University
of Geneva and UNEP to Coordinate European
project to Boost Lives and Livelihoods of
160 Million People
Geneva, 27 April 2009
- A state-of-the art monitoring and assessment
system is to be deployed for the Black Sea,
it was announced today.
The system is aimed
at assisting governments and communities
track and respond to environmental trends
in one of the world's most famous and economically-important
inland water bodies.
The around $8 million
Euros enviroGRIDS project, to which the
European Commission is contributing $6.2
million Euros, will utilize a big international
computer-grid network linked through the
famous CERN centre in Switzerland to carry
out simulations.
The project will deploy
the latest observation and environmental
assessment technologies across the Black
Sea catchment—a region covering about 2
million km2, 23 countries and more than
160 million people.
It is to be coordinated
by the University of Geneva and UNEP in
cooperation with 26 national and international
partners.
These include the Institute
for Water Education of the UN Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization in
the Netherlands as well as the water institutes
of several countries-Belgium, Bulgaria,
Hungary, Romania, Switzerland and Ukraine.
The partners in the
project will provide new data to the planet-wide
Group on Earth Observations (GEO) under
the supervision of the International Commission
for the Protection of the Danube River and
the Black Sea Commission.
Anthony Lehmann and
Nicolas Ray, from the Environmental Science
Institute of UNIGE which is leading enviroGRIDS,
said areas of focus included monitoring
and assessing trends in climate change,
habitats and ecosystems and water quality
and their likely impacts on the economic
and social lives of the Black Sea region.
Christophe Bouvier,
UNEP's Regional Director for Europe, said:
"The environmental vulnerability of
the Black Sea region in terms of pollution,
industrial impacts, unsustainable agriculture
and oil spills is well known. The new system
is aimed at assisting the countries concerned
make sound and scientifically-based decisions
on the region's future, sustainable development".
He said the project
is taking a new significance within the
European context as a result of the recent
accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the
European Union.
Notes to Editors
The launch of the project
will take place at a meeting of the partners
in Geneva between 27 and 30 April at the
University of Geneva, UNEP's International
Environment House and the international
secretariat of the Group on Earth Observations
(GEO).
Several pilot projects
will be carried out on 9 themes supported
by the GEO: disasters, health, energy, climate,
water, weather, ecosystems, agriculture
and biodiversity.
Synergies with the European
project ACQWA coordinated by Prof. Martin
Beniston from UNIGE are expected. ACQWA
aims at better understanding climate change
impacts on water resources in mountainous
regions.
These two projects contribute
to the capacity of the Environmental Science
Institute of the UNIGE to act as a platform
for international research.
To learn more about
the enviroGRIDS project, please visit: www.envirogrids.net
For further information please contact:
Anthony Lehmann, University of Geneva, Project
coordinator
Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson
