CIRCLE-MED Final Conference - "Coping with Climate Change in Mediterranean Coastal Areas – the Water Management Challenge"

The Meeting will bring together scientists, research funders and -managers and policy makers. It is organized in the context of the CIRCLE ERA-Network of national research programmes in Europe (see http://www.circle-era.eu)

According to the 4th IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report, the environment and human activities of the Mediterranean area will be among the most affected in the world by global warming. It will change precipitation and evaporation rates over land and sea, creating even drier conditions. Coastal zones both to the north and the south of the Mediterranean basin are particularly vulnerable. This vulnerability is aggravated by significantly increasing pressures on water resources due to the socio-economic developments in these areas. The consequences are severe risks in the long term such as the destruction of coastal aquifers through seawater intrusion, the degraded quality of water and aquatic systems, reduced flows and the drying up of wetlands.

In this context, the first research call of the CIRCLE-MED group focused on adaptation strategies in the water sector and coastal zones and on finding a new equilibrium in the Integrated Management of Water Resources and Coastal Resources.

Eight projects were selected associating research bodies from France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Israel, Morocco, Tunisia, Croatia, and Albania. More information on the projects objectives and contents is available at www.circle-med.net .

During the final conference, the researchers will present and discuss their project results. Other research activities dealing with this topic will also be presented. It is planned that the conference will be introduced by the Blue Plan which will present an overview of the water challenges of this particular region. In conclusion a possible future CIRCLE joint call "Eurodeltas" will be presented.

The conference will take place on March 22-23, 2011, in the Congress Centre of Aix-en-Provence (France), with a possible excursion to the Camargue Natural Reserve on the 23rd afternoon.