Largest-ever project on Mediterranean climate launched
The largest-ever research project on climate change in the Mediterranean has got underway. Funded under the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), CIRCE (Climate Change and Impact Research: the Mediterranean Environment) will bring together some 62 researchers who will, over four years, evaluate the best strategies to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change in the region. Previous assessments have suggested that the Mediterranean is the most vulnerable of European regions to the changes expected to affect natural resources this century. Soaring temperatures and hence recurring droughts are likely to lead to an increased risk of fires, water shortages and loss of agricultural land. 'We are looking at major impacts that could put tremendous stress on agriculture, water management, energy production and tourism,' Antonio Navarra of Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, and coordinator of CIRCE, told AFP. The project consortium will research further climatic predictions for the region and their relation to global climatic change to increase understanding of the evolution of radiative fluxes, water cycle, cloudiness, aerosols and extreme events like intensive flooding. Impacts on agriculture, ecosystems, forest, air quality and human health will also be evaluated. The partners hope that their research will provide a clearer picture of what is to come so that the economic and social consequences can be assessed, particularly for the region's tourism, energy markets and local migration. 'The outcomes, that will derive from the collaboration among mathematicians, physicians, climatologists, agronomists, economists and IT experts, will be available both for the scientific community and decision makers,' says Dr Navarra. 'Through this project, research becomes an important tool to support, by scientific evidence and future scenario predictions, the actions to mitigate the climate change.'