zona Brăila și sesiuni pentru identificarea unor teme de cercetare și colaborări viitoare. Teme și activități:
• Alegerea platformelor UAV și a senzorilor potriviți pentru aplicații de ecologie, agricultură de precizie și monitorizare a mediului.
• Colectarea de imagini aeriene și utilizarea senzorilor multispectrali și termali, cu respectarea regulilor de siguranță și a bunelor practici operaționale.
• Prelucrarea datelor colectate, inclusiv realizarea de ortomozaicuri și calculul indicilor de vegetație.
• Corelarea datelor UAV cu date satelitare și explorarea unor aplicații critice, inclusiv scenarii de căutare și salvare.
• Dezvoltarea materialelor de curs și actualizarea infrastructurii IT, a senzorilor și a instrumentelor software necesare formării și cercetării.
Etapele proiectului 2026: pregătirea conținutului științific și practic al școlii de vară împreună cu lectorii internaționali și consolidarea infrastructurii materiale. 2027: definitivarea programului, organizarea școlii internaționale de vară și dezvoltarea capacității pentru aplicații UAV ulterioare. Proiectul urmărește dezvoltarea competențelor instituționale de colectare și analiză a datelor UAV, realizarea de materiale educaționale și întărirea unei comunități interdisciplinare de practică. Experiența și infrastructura dezvoltate vor sprijini reluarea activităților de formare și pregătirea unor noi propuneri de cercetare în cadrul Orizont Europa. Proiectul este derulat de Universitatea din București, prin Centrul de Cercetare în Ecologie Sistemică și Sustenabilitate (CCESS). Școala de vară implică lectori internaționali invitați și se adresează inclusiv specialiștilor din instituțiile cu care centrul colaborează.
Finanțare: UAV-UB EcoTech este finanțat prin UEFISCDI în cadrul Planului național de cercetare, dezvoltare și inovare (PNCDI IV), Programul „Cooperare europeană și internațională”, Subprogramul „Orizont Europa”, tip proiect „Premiere Orizont Europa – Instituții”.
Contract de finanțare: nr. 152PHE/2026 Cod proiect: PN-IV-P8-8.1-PRE-HE-ORG-2025-0371
Perioada activităților: 1 septembrie 2026 – 30 iunie 2027 Școala de vară: „UAV Applications for Environment and Society”, zona Brăila.
DUNE-Dâmbovița Urban Nexus for Ecology
Dezvoltarea capacității de cercetare a Centrului de Ecologie Sistemică și Sustenabilitate prin monitorizarea integrată a gradientului urban și evaluarea serviciilor ecosistemice ale râului Dâmbovița. DUNE consolidează capacitatea de cercetare a Universității din București printr-un studiu aplicat asupra râului Dâmbovița, de la Chiajna la Fundeni. Proiectul adaptează la scara orașului metode și competențe dezvoltate în proiectul european SELINA, folosind râul ca platformă demonstrativă pentru cercetarea ecologiei urbane și a serviciilor ecosistemice. Sunt comparate sectoarele pre-urban, urban și post-urban ale râului. Monitorizarea integrată urmărește parametri fizico-chimici, hidrologici și biologici, inclusiv nutrienți, oxigen dizolvat, temperatură, fitoplancton, zooplancton și nevertebrate bentonice. Datele obținute vor susține analiza schimbărilor de-a lungul gradientului urban și evaluarea rolului râului în infrastructura verde-albastră a Bucureștiului.
• Dezvoltarea competențelor echipei prin sesiuni metodologice și transfer de expertiză către tineri cercetători și studenți.
• Campanii de monitorizare ecologică și integrarea datelor colectate pentru comparații între sectoarele râului.
• Îmbunătățirea infrastructurii de monitorizare și a capacității de stocare, procesare și analiză a datelor de mediu.
• Valorificarea rezultatelor în resurse educaționale, comunicare științifică și viitoare propuneri europene.
Activități planificate 2026: sesiuni metodologice, campanii de monitorizare și analiză integrată a parametrilor râului Dâmbovița, precum și dezvoltarea infrastructurii și a managementului datelor. 2027: continuarea monitorizării și analiza comparativă a sectoarelor, consolidarea competențelor și a capacității de gestionare a datelor, urmate de valorificarea rezultatelor. Proiectul urmărește generarea unor seturi de date despre gradientul pre-urban, urban și post-urban al Dâmboviței, dezvoltarea unor proceduri de monitorizare și analiză integrată și întărirea competențelor de cercetare ale centrului. Rezultatele pot fi folosite pentru lucrări de licență și masterat, pentru noi colaborări științifice și pentru pregătirea unor propuneri Orizont Europa. Proiectul este derulat de Universitatea din București, prin Centrul de Cercetare în Ecologie Sistemică și Sustenabilitate (CCESS).
Finanțare DUNE este finanțat prin UEFISCDI în cadrul Planului național de cercetare, dezvoltare și inovare (PNCDI IV), Programul „Cooperare europeană și internațională”, Subprogramul „Orizont Europa”, tip proiect „Premiere Orizont Europa – Instituții”.
Date esențiale Contract de finanțare: nr. 153PHE/2026 Cod proiect: PN-IV-P8-8.1-PRE-HE-ORG-2025-0373
Perioada activităților: 1 septembrie 2026 – 30 iunie 2027 Aria studiului: râul Dâmbovița, sectorul Chiajna–Fundeni.
BIOTRACK-UB – Dezvoltarea instituțională a Universității din București prin consolidarea competențelor de utilizare a telemetriei (GSM-GPS) pentru monitorizarea biodiversității.
BIOTRACK-UB consolidează competențele Universității din București în utilizarea telemetriei GSM-GPS pentru cercetarea și monitorizarea biodiversității și a ecosistemelor. Activitățile pun accent pe formarea personalului de cercetare, schimbul de cunoștințe cu studenții și dezvoltarea infrastructurii necesare procesării datelor.
Obiective și activități • Organizarea seriei de webinare „Utilizarea telemetriei în monitorizarea biodiversității și ecosistemelor”, cu experți în domeniu. • Implicarea cercetătorilor, a studenților, a masteranzilor și a doctoranzilor interesați de aplicarea telemetriei în cercetare. • Participarea la o conferință internațională pentru prezentarea cercetărilor centrului, schimb de experiență și identificarea unor direcții de colaborare. • Actualizarea infrastructurii IT și a instrumentelor software pentru procesarea și gestionarea datelor de cercetare. • Explorarea integrării telemetriei în viitoare propuneri de proiecte Orizont Europa.
Webinarele sunt concepute ca un program de transfer de cunoștințe și bune practici pentru monitorizarea biodiversității. Participarea la conferințe internaționale contribuie la prezentarea cercetărilor realizate de centru și la dezvoltarea relațiilor științifice relevante pentru viitoare proiecte. Activitățile sunt planificate între 1 septembrie și 31 decembrie 2026 și includ formarea în telemetrie, diseminarea internațională și consolidarea infrastructurii pentru analiza datelor.
Proiectul urmărește îmbunătățirea competențelor de utilizare a telemetriei GSM-GPS, formarea unei comunități de practică în jurul centrului de cercetare, creșterea vizibilității internaționale și dezvoltarea capacității de gestionare a datelor. Cunoștințele și infrastructura dezvoltate vor putea susține proiecte viitoare de cercetare a biodiversității. Proiectul este derulat de Universitatea din București, prin Centrul de Cercetare în Ecologie Sistemică și Sustenabilitate (CCESS). Finanțare BIOTRACK-UB este finanțat prin UEFISCDI în cadrul Planului național de cercetare, dezvoltare și inovare (PNCDI IV), Programul „Cooperare europeană și internațională”, Subprogramul „Orizont Europa”, tip proiect „Premiere Orizont Europa – Instituții”.
Date esențiale Contract de finanțare: nr. 155PHE/2026 Cod proiect: PN-IV-P8-8.1-PRE-HE-ORG-2025-0379
Perioada activităților: 1 septembrie – 31 decembrie 2026.
Restore4Life showcases the remarkable socio-economic benefits derived from a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to restoring freshwater and coastal wetlands in the Danube basin.
By creating new blue-green infrastructure that bolsters regional climate change resilience and mitigation efforts, Restore4Life paves the way for a sustainable future.
With four demonstration sites and six monitoring sites spread throughout the Danube basin, Restore4Life aims to demonstrate the substantial enhancement of crucial ecosystem services. These services include water and pollutant retention, carbon sequestration, tourism opportunities, and the overall resilience of water-dependent habitats. The project further reveals the multitude of socio-economic synergies that arise from these improvements, opening doors for sustainable businesses and investments.
The project’s core activities center around reinstating lateral connectivity in riverine corridors, crucial for restoring the ecological balance. To support this mission, Restore4Life introduces the long-term wetland restoration service called Restore4Life Wetland Reconstruction Accelerator.
Funded under: Horizon Europe
Position: Coordinator
https://restore4life.eu/
SELINA will provide guidance for evidence-based decision-making that supports the protection, restoration, and sustainable use of our environment. Through a collaboration of experts from 50 partner organisations from all 27 EU member states, Norway, Switzerland, Israel, and the United Kingdom, SELINA will set new standards for international cooperation to promote Ecosystem Services (ES) and Biodiversity (BD) conservation and enhance Ecosystem Conditions (EC).
Providing robust practical information and recommendations to stakeholders from both the public and private sectors, SELINA will pave the way towards the transformative societal change required to achieve the ambitious goals of the European Biodiversity Strategy 2030 and the Green Deal.
Funded under: Horizon Europe
Position: Partner
RESTORE4Cs aims to assess the role of restoration action on wetlands climate change mitigation capacity and a wide range of ecosystem services using an integrative socio-ecological systems approach. Focusing on coastal wetlands across Europe, RESTORE4Cs will deliver standardised methodologies and approaches for the prioritisation of restoration promoting carbon-storage and greenhouse gasses (GHG) emissions abatement, while improving the ecological status and the provision of additional ecosystem services such as flood regulation and coastal erosion protection. Project results will support the implementation of Climate and Biodiversity policies in the context of the European Green Deal. Effectiveness data on restoration and land use management actions on climate services and other ecosystem and socio-economic services will be gathered both from six Case Pilot sites across European coastal areas, including well-preserved, altered, and restored wetlands, and from meta-analysis. Models and integrative assessment tools will be upscaled to wider geographical (European) and ecological (other wetland types, including floodplains and peatlands) contexts using remote sensing and machine learning methods to develop an integrated status assessment of European wetlands. The results will be integrated into a digital platform to serve as a Decision Support System (DSS) for stakeholders that will steer project efforts as part of a newly created Community of Practice around wetland restoration.
Funded under: Horizon Europe
Position: Partner
Project Website
A new EU project has been launched to improve how biodiversity is recorded and protected in marine and coastal environments. Funded by the Horizon Europe programme, MARCO-BOLO (MARine Coastal BiOdiversity Long-term Observations) will structure and strengthen European coastal and marine biodiversity observation capabilities, linking them to global efforts to understand and restore ocean health.
Coastal and marine areas are incredibly dynamic and productive oceanic regions, providing significant resources and services for both wildlife and people. They are also subject to intense pressures from agricultural and industry pollution in waterways, dredging, and building development. Many national and regional programmes assess environmental health and human impact on our coasts, but these programmes are often fragmented, short term, and uncoordinated at larger scales.
MARCO-BOLO will address this problem by connecting existing initiatives, optimising and improving methods, and further innovating technologies for biodiversity observations. The project aims to deliver a transformative change in how marine biodiversity is monitored and managed. The research team will engage with diverse stakeholders to tailor research and observation data for direct use, delivering practical tools that will allow politicians and companies to determine biodiversity health, predict changes, monitor changes from imposed policies and proactively manage environments and their biodiversity.
MARCO-BOLO launched on 1 December 2022 and will run for four years. It is coordinated by the EMBRC and comprises an expert team of 28 partner institutions from 14 countries. For more information, follow @MARCOBOLO_EU.
Funded under: Horizon Europe
Position: Partner
BioAgora is a collaborative European project funded by the Horizon Europe programme. It aims to connect research results on biodiversity to the needs of decision-making in a targeted dialogue between scientists, other knowledge holders and policy actors.
BioAgora will develop a Science Service for Biodiversity (SSBD) that fully supports the ecological transition required by the European Green Deal and the European Union’s Biodiversity Strategy for 2030.
Funded under: Horizon Europe
Position: Partner
Nutrient loads transported by the Danube affect its ecological status and have to be reduced, active floodplains can have a significant retention potential. But floodplains are subject to multiple human uses which strongly affect water quality of rivers. So far, these uses were sectorally managed (e.g. flood retention, nature conservation, agriculture), rarely regarding water quality and interactions between sectors. The current DTP-Danube Floodplain Project (DFP) links attempts of improving flood retention and restoration, while water quality is not yet in focus. IDESproject aims to add water quality targets to this effort and improve water quality by developing an integrative floodplain management based on Ecosystem Services (ES).
The IDES tool, an ecosystem service evaluation tool, will provide both an ecosystem service assessment for floodplains that supports sustainable decision making in water and flood-plain management. Existing ecosystem services evaluation methods will be harmonised to the IDES and adjusted based on the availability of data.
Funded under: Interreg
Position: Partner
Braila Islands Case Study storymap can be found here
The IRENES project will put in place interregional knowledge and experience exchange process to identify gaps and barriers within current ERDF and energy policy instruments in relation to the RES and ES co-relation, including environmental, social, economic, and governance concerns. The active commitment of Structural Funds Managing Authorities, and governing bodies of other policy instruments addressed in the project, is of paramount importance to integrate the potential RES development trade-offs and co-benefits with ES into the territorial development policies.
Therefore, IRENES consortium priority is to communicate and dialogue WITH policy makers and not to policy makers in order to trigger the knowledge transfer and to inform, with scientific evidences on RES and Ecosystem Services, the decision makers about the potential of a win–win outcome that can be incorporated into the regional and national ERDF Operational programmes, energy and climate strategies and laws.
“Exchanging knowledge and experiences for Integrating RENewable energy and Ecosystem Services in territorial environmental and energy policies”
Proiectul IRENES (“Exchanging knowledge and experiences for Integrating RENewable energy and Ecosystem Services in territorial environmental and energy policies”)este co-finanţat din FEDR (Fondul European de Dezvoltare Regională) prin Programul de Cooperare Interregională INTERREG EUROPE, încadrându-se în Axa prioritară 3: Sprijinirea tranziției către o economie cu emisii scăzute de dioxid de carbon în toate sectoarele, Obiectiv Specific 3.1. Îmbunătățirea implementării politicilor și programelor de dezvoltare regională, în special a programelor de Investiții pentru Dezvoltare și Locuri de muncă, iar în cazul în care sunt relevante, a programelor de Cooperare Teritorială Europeană privind abordarea tranziției de la o economie cu emisii reduse de carbon, în special în cadrul Strategiilor de Specializare Inteligentă
Durata proiectului: 4 ani ( august 2019 – 31 iulie 2022)
Faza 1: 01/08/2019 –31/07/2022
Faza 2: 01/08/2022 – 31/07/2023
Obiectivele Proiectului
Obiectivul general al proiectului îl constituie realizarea unor schimburi de experiență și bune practici privind complementaritatea și sinergia exploatării surselor regenerabile de energie cu Serviciile Ecosistemice (SE) multiple la nivel teritorial și introducerea rezultatelor acestor activități în cadrul programelor finanțate prin fonduri structurale și în cadrul unor instrumente de politică, prin intermediul planurilor de acțiune ce urmează a fi elaborate.
Astfel, IRENES își propune să identifice disfuncționalitățile din cadrul instrumentelor actuale de politică, în ceea ce privește utilizarea surselor de energie regenerabilă cu serviciile ecosistemice, inclusiv problemele legate de mediu, sociale, economice și de guvernanță, legate de furnizarea fluxurilor SE. Prin angajamentul activ al instituțiilor implicate în gestionarea FEDR, în coaliție cu partenerii tehnici și cu implicarea părților interesate relevante, inclusiv a actorilor economici și a comunităților locale, IRENES va promova un proces de co-învățare socială multi-actor prin planificarea coordonată a acțiunilor între regiunile UE și zonele de studiu.
Obiectivele specifice:
În ceea ce privește obiectivele specifice, IRENES urmărește:
Evaluarea disfuncționalităților și a nivelului de cunoaștere a impactului asupra mediului al SRE în cadrul FEDER și al altor aspecte de mediu, instrumentele de politică și cadrul de guvernanță abordat în proiect; Pregătirea și diseminarea metodologiilor pentru evaluarea complementarităților și a sinergiilor dintre exploatarea SRE și SE; Identificarea bunelor practici și a experiențelor care vor fi transferate în programele finanțate din fonduri structurale și din alte instrumente de politică
Bugetul proiectului
Bugetul total al proiectului este de 1.781.783.00 euro din care valoarea aferentă activităților derulate de către MFE în cadrul acestuia este 119.087,50 euro (85% FEDR – 101.224,37 euro și 15% contribuția MFE – 17.863,12 euro).
Rezultatele estimate ale proiectului IRENES
În urma implementării proiectului se urmărește dezvoltarea a 5 Planuri de Acțiune (câte unul pentru fiecare regiune implicată în proiect), care au în vedere îmbunătățirea a 5 instrumente politice ce vizează noi strategii / modele de abordare echilibrată între sursele regenerabile de energie și Serviciile Ecosistemice.
Principalele rezultate ale proiectului vor fi:
5 analize ale stadiului privind utilizarea SRE (1 per zona țintă) și 5 analize SWOT ale instrumentelor țintă de politică, oferind o imagine de ansamblu a stadiului lor în relație cu scopul proiectului IRENES;
5 hărți ale legăturilor dintre exploatarea SRE și SE în funcție de teritoriu, în cadrul fiecărui studiu de caz;
5 vizite interregionale la fața locului cu sesiuni de evaluare aprofundată a SRE și a analizei instrumentelor de politică SWOT pentru fiecare studiu de caz;
5 “acceleratori de cunoaștere” locală a proiectului IRENES care vor face schimb de experiență și de învățare la nivel interregional și local prin activitățile adresate părților interesate, cum ar fi ateliere de întărire a capacității, schimburi de experiență la fața locului, etc;
1 Ghid financiar și de management de proiect;
5 rapoarte de progres;
1 strategie de comunicare IRENES și 5 planuri locale de diseminare; 5 afișe, 1 site web, 5 buletine de știri, 1 broșură, 5 pliante; 1 întâlnire interregională de inițiere și 5 evenimente locale de lansare.
Parteneri
PP1- Liderul de Proiect (LP) IUAV University of Venice Italia www.iuav.it
PP2 Veneto Innovazione S.p.A Italia www.venetoinnovazione.it
PP3 Leibniz University Hannover Region- Germania hermann@umwelt.uni-hannover.de
PP4 Climate Protection Agency Hannover Region Germania www.klimaschutzagentur.de
PP5 Estonian University of Life Sciences Estonia elis.vollmer@emu.ee
PP6 University of Bucharest Romania www.unibuc.ro
PP7 Ministry of European Funds Romania contact.minister@fonduri-ue.ro
PP8 University of East Anglia UK https://www.uea.ac.uk/
PP9 The Estonian Environment Agency Estonia www.emu.ee
PP10 Anglia Ruskin University Higher Education Corporation UK A.Lovett@uea.ac.uk Partenerii de proiect (PP)Pentru mai multe detalii vă rugăm să consultaţi site-ul oficial al proiectului: https://www.interregeurope.eu/irenes/
Funded under: Interreg
Position: Partner
More details
Advance_eLTER marks a crucial step in building the distributed European Research Infrastructure of Long-Term Ecosystem Research sites and socio-ecological research platforms (eLTER RI) to provide highest quality data and services complementary to the European and global environmental RIs. The project will conduct important conceptual work and preparatory steps towards enabling European-scale investigation of the “Critical Zone”, major ecosystems and socioecological systems, targeted at supporting knowledge-based decision making at various levels concerning ecosystem services and biodiversity.
Funded under: EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
Position: Partner
eLTER H2020 is a major project that will help advance the development of European Long-Term Ecosystem Research infrastructures. eLTER H2020, which runs until 2019, will serve as the flagship for the further development of the Long-term Ecosystem Research infrastructure and community in Europe.
eLTER H2020 will closely interact with two other major elements in this effort:
eLTER ESFRI process, a formalization process in the framework of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (eLTER was recently accepted as an “emerging ESFRI infrastructure”); LTER-Europe network of national networks (25 countries with a pool of around 400 LTER Sites and 35 LTSER Platforms). LTER-Europe is the formal European regional group of the global ILTER network. It provides multiple networking activities with permanent governance structures.
The specific role of eLTER H2020 is to catalyze conceptual and service developments of a distributed, highly integrated and widely used research infrastructure to support a wide range of ecosystem and critical zone research questions, such as:
How are ecosystems and biodiversity changing or adapting to global-change stresses? What are the determinants of ecosystem resilience? What are the threshold interactions resulting in system shifts?
The overall aim of the eLTER project is to advance the European network of Long-Term Ecosystem Research sites and socio-ecological research platforms to provide highest quality services for multiple use of a distributed research infrastructure. Major objectives are to:
identify user needs for the research infrastructure in relation to major societal challenges; streamline the design of a cost-efficient pan-European network, able to address multiple ecosystem research issues; develop the organizational framework for data integration and enable virtual access to the LTER data; foster the societal relevance, usability and multiple use of information, data and services through partnerships with providers of remotely sensed data, analytical services and scenario testing models, and via the adoption of new measurement technologies.
Funded under: EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
Position: Partner
ECOPOTENTIAL is a large European-funded H2020 project that focuses its activities on a targeted set of internationally recognised Protected Areas, blending Earth Observations from remote sensing and field measurements, data analysis and modelling of current and future ecosystem conditions and services.ECOPOTENTIAL considers cross-scale geosphere-biosphere interactions at regional to continental scales, addressing long-term and large-scale environmental and ecological challenges.
Mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services (ES) are core to the EU Biodiversity (BD) Strategy. They are essential if we are to make informed decisions. Action 5 sets the requirement for an EU-wide knowledge base designed to be: a primary data source for developing Europe’s green infrastructure; resource to identify areas for ecosystem restoration; and, a baseline against which the goal of ‘no net loss of BD and ES’ can be evaluated.
In response to these requirements, ESMERALDA (Enhancing ecoSysteM sERvices mApping for poLicy and Decision mAking) aims to deliver a flexible methodology to provide the building blocks for pan-European and regional assessments. The work will ensure the timely delivery to EU member states in relation to Action 5 of the BD Strategy, supporting the needs of assessments in relation to the requirements for planning, agriculture, climate, water and nature policy. This methodology will build on existing ES projects and databases (e.g. MAES, OpenNESS, OPERAs, national studies), the Millennium Assessment (MA) and TEEB. ESMERALDA will identify relevant stakeholders and take stock of their requirements at EU, national and regional levels.
The objective of ESMERALDA is to share experience through an active process of dialogue and knowledge co-creation that will enable participants to achieve the Action 5 aims.
The mapping approach proposed will integrate biophysical, social and economic assessment techniques. Flexibility will be achieved by the creation of a tiered methodology that will encompass both simple (Tier 1) and more complex (Tier 3) approaches. The work will exploit expert- and land cover-based methods, existing ES indicator data and more complex ES models. As a result the outcomes will be applicable in different contexts.
The strength of the ESMERALDA consortium lies in its ability to make solutions for mapping and assessment problems available to stakeholders from the start of the project, because our expertise allows us to build on existing research projects and data sharing systems.
Funded under: EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
Position: Partner
In Romania the main causes for biodiversity loss are: ecosystem degradation as a result of unsustainable development, habitat fragmentation, unsustainable practices (hunting or fishing), damage of natural ecosystems, lack of awareness and educational campaigns regarding the need for biodiversity conservation. The importance of ecosystems and their services tends to be underestimated, and the costs associated to them massively neglected.
The ecosystem services represent all the benefits, goods, assets and resources that we receive from nature, which we benefit from individually or those that we rely on our businesses, welfare and the economic development of society.
These services provided are not properly quantified and paid back so that their provision/production is guaranteed over a long period of time. Protected areas management restrictions imposed to ensure conservation of natural ecosystems and ecosystems’ services are not being properly evaluated and consequently there is no chance they will be paid by their beneficiaries.
Our project aims to evaluate the offered ecosystem services and quantify costs and benefits of two groups of ecosystems (forest and freshwater), also the administrative costs of direct beneficiaries of the analyzed ecosystems in the protected area of Maramureș Mountain Nature Park, with the ultimate scope of improving policy frameworks. These results can be then up scaled at a national level and used for raising the awareness among decision makers of the importance of protected areas for the economy and human wellbeing.
The project was designed to answer Romania’s urgent need to cover and improve policy frameworks and decision making gaps regarding biodiversity. These policy shortcomings result from the lack of scientific information on ecosystems and the services they provide to individuals, businesses and communities and from the missing proper legal framework. The project aims to contribute to stopping biodiversity loss in Romania by improving the legal framework, by improving biodiversity policies and by ensuring fair compensatory schemes.
The general objective of the project is to improve the knowledge and the awareness on the importance and the value of ecosystems integrity and of the ecosystems services provided to the society, on the contribution of natural ecosystems from protected areas to Romania’s economic sectors and to offer recommendations, actions and initiatives in the subsequent policies.
Expected results:
- Overall, the projects expected results will reflect an improvement in the knowledge and the awareness, in the legal framework, in the policies regarding protected areas ecosystems’ contribution to the economic sector.
- Beneficiaries, final users and providers of identified services will be actively involved and engaged in consultation processes that would result in policy recommendations.
- The lack of knowledge problem and the understanding of the value of natural ecosystems in protected areas and of the services provided, will be addressed though comprehensive studies assessing the forest and freshwater ecosystems and their services (inventory, classification, mapping).
- The lack of awareness problem of the targeted audience (beneficiaries, users and providers of ecosystem services, general public) will be addressed through dissemination of specific information materials within a dedicated awareness raising campaign, also with the production of a film to be screened for free for the general public in several cities in Romania.
- Another result of the project will be the inclusion of the Payments for Ecosystem Services concept in education: an optional class on ecosystem services will be designed for the students of the Forestry Faculty in Suceava as pilot and could be later included in the curriculum of other similar faculties in the country.
Funded under: EEA Grants, Contract no. 3456/19.05.2015
Position: Partner
OpenNESS aims to translate the concepts of Natural Capital (NC) and Ecosystem Services (ES) into operational frameworks that provide tested, practical and tailored solutions for integrating ES into land, water and urban management and decision-making.
It examines how the concepts link to, and support, wider EU economic, social and environmental policy initiatives and scrutinizes the potential and limitations of the concepts of ES and NC.
The general aim of BESAFE is to improve our understanding of the alternative ways in which concepts for the ‘value of biodiversity’ can be used to improve biodiversity policy making and governance at local, national and European to global scales. In accordance with the call requirements, BESAFE will thereto investigate and analyze the use and effectiveness of various types of arguments for biodiversity protection under varying circumstances.
The general objective of BESAFE is to help to innovate and improve biodiversity protection by providing a framework that summarizes the observed and potential effectiveness of the alternative ways to argue the case for biodiversity protection, and to make this framework easily accessible and usable through a publicly accessible database and associated toolkit. This system can then be used to convincingly demonstrate the value of biodiversity to policy makers and will also provide them with guidance on the use and effectiveness of the various arguments in a range of situations.
This general aim and objective are translated into a number of practical objectives:
- to compile currently used arguments in a framework according to type, ecological, geographical, socioeconomic and institutional context and other factors relevant to their effectiveness.
- to investigate the potential and observed effectiveness of alternative ecological, economic and social arguments in a range of situations.
- to analyse how policies, protection measures and value perceptions particular to one scale affect those on other scales and what this implies for the transferability and scalability of values between scales and situations.
- to explore how awareness of the value of ecosystem services relates to people’s valuation of biodiversity.
- to develop, with our stakeholders, a publically accessible database and associated toolkit to guide the use and effectiveness of the various arguments in specific situations and provide recommendations on their suitability for promoting biodiversity protection on different spatial and temporal scales.
- to engage directly with stakeholders throughout the project through workshops, brochures, web based applications, public meetings, publications in popular and policy relevant media and scientific papers.
Funded under: FP7-ENVIRONMENT ( from 2011-09-01 to 2015-08-31); Grant no.: 282743
Position: Partner
ExpeER is an European project which aimed to bring together the major observational, experimental, analytical and modeling facilities in ecosystem science in Europe.
By uniting these highly instrumented ecosystem research facilities under the same umbrella and with a common vision, ExpeER intended to contribute to structuring the still fragmented research community on terrestrial ecosystems within the European Research Area. ExpeER was improving quality and performance of these infrastructure components in a sustainable manner and stimulating their international use.
ExpeER did contribute to the development of a state-of-the-art research infrastructure by:
- enabling collaboration and integration across experimental, observational and modeling approaches in ecosystem research;
- improving the technology and methodology at play in ExpeER infrastructures through specific research programs;
- hosting research teams within its 30 sites and platforms through a strong and coordinated program for Transnational Access;
- linking these highly instrumented facilities to existing networks of long-term research sites across Europe (e.g. LTER-Europe);
- developing a “model toolbox” allowing the scientific community within and outside the ExpeER network to better use modelling platforms.
This will allow easy access to models for experimentalists and improve forecasting of ecosystem function and services under different future climate scenarios.
Scientists involved in the project consortium ranged from physiologists to environmental scientists, with a large number of participants involved in agronomy, ecology and biochemistry. This range of disciplines is essential to the long-term development of ecosystem science, in that detailed studies of small, rapid processes need to be embedded in longer term, larger scale experiments in order to develop a true systems approach, resulting in models that transfer information across scales. Much progress in environmental research has been the result of disciplinary and reductionist attempts to analyse separate compartments of the environmental system. However, the complexity of problems created by global change, land use changes, ecosystem services, food security issues, etc. needs an integrated interdisciplinary approach to solve environmental problems raised by today’s society.
Funded under: FP7-INFRASTRUCTURES ( from 2010-12-01 to 2015-05-31); Grant no. 262060
Position: Partner
VOLANTE aims to develop a new European land management paradigm, providing an integrated conceptualand operational platform which allows policy makers to develop pro-active and context-sensitive solutions to the challenges for the future, rather than to react on largely autonomous external land systems developments.
The objective of VOLANTE is to provide European policy and land management with critical pathways defining the band width of possible and management policies for future European land use. Policy options will therefore be identified in time and space and their consequences in terms of states of the land system (provisioning of ecosystem goods and services) will be evaluated, leading to a ROADMAP FOR FUTURE LAND RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN EUROPE.
Funded under: FP7-ENVIRONMENT (from 2010-11-01 to 2015-04-30); Grant no.:265104
Position: Partner
The overall aim of SPIRAL is to enhance the connectivity between biodiversity research and policy making in order to improve the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.
In order to achieve this objective the SPIRAL project comprises the following work packages (WPs) – running in parallel:
Stocktaking and assessment of existing science-policy interfaces for biodiversity governance Factors constraining and facilitating communication on the role of biodiversity in underpinning livelihoods and ecosystem services Mechanisms for encouraging behaviour that reduce negative human impacts on biodiversity Designing and testing science-policy interfaces for biodiversity governance
The project will also formulate and publish a number of recommendations and will be centrally coordinated and integrated.
Funded under: FP7-ENVIRONMENT (from 2010-05-01 to 2013-11-30); Grant no.: 244035
Position: Partner
Environmental quality and pressures assessment across Europe: the LTER network as an integrated and shared system for ecosystem monitoring
The potential of long-term ecological studies to recognize and interpret environmental changes is best realized when data on ecosystems are gathered at a broad geographical scale with a harmonized methodological approach. EnvEurope is a case study and pilot scheme for an ecological research and monitoring workflow based on the distributed network of LTER-Europe sites. The key principles of the project are scientific knowledge, common information management and harmonization of parameters and methods at a European scale through a cross-domain approach with 67 LTER-Europe sites encompassing terrestrial, continental waters, wetlands and marine ecosystems from 11 countries.
Funded under: Life+, LIFE08ENV/IT/000399
Position: Partner
The objective of GENESIS was to integrate pre-existing and new scientific knowledge into new methods, concepts and tools for the revision of the Ground Water Directive and better management of groundwater resources.
The research have:
- linked the present knowledge to an integrated model from sources of pollution to the recipient ecosystem;
- improved the understanding of pollutant leaching from different land-uses both in time and space considering also uncertainty;
- developed a better understanding of how ecosystems depend on groundwater, improved understanding how changes in land-use and climate affect the groundwater and dependent ecosystems;
- developed better cost-efficient management and monitoring tools and transfer the research results to stakeholders and end-users for better management.
GENESIS provided tools to assess land-use and climate impacts on ground water and related ecosystems. The tools are based on better scientific basis on: groundwater flow paths, biogeochemical processes,
methods to observe and reduce pollution, ecosystem interactions, and integrated management.
GENESIS provided better solutions to identify groundwater pollution changes, developed methods to assess the points for pollution trend reversal, and generate knowledge on how to protect groundwater dependent ecosystems. This sets the basis for future and better groundwater management.
Funded under: FP7-ENVIRONMENT (from 2009-04-01 to 2014-03-31); Grant no.: 226536
Position: Partner
The EBONE project has run from April 2008 until March 2012 and has focused on the development of a cost effective system of biodiversity data collection at regional, national and European levels. The project has developed a system for a coherent system for data collection that can be used for international comparable assessments.
GEO BON is a concept for two closely related, global networks, a social network a Community of Practice for those engaged in collecting, managing, and utilizing biodiversity observations as well as and a physical network, the interoperating systems that store and distribute biodiversity information of all kinds that is held by a great number organizations.
lIn the GEOSS 10 year implementation plan it is stated that GEO BON “will unify many of the disparate biodiversity observing systems and create a platform to integrate biodiversity data with other types of information. Harmonisation of observations, real- or near real-time monitoring integration of information from in situ and space based observations will be advocated.”
EBONE has been acting as a pilot for GEO BON developing these networks in Europe and sharing the experience with other initiatives in the world.
EBONE project focused on:
- The provision of a sound scientific basis for the production of statistical estimates of stock and change of key indicators that can then be interpreted by policy makers responding to EU Directives regarding threatened ecosystems and species;
- The development of a system for estimating past change but also for forecasting and testing policy options and designing mitigating management strategies for threatened ecosystems and species.
The amount of existing biodiversity observations in Europe is very large. Observations are also very uneven in spatial, temporal, topical, and taxonomic coverage. Most data are available in north-western Europe, while south-eastern and Mediterranean Europe have much less complete datasets.
EBONE is making data accessible so that it can be used in a coordinated way to make distribution maps, statistics on stock and change and wall-to-wall maps and use these to populate the biodiversity indicators for the Convention on Biological Diversity and the European SEBI indicators.
Funded under: FP7-ENVIRONMENT (from 2008-04-01 to 2012-03-31); Grant no.: 212322
Position: Partner
LIFEWATCH was included in the Roadmap of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI), the body that identifies the new research infrastructures (RIs) of pan-European interest with the goal of promoting the long-term competitiveness of European Research and Innovation.
The mission of LIFEWATCH is to advance biodiversity research and to provide major contributions to addressing the big environmental challenges, including knowledge-based solutions to environmental managers for its preservation. This mission is achieved by providing access through a single infrastructure to a multitude of sets of data, services and tools enabling the construction and operation of Virtual Research Environments (VREs) linked to LIFEWATCH, and where specific issues related with biodiversity research and preservation are addressed.
Funded under: FP7-INFRASTRUCTURES (from 2008-02-01 to 2011-01-31); Grant no.: 211372
Position: Partner
Rural development is the result of complex, dynamic processes which are determined by a range of driving forces, including demographic, socio-economic, technological and environmental change.
As a result, the future evolution of rural areas in the EU is highly uncertain. There is a continuing need to know: what are major trends and driving forces affecting rural regions? At which scales do these processes operate? Which of these processes are amenable to change through rural development policies? How might rural policies be adapted in the future to take account of these processes?
The results of FARO EU helped answer these questions. The project analysed patterns and trends of a selection of rural territorial indicators. The particular role and relevance of forms of governance and ICT and their effectiveness was assessed. A set of scenarios representing a full range of rural areas’ driving forces was produced. Scenarios were: (a) quantified through a chain of economic, environmental and land use models; (b) qualified by SWOT analysis; and (c) tested in different case study areas. The project involved stakeholders in rural development and policy makers at the national and EU levels in several workshops. Final recommendations aimed at improving the effectiveness of rural development policies for Europe.
Funded under: FP6-POLICIES (from 2007-01-01 to 2009-12-31); Grant no.:044495
Position: Partner
AquaMoney, funded by DG RTD, brings together 16 leading European research institutions to develop and test practical guidelines for the assessment of environmental and resource costs and benefits (ERCB) in the European Water Framework Directive (WFD).
The concept of ERCB plays a central role in the economic analysis of the WFD, in particular for the cost recovery of water services (Article 9 WFD), but as expected also in relation to the decision whether or not the costs of additional measures are disproportionate (Article 4 WFD). However, so far no clear guidelines exist for the assessment of ERCB in practice. AquaMoney was established to address this gap.
The project has developed practical guidelines for the economic valuation of water resources in the context of the WFD.
For this purpose, AQUAMONEY followed a four staged approach: (i) assess policy-maker demand for guidance on economic valuation of water resources; (ii) develop draft guidelines for the economic valuation of water resources; (iii) test the draft guidelines in 12 case studies throughout Europe; and (iv) incorporate the experiences from the case studies into the guidelines.
Funded under: FP6-POLICIES (from 2006-04-01 to 2009-09-30); Grant no.: 022723
Position: Partner
ALTER-Net is a network of partner institutes from 18 European countries. ALTER-Net integrates research capacities across Europe: assessing changes in biodiversity, analyzing the effect of those changes on ecosystem services and informing policymakers and the public about this at a European scale.
Originally funded by the European Union’s Framework VI program to stimulate a collaborative approach, ALTER-Net is now operating independently, contributing to the lasting integration of Europe’s research capacity on biodiversity.
Funded under: FP6-SUSTDEV (from 2004-04-01 to 2009-03-31); Grant no.: GOCE-CT-2003-505298
Position: Partner
EURO-LIMPACS was an EU funded Framework 6 project concerned with the effects of climate change on freshwater systems (rivers, streams, lakes and wetlands).
In particular, the Project sought to understand the effects on these vulnerable ecosystems of the interactions between changing climate and other potentially damaging processes caused by changes in the physical characteristics of rivers, nutrient pollution, acidification and the deposition of toxic metals and organic pollutants.
EURO-LIMPACS examined how these multiple effects impact on efforts to manage freshwater ecosystems, in particular the implication for meeting the requirements of legislation such as the Water Framework Directive and Habitats Directive.
Funded under: FP6-SUSTDEV (from 2004-02-01 to 2009-01-31); Grant no.: GOCE-CT-2003-505540
Position: Partner
Counteracting the decline of biodiversity and ensuring the sustainable management of ecosystems requires insight into the socio-economic processes and structures, which directly or indirectly impact on them. However, there is a discrepancy in the amount of research work carried out in the economic domain, and the amount of work done in the more strictly social domain. The more purely social dimension of protection of biodiversity and ecosystems is still somewhat under explored, and it would be premature to talk about a well-established European field of social research on biodiversity and ecosystem management, or of a coordinated international research programme.
Involving leading researchers from Germany, Hungary, Norway, Spain, Romania, the Slovak Republic and the United Kingdom, the overall aim of So Bio is to stimulate relevant social research contributing tithe management of biodiversity and ecosystems, and especially to the development of successful policies in this field. This will be achieved by providing an overview, assessing policy, identifying priority needs and stimulating new relevant research.
Funded under: FP6-SUSTDEV (from 2004-02-01 to 2006-01-31); Grant no.: GOCE-CT-2003-505429
Position: Partner
The purpose of the BIOFORUM project is to resolve and reduce conflicts between economic development and biodiversity conservation in forests, grasslands, uplands, in-land waters and agricultural landscapes.
Objectives and aims:
- To create a European forum – BIOFORUM – for dialogue between scientists and stakeholders to reduce the conflict between the conservation of biodiversity and economic development;
- To analyze the principal sources of conflict between biodiversity conservation and economic development in key thematic areas;
- To identify measures for conflict resolution, through attenuating or avoiding negative impacts, with an assessment of their practicability (with regard to economic development) and their legitimacy (in terms of Community legislation / regulations);
- To identify current best practices in biodiversity management, particularly where these relate to biodiversity-related conflict resolution;
- To identify and evaluate methods for monitoring progress in resolving conflicts, including those relating to the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) proposals for a core set of indicators.
Funded under: FP5-EESD (from 2001-01-01 to 2005-12-31)
Position: Partner
RIVFUNCTION is a pan-European research project which aims to develop and communicate a diagnostic tool for assessing the ecological status of river quality in functional terms. This will be achieved by determining the performance of a key ecosystem-level process (litter decomposition).
Field experiments on the effects of excessive nutrient loading (eutrophication) and modification of riparian vegetation will be carried out at 60-paired sites in ten Ecoregions. They will be complemented by experiments aiming at a mechanistic understanding of process alterations and a literature survey to synthesise available information on river functioning.
The assessment tool will be built on this broad synthesis. Its developmental steps include the identification of a set of indicators and their critical thresholds, and definition of the technical specifications of standardised procedures. Results will be compared with those of standard biological assessment schemes. The tool will be elaborated by a mixed consortium of scientists and end-user representatives. It will be disseminated to the scientific community, water and environmental agencies, potential stakeholders, and interested parties.
Funded under: FP5-EESD (from 2002-04-01 to 2005-07-31); Grant no.: EVK1-CT-2001-00088
Multinational EU research project carried out under the leadership of the Technical University of Vienna. The results from this project include estimates of nutrient inputs into the river network (MONERIS), as well as an assessment of the loads of nitrogen, phosphorus and silica transported via the river network. These results indicate that the nutrient status in the Black Sea has significantly improved since the 1980s.
The daNUbs research project – cofunded by the EU – involved a large international and interdisciplinary research team from 16 partner institutions, co-ordinated by the Institute for Water Quality and Waste Management at the Vienna University of Technology.
General objectives:
- to obtain information about the sources, pathways, stocks, losses and sinks of nutrients in a large river basin;
- to increase understanding of the effects of nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus and silica) on receiving ecosystems, particularly in coastal areas;
- to improve and combine management tools used to measure and assess nutrients in the Danube Basin;
- to develop scenarios and prognoses for nutrient management and the related impacts on water quality and socio-economic development in the Danube countries.
Initial results from the project include estimates of nutrient inputs into the river network, as well as an assessment of the loads of nitrogen, phosphorus and silica transported via the river network.
The results indicate that the negative impacts of nutrients on the status of the North-western Black Sea has significantly improved since the 1980s. Nutrient levels within the Danube River Basin are relatively low in comparison to other basins, but good status with regard to the requirements of the WFD can only be achieved if future agricultural developments are based on best available practices.
The accuracy and reliability of the project results should be improved from 2005, thanks to the combination of three specific models – the GIS-based emission model (MONERIS) for calculating nutrient emissions, the Danube Water Quality Model for estimation of the transformation and transport of nutrients in the river, and the Danube Delta Model for nutrient transport through the Danube Delta.
The MONERIS approach.
The application of the MONERIS (MOdelling Nutrient Emissions into RIver Systems) approach was successfully for the modelling of the nutrient inputs within the Danube River Basin. MONERIS is a semi-static emission model for point and diffuse sources of nutrients can also be adapted in order to deal also with heavy metals and some priority substances (e.g. Lindane).
Conceptually, MONERIS calculates the emissions into surface waters via several independent pathways for separate catchments, which are topologically linked in a tree-like structure (see figure below). Input data are taken from various sources (e.g. statistical yearbooks, emission inventories, digital maps etc). Those data were pre-processed to give specific values for every catchment.
For MONERIS a harmonized database was established for all Danube countries. Results have been used in the Roof Report 2004 for the assessment of point and diffuse nutrient inputs into the Danube River Basin.
Funded under: FP5-EESD (from 2001-02-01 to 2005-01-31); Grant no.: EVK1-CT-2000-00051
Position: Assistant Contractor
The EVALUWET project objective is to assist the implementation of the Water Framework Directive by developing an innovative decision support system (DSS) that combines understanding of wetland ecosystem functioning with stakeholder and economic methods of establishing wetland values associated with wetland functioning.
A multidisciplinary approach will be adopted incorporating the expertise of European natural scientists, social scientists and economists to develop this system. Multisectoral concerns of organizations involved in related policy development and active management of wetlands would be integrated through consultation and collaborative development activities.
The final DSS will be developed as a demonstration model in seven contrasting catchments, enabling application to the diversity of environmental functioning and socio-economic conditions across Europe to be tested.
Funded under: FP5-EESD (from 2001-03-01 to 2004-02-29); Grant no.: EVK1-CT-2000-00070
Position: Principal Contractor
Objectives:
- to assess the status of remote mountain lake ecosystems throughout Europe following the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive;
- to provide an evaluation of our findings in ecological, environmental and socio-economic terms;
- to provide decision makers with an overall understanding of remote mountain lakes so that appropriate policy and management measures can be taken at both European and national scales to ensure the sustainability of these ecosystems into the future.
Funded under: FP5-EESD (from 2000-02-01 to 2003-01-31); Grant no.: EVK1-CT-1999-00032
Position: Principal Contractor
PROJECT TITLE / DETAILS
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD
POSITION
DONOR
“Development of an integrated management plan for the “Small Island of Braila” (Life Project)
Contract no.: NAT/RO/006400
1999-2001
Coordinator
European Community – DG XI
“Multi-user Research Base in the field of Systems Ecology”
1999-2001
Coordinator
World Bank – Romanian Government
“Ecological Network of the Lower Danube River (REDI)”
Contract no.: 89-C
1998-2001
Coordinator
World Bank – Romanian Government
“Ecosystem Modeling for Integrated Monitoring of Lagoons Systems”
1998-2000
Partner
NATO-CCMS
“Inter-network Expert Group on Wetland Ecosystems (Interwet)”
Contract no.: ENV4-CT97-0428
1998-2000
Partner
European Community – DG XII
“Sustainable agriculture and steppe biodiversity in Romania”
1998-2000
Partner
Ministry of Research and Technology and British Counci
“Nitrogen Control by Landscape Structures in Agricultural Environments (NICOLAS)”
Contract no.: ENV4-CT97-0395
1998-2000
Partner
European Community – DG XII
“Assessment of the natural and ethnic capital in the Lower Danube River System”
1998-1999
Coordinator
Government of the Netherlands
“European River Margins System: Role of Biodiversity in the Functioning of Riparian Systems (ERMAS II)”
Contract no.: ENV-CT95-0061
1996-1999
Partner
European Community – DG XII
“Nutrient Balances for Danube Countries and Options for Surface and Groundwater Protection”
Contract no.: EU/AR/102A/91
1995-1997
Partner
European Community – DG XI
“Functional Analysis of the European Wetland Ecosystems (FAEWE)”
Contract no.: ERBCIPDCT-940-108
1995-1997
Partner
European Community–DG XII
“Biodiversity Study of Danube River”
Contract no.: ZZ9111/0106
1995
Partner
European Community-PHARE
“European river margins system as indicator of global changes (ERMAS I)”
Contract no.: IC20CT960010
1994 – 1995
Partner
European Community–DG XII
CONTRACT DE FINANTARE: 455/18.12.2019, cod SIPOCA 594/cod MYSMIS 127465
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 2019-2022
POSITION: Partner
DONOR: POCA
CONTRACT DE FINANTARE: 455/18.12.2019, cod SIPOCA 594/cod MYSMIS 127465
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 2019-2022
POSITION: Partner
DONOR: POCA
CONTRACT DE FINANTARE: contract 180/01.07.2014; PN-II-PT-PCCA-2013-4-1704
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 2014-2017
POSITION: Partner
DONOR: UEFISCDI
CONTRACT DE FINANTARE: contract 991/2009
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 2009-2011
POSITION: Coordinator
DONOR: UEFISCDI
CONTRACT DE FINANTARE: subcontract 2/2007 – contract 3123/ 24.07.2007 – ICIM Bucuresti
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 2007
POSITION: Coordinator
DONOR: ICIM Bucuresti
CONTRACT DE FINANTARE: subcontract 2/2007 – contract 3123/ 24.07.2007 – ICIM Bucuresti
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 2007
POSITION: Coordinator
DONOR: ICIM Bucuresti
CONTRACT DE FINANTARE: subcontract 2/2007 – contract 3123/ 24.07.2007 – ICIM Bucuresti
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 2014
POSITION: Coordinator
DONOR: ICIM Bucuresti
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 2006-2008
POSITION: Coordinator
DONOR: CEEX-MCT
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 2004-2006
POSITION: Coordinator
DONOR: PNCD-MCT
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 2005-2008
POSITION: Partner
DONOR: CEEX – MCT
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 2005-2008
POSITION: Coordinator
DONOR: CEEX – MCT
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 2006-2008
POSITION: Coordinator
DONOR: CEEX – MCT
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 2006-2008
POSITION: Partner
DONOR: CEEX – MCT
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 2006-2008
POSITION: Coordinator
DONOR: CNCSIS
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 2001-2003
POSITION: Coordinator
DONOR: CNCSIS
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 2001-2003
POSITION: Coordinator
DONOR: CNCSIS
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 2001-2003
POSITION: Coordinator
DONOR: CNCSIS
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 2001-2003
POSITION: Coordinator
DONOR: CNCSIS
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 1999-2001
POSITION: Coordinator
DONOR: CNCSIS
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 1999-2001
POSITION: Coordinator
DONOR: World Bank – Romanian Government
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 1999-2001
POSITION: Coordinator
DONOR: Ministry of Research and Technology
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 1999
POSITION: Partner
DONOR: Ministry of Research and Technology
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 1999
POSITION: Partner
DONOR: Ministry of Environment
CONTRACT DE FINANTARE: Contract no: 89-C
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 1998-2001
POSITION: Coordinator
DONOR: World Bank – Romanian Government
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 1998-2000
POSITION: Partner
DONOR: Ministry of Research and Technology, British Council
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 1995-1999
POSITION: Coordinator
DONOR: Ministry of Education, Ministry of Research and Technology
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 1995-1999
POSITION: Coordinator
DONOR: Ministry of Research and Technology
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 1991-1992
POSITION: Coordinator
DONOR: Ministry of Education, Ministry of Environment