News, Events & Funding

PACE-Net Plus: a bridge over europe and the pacific region for science, technology and innovation

PACE-Net Plus webmaster — Wed, 28 Dec 2016 08:02:49 +0000

Friday, 23 December 2016

The opportunities for European and Pacific researchers to collaborate are many and diverse. The European Union (EU) policies and scientific strategies aim at reinforcing these collaboration opportunities, notably through Horizon 2020, the European framework programme dedicated to research and innovation. Strengthening the Europe-Pacific bi-regional dialogue in science, technology and innovation (ST&I) is a key step in achieving increased collaboration towards the societal challenges identi ed in Horizon 2020.

This compendium presents the outcomes of PACE-NET Plus, a project funded by the European Commission (EC) under the 7^th Framework Programme, which united 16 partners in the Pacific and the EU, coordinated by the French Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD), to strengthen ST&I cooperation between the Pacific island countries and Europe. This partnership involved a comprehensive collection of Pacific and European ST&I actors, including institutions from the two largest Pacific players, Australia and New Zealand, the French overseas countries and territories (New Caledonia and French Polynesia), European countries, Pacific island countries (Samoa, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea), international multilateral institutions and Pacific regional bodies.

This project promoted the integration of the Pacific region and its interests into a number of EC roadmaps and actions. One of the core missions of PACE- NET Plus was to raise the visibility of the Pacific within the EU. In particular, this included the EC Directorates-General for Research and Innovation and for International Cooperation and Development, through illuminating the role of ST&I for development aid and better governance. Also included was the European Exterior Action Service, through “science diplomacy”. Conversely, PACE-NET Plus also aimed at assisting greater integration of EU activities into the research and development policies of the Pacific countries. The project was also a signi cant contributor to a bi-regional dialogue between the two regions.

PACE-NET Plus analysis of the research priorities of mutual interests for Europe and the Pacific highlighted three major societal challenges:

Health, demographic change and wellbeing
Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine and maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy
Climate action, environment, resource e ciency and raw materials.

ST&I approaches play an important role in assisting Pacific nations to address these challenges which, compounded by geographic and socio-economic issues unique to the region, are also key developmental priorities.

Actions taken by PACE-NET Plus in the perspective of these multiple expectations are presented in this document. Also presented are major policy recommendations of the project, in collaboration with in uential Pacific regional bodies, such as the need to institutionalize the dialogue for ST&I between the Europe and Pacific. We also suggest the launch of two concrete support actions: the rst one dedicated to a multidisciplinary call for research (based on the PACE-Net Plus seed funding scheme) in order to stimulate cooperation between the PICTs, and with the European and Pacific larger countries (this call is endorsed by the ACP Secretary); the second action is dedicated to climate science through an interdisciplinary “observatory system of climate change and its impacts in the Pacific” (a pilot project on this topic was presented to the European Parliament and we are hopeful that it will be initiated during 2017).

On behalf of IRD, the coordinator of this project, we would like to wholeheartedly thank our partners as well as the three members of our External Advisory Board (Dr Raghunath Ghodake, APAARI; Dr Geo roy Lamarche, NIWA; and Dr Christophe Yvetot, UNIDO) for their deep and fruitful involvement in PACE-Net Plus, which has allowed us all to carry out this project successfully, and to surpass our goals. We would also like to sincerely thank the European Commission, particularly Mr. Armand Beuf, our scientific offcer for his e cient and benevolent support for PACE-NET Plus.

On behalf of the 16 partners of the PACE-NET Plus Consortium, we would also like to thank all those who took part in this network and dialogue and supported us in one way or another. We very much hope that the growing research community that we have mobilized together during the 3 last years in the region and in Europe, will remain ready to continue this regional and bi-regional cooperation and dialogue, while contributing to the well-being of Pacific and EU citizens.

Further information:

http://plus.pacenet.eu/system/files/documents/PNP_Compendium.pdf

Groups audience:

WP1 Health, Demographic Change and Wellbeing

WP2 Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, Marine and Maritime and Inland Water Research, and the Bioeconomy

WP3 Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

WP4 Cooperation on Innovation Issues to Tackle the Societal Challenges

WP5 Strengthening Pacific-EU Research Cooperation Partnerships

WP6 Bi-regional Policy Dialogue in ST&I

Research at the forefront of the global race for sustainable development, says UNESCO report

PACE-Net Plus webmaster — Fri, 25 Nov 2016 02:34:13 +0000

Tuesday, 10 November 2015

Most countries, regardless of their level of income, now see research and innovation as key to fostering sustainable economic growth and furthering their development. This is one of the conclusions of the UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030.

“In the wake of the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals to 2030 by the United Nations General Assembly, the UNESCO Science Report clearly shows that research is both a motor for economic development and a cornerstone in the construction of societies that are more sustainable and more respectful of the planet,” said the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova.

The Report’s first lesson is that, despite the economic crisis that hit industrialized countries in 2008, gross domestic expenditure on research and development (GERD) increased globally by 31% between 2007 and 2013, rising from USD 1,132 billion in 2007 to USD 1,478 billion in 2013. This increase was more rapid than that of global gross domestic product (GDP) during the same period (20%).

The USA still leads, with 28% of global investment in R&D, followed by China (20%) – now ahead of the European Union (19%) – and Japan (10%). The rest of the world represents 67% of the global population but just 23% of global investment in R&D. Nevertheless, research investment by countries such as Brazil, India and Turkey is increasing rapidly.

The increase in R&D spending owes a great deal to the private sector, which has compensated for frozen or reduced public spending in a number of industrialized countries, such as Italy, the United Kingdom and France. This trend is particularly apparent in Canada (whose world share of R&D spending dropped from 2.1% in 2007 to 1.5% in 2013) and Australia, where significant cuts were made to research funding and applied sciences were prioritized to the detriment of basic research.

Moreover, say the authors of the report, basic research does not only generate new knowledge; it also contributes to the quality of higher education. In the long term, the balance of funding between applied and basic research can also affect the pace at which knowledge spreads. The Green Revolution, which enabled a significant increase in global agricultural output starting in the 1950s, drew almost entirely on research by public sector laboratories and universities. The picture is very different today, with advances in genetics and biotechnology largely coming out of private companies that are much more protective of their knowledge.

If global spending on R&D has increased despite the economic crisis, it is largely because it has been identified as a key factor in promoting economic growth and development. As a result, a great many countries, regardless of the size of their income, now see research and innovation as a way to keep up in a highly competitive world or find their place in it.

This is the case in Africa, where there is growing recognition that the development of modern infrastructure, such as hospitals, roads, railways, etc., and a more diversified economy require investment in science and technology, as well as the constitution of a skilled workforce. Kenya, for example, devoted 0.79% of its GDP to R&D in 2010 compared to just 0.36% in 2007. R&D spending is also increasing in Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique and Uganda.

In the context of increased R&D investment, technologies fostering sustainable development are an emerging priority for a number of countries, which fits with the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations in September 2015. This is especially the case in Latin America where 19 countries have adopted policies in favour of renewable energy. Uruguay intends to generate 90% of its electricity from renewable sources by the end of 2015. Chile and Mexico have significantly increased their wind and solar energy production capacity.

Similar projects are being undertaken in the Arab States. Morocco, for example, inaugurated Africa’s largest wind farm in 2014 and is developing what could turn out to be Africa’s biggest solar farm. In 2015, Saudi Arabia announced a programme to develop solar energy.

The investment in research also translates into an increase in the number of scientists, estimated at 7.8 million worldwide, which is up by more than 20% since 2007. The European Union has the most (22% of the world share), followed by China (19%) and USA (16.7%).

There has also been a parallel explosion in the number of scientific publications, which have increased by 23% since 2008. In 2014 there were around 1.27 million per month. Europe also leads in this field (34% of world share), followed by the USA (25%), although their respective shares have seen a slight decrease. The number of publications coming out of China has almost doubled in five years, achieving nearly 20% of the world total, compared to 5% ten years ago. This demonstrates the maturity of the Chinese research system in terms of investments, number of researchers and publications.

As well as being more numerous, scientists are also more mobile. Despite the development of the Internet and the multiplication of online networks, doctoral-level researchers still feel the need to travel. The increasing mobility of PhD students in turn influences the mobility of researchers. “This is perhaps one of the most important trends of recent times,” say the authors of the Report.

Students from the Arab States, Central Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Western Europe are the most likely to study abroad. Europe and North America are still the preferred destinations for students. The USA alone receives almost half (49%) of international students enrolled in doctoral science or engineering courses. The United Kingdom comes second (9%), followed by France (7%) and Australia (4.6%).

Since the economic crisis of 2008, Europe and North America have lost some of their attraction. Meanwhile, students who wish to study abroad now have a wider choice. South Africa hosted about 60,000 international students in 2009. Cuba is one of the most popular destinations for students from Latin America, attracting 17,000 from the continent, compared to 5,000 who study in Brazil and 2000 in Chile. Another example is Malaysia, which expects to become the sixth most popular destination for international students by 2020. From 2007 to 2012, the number of international students in Malaysia almost doubled to 56,000.

Even countries suffering from brain drain are now attracting researchers. Sudan, for example, lost 3,000 researchers who went to neighbouring countries where conditions are better, notably Ethiopia, between 2002 and 2014. But Sudan also became a host country for students from the Arab world and Africa.

While, globally, women have achieved parity at Master’s level, their share diminishes at PhD level to 43% of all doctoral graduates. The gap continues to widen after this, as women only represent 28.4% of the world’s researchers. They also have more limited access to funding than men and are less well represented in prestigious universities. They remain a minority in senior positions, whether on faculty boards or at the higher levels of decision-making in universities.

The regions with the greatest number of women researchers are Southeast Europe (49%), the Caribbean, Central Asia and Latin America (44%). Interestingly, in the Arab States 37% of researchers are women, which is a higher proportion than in the European Union (33%).

A number of countries have put in place policies to reverse this trend. In 2013 Germany, for example, introduced a 30% quota for women on corporate boards of directors. Japan’s selection criteria for large university grants also seek to increase the representation of women among teaching staff and researchers.

“Formulating a successful national science and innovation policy remains a very difficult task”, conclude the authors of the report. This will require simultaneous action on several fronts, whether it is education, basic research, technological development or indeed private investment in R&D. The 2008 economic crisis, which made many industrialized countries tighten their budgets, has rendered this task even more difficult.

While most R&D takes place in high-income countries, innovation is now occurring in a large number of countries, whatever their income level. Some innovation is occurring without any R&D activity at all. The authors of the report therefore encourage policy makers not to focus exclusively on designing corporate incentives for R&D, but also to target innovation, in the form of technology transfer and the acquisition of machinery, equipment and software, which are all key elements in the innovation process.

While most science policies advocate stronger links between the private sector, universities and public research institutions, these commitments often come to nothing, the report observes, quoting a 2013 survey carried out by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics in 65 countries. The report encourages policy makers to draft strategies to try to reverse this trend.

The UNESCO Science Report also emphasises the importance of good governance for innovation-driven development. Corruption in the university system is an obstacle to the education of qualified graduates. It is also a disincentive for the private sector. Companies will have little interest in investing in R&D if they cannot rely on the justice system to defend their intellectual property.

The UNESCO Science Report is prepared by a team of international experts. It presents a picture of the trends in global research and development, based on a wealth of qualitative and quantitative data. The report is divided into chapters focusing on different regions (including the Pacific, and included references to PACE-Net Plus), presenting new insights into some countries and essays on specific themes, such as the role of indigenous knowledge. The UNESCO Science Report is published every five years.

Further information:

http://en.unesco.org/unesco_science_report/

Groups audience:

WP1 Health, Demographic Change and Wellbeing

WP2 Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, Marine and Maritime and Inland Water Research, and the Bioeconomy

WP3 Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

WP5 Strengthening Pacific-EU Research Cooperation Partnerships

The Pacific region is a perfect example of science diplomacy in action

PACE-Net Plus webmaster — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 11:06:10 +0000

Tuesday, 22 November 2016

The Pacific region can serve as an exemplar of how science diplomacy could work, according to Professor Jean-François Marini, coordinator of the EU-funded PACE-Net Plus project and former adviser to the French government on science diplomacy.

PACE-Net Plus united 16 partners in the Pacific and the EU to strengthen research cooperation between the two regions. How did you go about achieving this?

‘In order to reach this objective of a better, stronger cooperation in science, technology and innovation, the philosophy was to increase research capacity, management and dialogue, to allow the appropriation of science by the countries of the region. One of the ideas was to make information available to the Pacific states to help them to form opinions, founded on scientific evidence, and for Europe to better know the opportunities in Pacific research. At PACE-Net Plus, we have sent our recommendations to the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) asking the leaders of the member countries of the region to recognise the importance of science for development, and to raise its visibility among the leaders of the Pacific region.

‘One of the outcomes that emerged is the idea that an observatory of climate change in the Pacific region would be a good tool to help ensure that scientific knowledge serves local governance. We also think, and this is important, that each country in the region should have a scientific coordinator, or a chief scientist, a function that is often still lacking.’

What can Europe learn by working with the Pacific states?: ‘With climate change, emerging diseases affect more people in the Pacific and could easily become a concern in Europe. Pacific countries are also starting to think about environmental migration as the water level rise forces some islands to evacuate. There are also a number of issues that concern this region which will become global in the future, such as deep sea mining and blue growth (sustainable exploitation of ocean resources), to name just a few.’
You were working alongside the European External Action Service, Europe’s diplomatic corps. What was the reason for this?: ‘In the framework of our bi-regional platforms, we worked closely with the European External Action Service because, over and above science, scientific projects such as PACE-Net Plus are also a tool of diplomatic relations between the two regions.’
How does capacity building in science help form diplomatic relations?: ‘In big international fora, for example, the Pacific islands are more our partners than opponents. They take part, for example, in open discussions to agree on 1, 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius as a tolerance threshold of temperature rise for all countries in the future. This relationship with the countries of the region based on science facilitates the discussion on these global issues.’
How did you go about building this relationship during the PACE-Net Plus project?: ‘In the field of climate change, for example, our thematic think tanks allowed country representatives to look at science as a development tool, to ensure that the decisions around climate are based on rigorous facts. As many of these countries deal with the reality of rising sea levels, science gives them concrete information that serves as a basis for their policymaking. This is also the case for resource management and other topics of importance such as the policies for innovation. Each year, PACE-Net also organised a large Pacific-Europe bi-regional platform dedicated to policy dialogue on science, technology and innovation cooperation.’
How will this connection between science and diplomacy evolve in the future?: ‘From a European point of view, I think the next steps will consist of consolidating a coordinated approach between scientific cooperation and development aid. In other words, between DG RTD (the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation) and DG DEVCO (the European Commission’s Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development).’
Do you think that the seeds of this enhanced cooperation are already there?: ‘Yes, everything is there in the Pacific region. Everything is there for it to happen. We only need a few more actions and time to further implement it.’
So the Pacific is an environment where development science and aid can work effectively together?: ‘Exactly. In the Pacific countries, we played that role by chance, by having with PACE-Net direct relationships with (government) organisations that didn’t know each other well. There was science on the one hand and development aid on the other hand. I will conclude by saying that the Pacific region in relation to Europe is prototypic. We can develop or find cooperation tools, and we can coordinate between different DGs and services from the European Commission over actions dedicated to the Pacific region, where things can be done on a human scale.’

Further information:

http://plus.pacenet.eu/

Groups audience:

WP1 Health, Demographic Change and Wellbeing

WP2 Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, Marine and Maritime and Inland Water Research, and the Bioeconomy

WP3 Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

WP4 Cooperation on Innovation Issues to Tackle the Societal Challenges

WP5 Strengthening Pacific-EU Research Cooperation Partnerships

WP6 Bi-regional Policy Dialogue in ST&I

Deep-Sea Mining – What next for science?

PACE-Net Plus webmaster — Mon, 31 Oct 2016 09:39:15 +0000

Over the past five years, the European Commission and EU Member States have made large investments in research and technological development to prepare for a world in which deep-sea mining is a reality. Projects have covered basic research into deep-sea habitats, the potential environmental and societal impacts of deep-sea mining as well as the technologies to enable mining.

Speakers at this event will present some of the key finding of recent projects and reflect on how these will influence the development of this still nascent industry. In particular, speakers will consider what role science and technology play in the context of regulatory and commercial developments, and what should the EU consider in taking this issue forward.

Groups audience:

WP3 Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

Scientists investigate how to defend against tsunamis

PACE-Net Plus webmaster — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 08:23:58 +0000

Tuesday, 11 October 2016

The damage that tsunamis could cause is expected to rise due to climate change, say researchers who are developing a tsunami early warning system for Europe and investigating the best way to reduce their impact on people and buildings.

Tsunamis are a series of waves mainly caused by undersea earthquakes which can leave huge death tolls and destruction in their wake, and can only be predicted after the occurrence of the earthquake. They claimed the lives of approximately 230 000 people in Indonesia in 2004, 525 people in Chile in 2010, and 15 000 people in Japan in 2011.

Rising sea levels may mean that future tsunamis will have a greater impact when they happen, as more water will flood the affected area.

What’s more, while headlines in recent years have come from outside of Europe, our coastlines have also experienced tsunamis in the past, particularly around the north-east Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Researchers say these areas face an increasing level of risk due to the year-round presence of millions of tourists and the placement of critical infrastructure along the shores.

As a result, scientists on the EU-funded ASTARTE project are helping to develop a tsunami warning system that is able to more accurately forecast when Europe is at risk and will allow authorities to take swift action.

Professor Maria Ana Baptista, who coordinates ASTARTE, said: “We would like to be able to save all lives in every single event, to reach zero casualties.

“Tsunamis are a global problem, not a local problem, and European scientists should be in the forefront of research.”

Scientists have gotten faster at predicting tsunamis in recent years, though there haven’t been many opportunities to test this.

The challenge is that tsunamis can only be predicted after the undersea earthquake occurs, and in the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean areas, that could mean only 10-30 minutes before they hit the shore.

Researchers on ASTARTE are now testing technology to quickly determine sea-floor movement and so give us an indication of how likely an area is to experience a tsunami.

The project is also examining a wide range of methods for improving resilience against tsunamis, from bolstering coastal defences and creating hazard maps to running informational training for coastguards on how to evacuate in the case of a tsunami.

Researchers are working at nine test sites in Europe, where they have created tsunami inundation maps displaying what regions are most likely to be affected and how. They are also designing evacuation routes and educational programmes to train civil defence forces, coast guards and regional authorities.

Prof. Baptista says that it’s important to educate all people across Europe, even those living in inland areas. “Tourists go all over the world. You can think that tsunamis are not so frequent in Europe. But the fact is that most European tourists travel to disaster-prone areas, so they must understand what is the phenomena and what to do, and how to become more resilient.”

Professor Tiziana Rossetto from University College London, UK, agrees that tsunamis can have a global impact, and not just a physical one.

“We’re globalised now, so any damage that happens to the built infrastructure and businesses in other countries can also affect the European economy,” she said. “So damage to the economy in Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand or South America will affect us, and these are all areas that are affected by tsunami, which are such major events and which devastate such large proportions of the coastline and result in major loss of life.”

Prof. Rossetto works on the UrbanWaves project, funded by the EU’s European Research Council, which is examining how tsunamis affect coastal structures, and how coastal defences could be improved to withstand tsunamis.

Her project is using brand new technology to generate tsunami-like waves in a laboratory, where the effects of tsunami on coastal buildings can be measured.

The research team built a series of flumes — huge tanks which generate mini-tsunamis — with which they run tests using model buildings to assess the damage caused. They invented a completely new kind of wave generator, which uses suction to suck air out of the tank and create really long waves, similar to tsunamis.

“Traditional generators are like pistons, they push the water. Our generators are more like a big tank that sucks the water up and pushes it down,” said Prof. Rossetto.

“These long, long waves are showing us completely different things from the shorter waves. In terms of understanding tsunamis, they’re for the first time giving us some realistic data. It’s different from what was done before.”

Using these huge tanks, plus model buildings and coastal defences, the researchers can effectively calculate what kinds of structures could potentially withstand tsunamis.

“It’s designing the engineering guidance for structures to resist tsunamis or to be assessed for their damage in the case of a tsunami,” said Prof. Rossetto.

Her team has already created some simple formulations for the forces on structures from tsunamis, and this research could help make certain important structures like nuclear reactors tsunami-proof.

They’ve also looked at designing evacuation routes for cities, like ASTARTE, but Prof. Rossetto’s research is looking at improving the design of buildings and tsunami-proof coastal defences which could provide civilians with a safe harbour to ride out the flood.

Further information:

http://astarte-project.eu/

Groups audience:

WP3 Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

PACE-Net Plus bi-regional dialogue platform: media release

PACE-Net Plus webmaster — Wed, 20 Jul 2016 01:16:52 +0000

Tuesday, 12 July 2016

Within the context of small fragile economies, vast oceans and extreme vulnerability, the Pacific-Europe Network for Science, Technology and Innovation (PACE-Net Plus) bi-regional dialogue platform recognises that regional cooperation amongst Small Island States of the Pacific is the only way forward to a sustainable future.

These were the comments by the Deputy Prime Minister of Tonga, Honourable Siaosi Sovaleni, who officiated as the Chief Guest at the opening of the PACE-Net Plus bi-regional dialogue platform on 30 June 2016 at the Tanoa International Hotel in Nadi, with a focus on innovation in the Pacific.

The PACE-Net Plus bi-regional dialogue platform was hosted by The University of the South Pacific’s (USP) Faculty of Science, Technology and Environment (FSTE) with the theme “Moving towards a high-level policy dialogue in Science, Technology and Innovation (ST&I): Pathways to innovation in the Pacific region.”

Coordinated by the Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD), PACE-Net Plus is the second project funded by the European Commission to further support the institutional bi-regional policy dialogue in ST&I between the Pacific region and the European Union. One of the aims of the project is to strengthen the bi-regional cooperation in ST&I, notably through Horizon 2020, which is the European Union’s framework programme dedicated to research and innovation.

Honourable Sovaleni said within this dialogue platform, ST&I become increasingly important especially in regards to the global challenges faced by the South Pacific region. “Challenges such as energy and food security, transportation, and climate change are reasons for the Pacific to take advantage of ST&I,” he said. He also highlighted that the principal of regional and bi-regional cooperation, while respecting sovereignty and national priorities, is also reinforced and reflected by PACE-Net Plus.

Honourable Sovaleni added that in the context of the Kingdom of Tonga, the process of initiating the development of a ST&I policy framework financed by the European Commission through the PACE-Net Plus project has allowed Tonga to reassess challenges and opportunities. “It has allowed us to identify, the means of developing a more coordinated system of ST&I for Tonga, and to articulate a draft ST&I framework with strategies to improve our ST&I and legal framework; good governance; knowledge sharing; research infrastructure; advanced education and training; and entrepreneurship, innovation potential of our country,” he said. Honourable Sovaleni encouraged other Small Pacific Islands Developing States to be inspired and follow processes such as the one taken by Tonga under this project.

USP Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and International, Professor Derrick Armstrong said there is a dire need for innovations to yield specific solutions to the unique problems faced by the Pacific region. “It is also important to pilot and test innovations. In this regard, PACE-Net Plus has taken leadership and is moving in the right direction,” Professor Armstrong said.

Amongst many others, the major outcomes of PACE-Net Plus include:

A strategic Roadmap for STI regional frameworks for a better collaboration between the European Union and the Pacific;
The establishment of Pacific Islands University Research Network (PIURN);
An overview of innovation niches and strategies in the region;
Recent successful seed-funding scheme, enhancing regional and bi-regional partnerships;
PACE-Net Plus also supports the strengthening and the coordination of observatory systems of climate change in the region.

Professor Armstrong added that USP stands poised to make significant breakthroughs in areas of immediate importance to the region, specifically in Marine Science, Agriculture, and Climate Change among other sciences. He said that with the ongoing success of PACE-Net Plus project, all contributions made by consortium members during this dialogue platform will be a significant step forward in the years to come.

While thanking the EU Delegation for the PACE-Net Plus platform’s initiative and IRD as the co-organisers of the bi-regional dialogue platform, French Ambassador, His Excellency Michael Djokovic said that French research, through research institutes and universities, has been serving Europe and the Pacific for a long time.

Further information:

https://youtu.be/CCVx6S_-NoI

Groups audience:

WP1 Health, Demographic Change and Wellbeing

WP2 Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, Marine and Maritime and Inland Water Research, and the Bioeconomy

WP3 Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

WP4 Cooperation on Innovation Issues to Tackle the Societal Challenges

WP5 Strengthening Pacific-EU Research Cooperation Partnerships

WP6 Bi-regional Policy Dialogue in ST&I

International postgraduate course on Environmental Management for Developing and Emerging Countries

PACE-Net Plus webmaster — Fri, 20 May 2016 10:43:02 +0000

This 6-month course covers environmental management as an integrated interdisciplinary field. Therefore a broad range of topics is offered. The curriculum is organized in modules comprising issues of global sustainable development, environmental governance, environmental security, environmental economics and accounting, environmental awareness and public participation, applied ecology and ecosystem management, conservation of biodiversity, water management, recycling and waste management, energy for sustainable development, environmental assessment and environmental management systems, cleaner production and products and eco-efficiency, sustainable mobility, sustainable tourism as well as rural and urban land use planning. To provide survival knowledge of the German language a crash course is part of the programme. The lectures are held by professors of Technische Universität Dresden as well as experts from various national and international institutions.

A multitude of excursions to protected areas, industrial plants, public utilities for energy, water supply, waste water treatment, as well as waste recycling and disposal plants, environmental agencies and administrations etc. round off the course. They illustrate environmental problems and give ideas of successfully applied integrated environmental management practices. Participants are required to carry out a profound research on a specific environment related subject and present the results of this research in a symposium at the end of the course.

This course is particularly designed for decision-makers of public administration both at national and local level requiring an overall-competence in environmental matters. To gain the optimum from this training course, a first university degree (BA, BSc, e.g.) is absolutely indispensable. The nomination by the delegating institution is a mandatory prerequisite.

Application deadline: 9^th June 2016.

Website:

https://tu-dresden.de/die_tu_dresden/fakultaeten/fakultaet_forst_geo_und_hydrowi...

Groups audience:

WP3 Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

Building Pacific region capacity to observe, analyse and apply ocean data

PACE-Net Plus webmaster — Wed, 18 May 2016 09:59:33 +0000

Participants from across the Pacific and ocean science experts from around the world will convene in Noumea to take part in a regional workshop aimed at building capacity and awareness on ocean processes, ocean observations and data applications, as well as advancing the design and coordination of a Pacific Islands ocean observation network.

The Pacific Islands are “Large Ocean States” spanning an area larger than the African continent, yet just 2% of the region is land set in the Pacific Ocean.

The ocean is essential to Pacific Islanders’ way of life, and the region is renowned for its seafaring history and use of traditional knowledge, for example, for navigation. Yet oceanographic capacity is limited within the Pacific Islands region, and generally resides within local meteorological services.

However, there is a strong interest in increasing capacity to collect, analyse, and communicate the latest oceanographic data across a number of sectors such as meteorology and climate services, fisheries, marine trade and tourism. Increasing capacity in these sectors will contribute to improving the livelihoods of Pacific people, and allow them to more effectively engage in the global ocean community.

Day one of the workshop will be a meeting of the Pacific Island Marine and Ocean Services Panel (PIMOS Panel). This panel was established by the Third Meeting of the Pacific Meteorological Council (PMC) in Nuku’alofa, Tonga, in 2015.

The panel’s purpose is to provide technical advice to the PMC on matters related to marine and ocean services, with an emphasis on oceanography and marine meteorology, to strengthen coastal multi-hazard early warning systems, national preparedness and maritime safety support mechanisms at the national and regional level.

These priorities are set out in the Pacific Islands Meteorological Strategy and other international and regional frameworks such as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 and the S.A.M.O.A Pathway.

This meeting is organised by the Joint World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM) in coordination with the French Institute for Research and Development (IRD) and the Pacific Community (SPC).

The training is also made possible by support from New Caledonia Meteorological Service, South Pacific Observatory (GOPS), EU- PACENET-plus, Pacific Island GOOS (PIGOOS), Australia’s Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS), the Australian Bureau of Meteorology’s Climate and Oceans Support Program in the Pacific (COSPPac), China’s National Center of Ocean Standards and Metrology of (NCOSM), World Meteorological Organization (WMO)/Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), USA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Climate Observation (OCO).

Currently there is a growing international awareness of the importance of the oceans, for example, highlighted at the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference (COP 21) in Paris, and previously at the 3^rd UN SIDS conference in Samoa.

Groups audience:

WP3 Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

Water Governance in Oceania: water uses, access, management tools and policies

PACE-Net Plus webmaster — Thu, 12 May 2016 02:35:12 +0000

In conjunction with the PACE-NET Plus bi-regional platform, a regional workshop will be organized with the Fonds Pacifique funded water governance project on:
Water Governance in Oceania: water uses, access, management tools and policies
Officially titled: La gouvernance de l’eau dans le Pacifique: usages, dispositifs, politiques publiques

This workshop draws on both the results of the PACE-Net and PACE-Net Plus projects from across the Pacific, as well as the ongoing work in New Caledonia, the Republic of Kiribati and the Kimberley region of Australia, that have been the main focus of the Fonds Pacifique project.

The workshop aims to support knowledge exchange and identification of future research, practice and innovation needs for water governance in the Pacific. In the first part, a general overview of the state of water governance in the Pacific will be provided. This will be followed by brief exposés of the recent participatory processes that are being developed in New Caledonia (VKP, Northern Province), the Kimberley (Fitzroy River ‘Mardoowarra’) and other areas for water planning and stewardship.

The second part of the workshop will then be an interactive investigation of other lessons from practice, as well as challenges and opportunities that build on from the work of the projects. This section will aim to update priority areas where participants could provide added value research and innovation projects that complement the existing technical and development programs of SPC and Pacific donors.

How to effectively develop and sustain a bi-regional water governance research and innovation ‘community of practice’ and forum that has been built as part of these projects will also be discussed.

This workshop is open to all participants of the PACE-Net Plus platform with an interest in water governance, Fonds Pacifique Project partners, as well as other interested regional stakeholders (on request and based on capacity constraints).

To register your interest, or for further information, please contact:
Dr Katherine Daniell ANU Centre for European Studies The Australian National University, Acton ACT 2602, Australia Faculty of Science and Technology and Environment Phone: +61 2 6125 8100 Mobile: +61 419 848 256 e-mail: katherine.daniell@anu.edu.au

Groups audience:

WP3 Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

WP6 Bi-regional Policy Dialogue in ST&I

- Private group -

https://eudevdays.eu/

PACE-Net Plus webmaster — Thu, 05 May 2016 04:07:13 +0000

The European Development Days (EDD) are Europe’s leading forum on development and international cooperation. Organised by the European Commission, the forum brings the development community together each year to share ideas and experiences in ways that inspire new partnerships and innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.

Groups audience:

WP1 Health, Demographic Change and Wellbeing

WP2 Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, Marine and Maritime and Inland Water Research, and the Bioeconomy

WP3 Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials