An international workshop on the future of the Mediterranean, called Mistrals 2, was recently held at the University’s Valletta campus.
It brought together 180 Mediterranean researchers, political decision-makers and financiers to promoting the international expansion of the Mistrals multi-disciplinary research programme.
Mistrals is a 10-year programme of research and systematic observation of the environmental processes at work within the Mediterranean basin and their evolution under the pressure of global change over the decade 2010 to 2020.
It aims to coordinate research programmes focusing on the study of the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the lithosphere and paleoclimates, as well as the ecology of environments, and human and social sciences at the regional level.
The Mediterranean is a region of geostrategic interest faced with considerable environmental, political and societal challenges. It is highly vulnerable and its ability to support life in future may be in jeopardy.
Seismic and volcanic risks, pollution of the air, sea, inland water and soil, intense hydrometeorological and aeolian events, droughts, fires, and water shortages are just some of the threats facing the biodiversity of continental and marine ecosystems, access to natural resources and living conditions of this region.
Mistrals aims to improve the understanding and management of the mechanisms that influence the environment and human activity of the region in order to predict its behaviour and anticipate the evolution of its ability to support life over the coming century.
The data collected within the framework of Mistrals will be essential to answer the questions of political decision-makers in terms of resources and the environment, and to promote all the adaptation measures that may prove necessary.
The Mistrals project is jointly headed by the EU’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the Institut de Recherche pour le CNRS is the largest research organisation in the EU with over 34,000 employees and 12,000 researchers.Developpment (IRD).
Meanwhile, CNRS recently opened a representative office for the Mediterranean at the University campus in Msida. It is headed by Arnaud Lalo and is located within the Physics and Mathematics Building.
The office’s mission is to support international efforts of the CNRS towards its Mediterranean partners, namely those in southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.
Prof. Charles Sammut, dean of the Faculty of Science, said the University looked forward to close cooperation with the CNRS – a long-standing partnership that would transcend Mistrals – one that will make the University a hub for Euro-Mediterranean cooperation in science.
For further information view www.cnrs.fr.