| Popis: |
The Black Sea and Mediterranean regions are important areas for all the three thematic pillars that are specific objectives of the IASON project (i.e. coastal monitoring, water and soil management, mining and mineral exploration), and even more when wider topics from Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 5 are considered (i.e. Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials). The information collected during the first year of activities in the IASON project, and stored in the Initiatives and Stakeholders database (currently evolving to a full IASON Permanent Networking Facility), demonstrates that several research and networking activities were and are funded by the European Union in the context of different programmes, on the topics of interest. However, while Climate Action and Resource Efficiency topics are well-covered and often linked each other, the Raw Materials topic has less coverage and it is usually not connected with the others. IASON partners are also involved in on-going overarching initiatives, like the Black Sea Commission or the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) programme which have long-term strategies and objectives relevant to the IASON topics, for example implementing existing conventions at European and global level. A link between research and networking activities and those overarching initiatives, for example through agreements with institutions active in the areas of interest, would be useful for achieving better alignment of objectives and mobilization of resources. The strong link between activities in the Black Sea and Mediterranean regions, highlights how Balkans play an important role, as a bridge between the two regions. Many research activities in the areas of interest produce EO resources, but not all of them are easily and openly available. Specific actions directed to the uptake of past projects outcomes, including datasets and other resources, may be effective, producing immediate results often with minor effort. Most of the countries belonging to the two regions are members of the Group on Earth Observation. The actions recently carried out to bring Armenia and Georgia in GEO are success stories which might be replicated in other countries which are still not members. |
