University of Córdoba

The University of Cordoba (UCO) is the third Spanish University in quality index, the second in research and one of the best according to the number of international publications and research projects. UCO has strong links with Latin America in a broad range of topics from teaching and research, to cooperation strategies, common projects, etc. The Higher School of Agriculture and Forestry Engineering also has an important record of participation in international projects in agriculture and forestry, water economics, rural development, environmental and sustainability topics in Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia.UCO has participated in 56 research projects, since VFP, leading 11 of them. Currently 3 more projects are in negotiation phase and 4 are part of ERA-Nets.

In collaboration with Latin American partners, the most relevant projects are KASWARMI (6FP) and DELIVER (6FP). UCO has lead and participated in different ALFA programs and CYTED Networks. UCO researchers included in COMET-LA are members of the Departaments of Agricultural Economics and Forestry. They have participated in the following international projects: XEROCHORE: An Exercise to Assess Research Needs and Policy Choices in Areas of Drought (7FP), CAPIRE Assessing the multiple impacts of the Common Agricultural Policies on Rural Economies (7FP), MELIA Mediterranean dialogue on integrated water management (6FP), AQUAMONEY Development and testing of practical guidelines for the assessment of environmental and resource costs and benefits in the WDF (6FP), International Impact Assessment of Agriculture Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (World Bank), Evaluation of rural development experiences in Latin America (InterAmerican Development Bank), Education for Rural Development (UNESCO and FAO), Analysis of the public policies influence in the management of water in agriculture: Incertitude, Climate Change and WDF (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation), CLIMBE: Climate Change and biodiversity loss: the effects on ecosystem (BBVA Foundation).

UCO team

Norwegian Institute for Air Research

Since 1969 NILU - Norwegian Institute for Air Research has been an independent research foundation specialising in air pollution research from global to local problems and today is one of the largest European institutes in this field. NILU is the Chemical Co-ordinating Centre for EMEP and coordinates the work under the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution on particulate matter. NILU is a member of the European Environment Agency’s Topic Centre on Air Quality and Climate Change.

NILU has 40 years experience in ambient trace gas measurements, air quality modelling and management activities. NILU has been involved in several recent or current EC-research projects relevant to TRANSPHORM, such as MEGAPOLI, CITYZEN, EUCAARI, EUSAAR, CREATE, GMES-GATO, FORMAT, ASSET, FUMAPEX, Air4EU and ACCENT.

NILU team

James Hutton Institute

The James Hutton Institute was formed in April 2011 from the merger of the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute (MLURI) and the Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI), to combine their strengths in land-use and environmental research. The institute uses interdisciplinary approaches to work on key global issues such as food, energy and environmental security, and on technological and management approaches to tackle these issues.

The JHI employs more than 600 scientists and support staff from a variety of natural and social science disciplines, making it one of the biggest research centres in the UK. It is based in two main sites in Scotland (at Aberdeen and Dundee) but works on projects across Scotland, Europe, and also in many developing countries. JHI places great importance on emphasising the relevance of its research to decision-makers at different scales and sectors, from policy-makers to land-managers. It therefore has particular expertise and interest in developing effective science-policy-practice interfaces.

In case you wonder, the institute is named after James Hutton (1726 – 1797), who was a leading figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, an eighteenth century ‘golden age’ of intellectual and scientific achievements centred on Edinburgh. He is internationally regarded as the founder of modern geology and one of the first scientists to describe the Earth as a living system. His thinking on natural selection influenced Charles Darwin in developing his theory of evolution.

JHI team

Sagremarisco-Viveiros de Marisco Lda.

Sagremarisco-Viveiros de Marisco Lda. was founded in 1985 as a limited company at Sagres in SW Portugal. SGM operates at the interface between industry, education and scientific research and management providing: maintenance support for  the local aquaculture industry and  fishing fleet, as well as running  trials in  marine conditions for materials that are  under development for maritime use; support with equipment and human resources for  coastal field studies by both local and foreign universities, and other educational institutions: active participation in scientific research projects in the coastal zone; involvement with local, national and international institutions responsible for management of the coastal zone. Some examples of recent or current partnerships in European funded research projects: 2000-2003, Oceanographic applications to eutrophication in regions of restricted exchange (OAERRE); 2004-2007, Collective research on aquaculture biofouling (CRAB); 2007-Ongoing,  “Science and policy integration for coastal system assessment” (SPICOSA); 2008-2012:  European Space Agency “Technical assistance for the validation of  MERIS marine products at Portuguese and oceanic and coastal sites”.  At national level, SGM is a Consultant to the Administração de Região Hidrográfico  (ARH) in the Algarve, Portugal on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive, and  at the local level advises the Junta de Freguesia of Vila do Bispo and the Associação de Marisqueiros of Vila do Bispo on “The management of the stalk barnacle fishery along the SW coast of Portugal”.

Since its inception, SGM has consulted on offshore aquaculture and is currently licensed with a partnership to install a “long line” system for offshore bivalve culture at Sagres.

PUJ School of Environmental and Rural Studies

Pontificia Universidad Javeriana is a private higher education institution founded in 1623. It is one of the oldest and most traditional Colombian universities, directed by the Society of Jesus, with its headquarters in Bogotá and a sectional division in Cali. It is one of the 31 universities entrusted to the Society of Jesus in Latin America, and one of the114 worldwide. Javeriana University at Bogotá with an enrollment of 22.000 students, is composed of 18 Schools comprising 62 departments, 14 institutes, and 193 academic programs in different areas of knowledge, giving the university its multidisciplinary nature.The Javeriana University has 166 research groups enrolled at the Technical Secretariat of the National Agency of Science and Technology -COLCIENCIAS. 126 of the latter have been ranked for their productivity in the National Ranking. The University ranks number one among private universities in Colombia for having the largest number of ranked groups.

It conducts research projects in the natural sciences and mathematic areas, in social and human sciences, theology, health, education, economics, management, engineering, architecture, design, urban development, and arts. It runs an average of 120 research projects per year, 30% of which have external funding, and is part of 3 National Excellence Research Centers:

• CIEBREG (Biodiversity and Genetic Resources)
• CEIBA (Interdisciplinary Research on Complex Systems)
• GEBIX (Genomics and Bioinformatics)

The Javeriana University ranks number one among private universities in Colombia for having the largest number of refereed journals. The Javeriana University was the first higher education institution in Colombia to be awarded, for its high quality level, institutional acreditation for a period of eight years by Resolution 1320 of June 12th 2003, of the Ministry of National Education. Today, only 16 universities in Colombia have been granted said recognition.

The University has a total of 27 undergraduate programs with high quality accreditation, and other ten programs are now in the more advanced accreditation process stage.In graduate programs, quality is acknowledged through the Qualified Registries. The University has156 graduate programs with Qualified Registries

PUJ team

Universidad Autónoma de México

The Faculty of Economics of UNAM has a long history of research on environmental economics and sustainable development. At present, it offers a Master´s and a Doctoral Programme on these topics.

Issues such as water use, forestry, social participation in ecological systems, energy and others are part of the research work carried out by academics and graduate students. The Faculty also participates in a branch of a Doctoral Programme on Environmental Economics and Sustainable Development at the National University La Agraria in Lima, Peru. This programme is designed to address the needs of creating human capital for the Andean Region. Interesting and useful theses are emerging of such academic enterprise. It should be mentioned that the main emphasis of all the work is to establish an interdisciplinary approach to environmental problems although the economic variables are place as important ones. More than ten researchers and 60 students are involved in this area of knowledge.

UNAM team

Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía

The Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía  (IADO) was founded in 1969 as non-profit research institute depending from the National Council for Science and Technology (CONICET) and Universidad Nacional del Sur (UNS) both from Argentina. IADO conducts about 30 projects annually from national and international funding agencies as well as specific studies requested by the local, provincial and federal governments and agencies and industry. IADO has also participated in two other EU projects. IADO has experience in studying the geomorphology, dynamics and biogeochemistry of estuaries, coastal wetlands and other coastal environments and their interaction with the biota and human activities. It also has experience on urban and coastal climate directed to improve the environmental conditions of coastal cities. The current Vicedirector of IADO headed several international working groups such as the SCOR/LOICZ/IAPSO WG 122. He is also member of major international award committees.

IADO team

Aqua Marina, Centro de Estudios en Ciencias Marinas

AquaMarina is a non profit organization established as a civil association in 1998 and currently turning to a Foundation in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is an active founder member of the EcoHealth Alliance, a network of 10 international science-based conservation organizations dedicated to understanding the consequences of human activities on biodiversity, ecosystem function and health.

AquaMarina has experience in fisheries and coastal management developing socio-economic studies to understand the coastal fishery, evaluating new approaches for coastal management in urbanized beaches, providing scientific knowledge and resources to develop management plans in coastal protected areas, developing opportunities to improve local human resources and capacity building, and developing new approaches on informal environmental education in cooperation with local communities.

AquaMarina is focused on saving biodiversity in human-dominated bioscapes where ecological health is most at risk because of habitat loss, species imbalance, pollution and other environmental issues caused by human-induced change. It formally has agreements of cooperation with National and International Academic Institutions as well as County, Provincial and Federal agencies. It is also a member of the Binational Uruguay-Argentina Biodiversity Conservation Taskforce for the La Plata estuary (PNUD/GEF/RLA99/G31) and also member of the Forum for the Conservation of the Patagonian Sea,. AquaMarina currently runs 5 conservation-research projects in applied science with support from national and international funding organizations. 

Aqua Marina team

Consejo Comunitario de la Comunidad Negra de la Cuenca Baja del Rio Calima

This Council is located in the Municipality of Buenaventura in the Valle del Cauca department, in the Choco biogeographic region, which has been recognized internationally as one of the most biologically diverse areas on the planet. The Council includes 679 families with 4000 inhabitants approximately. It is mostly occupied by black communities, settled all along the shores of the Calima river mainly. This Council possesses a collective heritage and mythology that marks it as a human group with a common history, based upon it origins as slaves brought from Africa to America in Colonial times.

The Council has developed a series of principles and values to govern the territory including the following:

• Protection of traditional knowledge
• Recovery and fostering of traditional culture
• Enhancement of processes and settings for relationship building and socialization between elderly and youth
• Enhancement of local autonomy
• Generation and strengthening of sense of belonginess

CCCNCBRC team

Estudios Rurales y Asesoría Campesina

ERA was founded in 1993 as a non-profit development and research professional organization. Its work has focused on sustainable forestry in rural and indigenous communities in South Mexico, including Capulalpam, where ERA has developed several projects since 1993.

Since 1993, ERA have conducted 20 research projects, including 11 related with sustainable natural resources use and 9 addressing environmental services provision. ERA have facilitated interdisciplinary team working many times, including a Mexico and Central America consultation process to identify principles for sustainable biodiversity management, hosting a national process to develop Mexican standards for sustainable forest management under the Forest Stewardship Council framework, and a Meso-american training module on community forestry bringing together four times 20-members cohorts of young professionals  from 8 Central and Latin American  countries.

ERA team

CEUICN

The Spanish National Committee of IUCN was founded in 1989 as a non-profit association. It´s one of the officially recognized National Committees by IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature-www.iucn.org). IUCN was founded in 1948 as the world´s first global environmental organization and it´s nowadays the largest professional international conservation network. More than 1000 members in 140 countries including 200 government and 800 non-government organizations guarantee the experience. CEIUCN works within the Spanish scope, with a close look to strategic alliances specifically towards west Europe, Mediterranean and Latin America.Its aims are to improve communications, cooperation and coordination between governmental and non-governmental entities making use of the whole machinery of IUCN; from the environmental perspective, creating a platform to share experiences, good practices and dynamize synergic collaborations within its members.

CEUICN team