CORDIS focus will feature "Planet Earth" supplement
A special supplement called "Planet Earth" will soon be published with CORDIS focus, the print version of CORDIS news on-line. This supplement will give details of the results of a selection of projects funded by the 'Environment and Climate' and 'Marine Science and Technology' programmes of the European Commission (EC), DG XII, and run through the Fourth Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration (RTD). "Planet Earth" will present some of the environmental issues our planet faces and demonstrate what the EC is doing to tackle these problems by giving the results of a selection of projects and examples of technologies developed through Community research. It also shows how the EC is looking forward in its approach to these problems with the next wave of RTD funding through the Fifth Framework Programme (FP5). The supplement will be divided into chapters on: - Fighting natural disasters (including details of research on, for example, ''artificial intelligence in earthquake planning" and "fire spotting"); - Global change (including details of research on, for example, "reversal of soil nitrogen loss through de-acidified soil" and the "first digital monitoring of North Atlantic data set") ; - Sustainability (including details of research on, for example, how "computers help to resolve urban conflict" and "heat-loving organisms devour environmental pollutants"); - Enabling technologies (including details of research on, for example, a "new test facility (which) improves detection of buried objects at sea" and an "accurate multi-sensor, mapping system for ocean and land surfaces"); - Commercial opportunities (including details of research on, for example, "assigning financial value to environmental data" and how "bacteria provide (a) means of ensuring safer water supplies"); - Forward with the Fifth (including a guide to where environmental research is oriented within the broad picture of FP5, and details of the priorities allocated to research in this sector.)