SIXTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME PRIORITY: ERA-NET Coordination of National and Regional Activities (ERA-NET scheme) Proposal/Contract no.

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1 SIXTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME PRIORITY: ERA-NET Coordination of National and Regional Activities (ERA-NET scheme) Proposal/Contract no.: CIRCLE CA Climate Impact Research Coordination for a Larger Europe Deliverable Del. IV b-1 Nature: Report Dissemination Level: Public Due Date: Month 42 Work Package Leader: Partner 1 (UBA-A), Partner 3 (AKA) Task Leader: Partner 3 (AKA), Partner 1 (UBA-A) Editor: Laura Valkeasuo, Konsta Heikkilä and Markus Leitner Contributing Authors: Katja Pazdernik and Martin König

2 PAGE: 2 of 74 Table of Contents 1 INTRODUCTION NORDIC CALL CALL PROCESS Preparation of the call Call text Common application form FUNDED PROJECTS SCHEDULE MEDITERRANEAN CALL (MED CALL) CALL PROCESS Call text Call framework Common application form FUNDED PROJECTS KICK-OFF MEETING CEES INITIATIVE WORKSHOP TIMETABLE QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS FUTURE PROSPECTS MOUNTAIN CALL THE CIRCLE RESEARCH TOPIC LIST MUTUAL ADJUSTMENT OF THE RESEARCH AGENDAS OF THE PARTICIPATING RESEARCH PROGRAMMES... 64

3 PAGE: 3 of 74 1 Introduction In accordance with the CIRCLE DoW from September 2005, WP IV FULFILL shall reach the ERA-Net goal of the first strategic re-structuring of European Climate Change Impact Research funding by implementing transnational research activities. The Task Groups were established in WP GROUP - the Mediterranean (MED), the Nordic, the Atlantic, the Central and Eastern European countries (CEE) and the Mountain group. Until now the CIRCLE MED group and the CIRCLE Nordic group have already issued pilot calls. The CIRCLE Atlantic group started elaborating on possible topics for a joint call, but looking at the topical focus of the MED call it was found that there was quite some overlapping. For this reason it was decided to reconsider the topics again and postpone the call to The CIRCLE Mountain group is currently working on the identification of research topics offering an added-value to already tackled projects at European level and being of interest to all potential participating partners. The launch of the joint call is envisaged for autumn The CIRCLE CEE group has successfully accomplished a workshop with participants from Eastern European Countries in Hungary to learn about their needs and possibilities to collaborate with CIRCLE, but also to exchange experiences between CIRCLE and CEE countries. This report gives on overview on CIRCLE s transnational research, including call texts, lists of joint projects funded and the like, as well as future prospects of envisaged calls. The idea behind this report is on the one hand to summarize CIRCLE initiatives (joint calls and activities/workshops) already taken and/or planned (future joint calls) and inform about lessons learned and experiences.

4 PAGE: 4 of 74 2 Nordic Call 2.1 Call process Preparation of the call The Nordic group started by preparing a report (available at on key impacts in important sectors in the Nordic countries, including Russia. In the same report, also regional co-operation topics were identified such as possibilities to have (i) web portals / information-brokerage of national research agendas and activities, (ii) opening of national calls for other countries in the region and (iii) pooling resources into joint calls or joint topics with national calls, funding and administration, but with collective regional elements in research activities, stakeholder involvement and research communication. As a first step, it was decided to have a joint call Call text Call for proposals: The ERA-NET CIRCLE NORDIC Research on consequences of climate change for policy making in the Nordic countries The ERA-NET CIRCLE (Climate Impact Research Coordination in a Larger Europe) is a network of public-sector research funders, including research institutes, ministries and regulatory authorities. CIRCLE aims at achieving better research coordination in Europe in the field of consequences of and adaptation to climate change. The aim of this call is to enhance Nordic research cooperation in the areas specified below. This is a Nordic pilot call under the CIRCLE ERA-NET. The funding organisations of the call are: the Academy of Finland, the Research Council of Norway and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. The research conducted within this call should increase knowledge of options, premises and barriers for climate change adaptation including the relationship between adaptation and mitigation. The theme for project proposals is research on consequences of climate change for policy making in important sectors in the Nordic countries, e.g. What are the synergies and trade-offs between adaptation and mitigation to climate change in policy making? How do the Nordic countries compare and differ with respect to adaptation needs and implementation ability? Additional value of Nordic cooperation should be clearly addressed and will be one of the evaluation criteria. The call will have a total maximum budget of Euros, with a maximum of Euros from each funding organisation. Eligible activities: Funding is for either existing research activities or for starting up new ones. Funding can be applied for:

5 PAGE: 5 of 74 Salaries and grants Travel expenses (climate friendly) Seminars and workshops Equipment costs will not be funded. Formal requirements: Each proposal shall be submitted by a trans-national consortium including partners from all three countries. Others may also participate as partners of the consortia, but must be independently financed. Funding can be applied for researchers/research teams in the universities and research institutes in countries funding the call (Finland, Norway and Sweden). Applicants must also meet the national eligibility criteria. Maximum duration of projects is 2 years. Decision making procedure CIRCLE Nordic will appoint a Call Steering Committee (CSC), consisting of two representatives from each of the funding organisations. The CSC will manage the call and give a recommendation for funding to the national funding organisations. Proposals will be evaluated by an expert panel, which submits its evaluation to the CSC. The evaluation criteria are: scientific quality qualifications of the consortium feasibility cooperation communication plan relevance to the call The objective of the evaluation process is to select trans-national research proposals, which meet the needs of both CIRCLE and the national funding organisations. The final decision on funding will be made in the national funding organisations. The call will be open between 19 October 2007 and 10 December 2007, 5 pm CET. Applications received after this deadline will be excluded from the evaluation process. The projects of the consortium should be ready to begin on 1 May The call will have a single stage application procedure. One joint application should be submitted by the project leader on behalf of the whole consortium. Submission requires the consortium to complete a common electronic application form and a project description of maximum 10 pages including each subproject (see guidelines) in pdf format. The language of the application is English. For information on national eligibility criteria, see information on the web pages of the national contact points. Applications should be submitted on-line at Download Application form with Guidelines for project description Evaluation criteria National contact points: Finland The Academy of Finland

6 PAGE: 6 of 74 Research council for Biosciences and Environment Jaana Vormisto tel Mirka Gustafsson tel Norway The Research Council of Norway Kristin Dahle tel , krda@rcn.no Karine Hertzberg tel , kah@rcn.no Sweden Swedish Environmental Protection Agency Research Secretariat Marianne Lilliesköld tel Marianne.lillieskold@naturvardsverket.se Common application form SECTION 1: COMMON APPLICATION FORM FOR THE CIRCLE-NORDIC PILOT CALL Research on consequences of climate change for policy making in the Nordic countries

7 PAGE: 7 of 74 Proposal Number: (Allocated by call secretariat) COMMON APPLICATION FORM Research on consequences of climate change for policy making in the Nordic countries Project title Administrative details and project summary Applicant/ Leader Partner 1 Research institute/ Company Status: Private or public? Street name and number PO Box Postal code Cedex Town Country Person in charge Family name First name(s) Title Gender Female Male Date of birth (DD/MM/YYYY) Nationality Phone Fax adress Web site Applicant Partner 2

8 PAGE: 8 of 74 Research institute/ Company Status: Private or public? Street name and number PO Box Postal code Cedex Town Country Person in charge Family name First name(s) Title Gender Female Male Date of birth (DD/MM/YYYY) Nationality Phone Fax Web site Applicant Partner 3 Research institute/ Company Status: Private or public? Street name and number PO Box Postal code Cedex Town Country Person in charge

9 PAGE: 9 of 74 Family name First name(s) Title Gender Female Male Date of birth (DD/MM/YYYY) Nationality Phone Fax Web site Applicant Partner 4 (if applicable) Research Company institute/ Status: Private or public? Street name and number PO Box Postal code Cedex Town Country Person in charge Family name First name(s) Title Gender Female Male Date of birth (DD/MM/YYYY) Nationality Phone Fax Web site Please make copies of the table above if there are more applicants

10 PAGE: 10 of 74 Summary (Please describe briefly objectives, work planning and expected exploitation of results of the suggested collaborative project; max characters) Work packages (WP) No. of WP Title (Use as many lines as needed) WP 1 WP 2 WP 3 WP 4 WP 5 WP 6 Leader Partner 2 Partner 3 Partner 4 (if applicable) (Use as many lines as needed). Following table has be modified to account for subcontracting

11 PAGE: 11 of 74 Costs per partner and requested funding budget (in EURO) Partner Project coordinator A - Total own (costs/expens es 1) B - Requested funding budget Partner 2 % Partner 3 % Partner 4 (if applicable) Total Funding (B/A) % % rate C- if budget is requested through another partner, please specify which one Total project costs per partner and per year (in EURO) Partner Costs year 1 Costs year 2 Total costs Applied to coordinator % Partner 2 % Partner 3 % Partner 4 if applicable 1) Total costs/expenses comprise costs or expenses for personnel, travelling, consumables, overhead (if applicable) etc.; the cost calculation has to be based for each partner on its national/regional funding rules; for questions, please contact your national/regional funding organisation (Use as much lines as needed) % Duration of the project: DD/MM/YYYY - DD/MM/YYYY

12 PAGE: 12 of 74 CHECKLIST for Proposers The proposal conforms to the guidelines for project description. Every project partner has checked that their collaboration and their project contribution is eligible for funding. All partners who are not eligible for 100% funding are able to provide financial resources for their own contribution.

13 PAGE: 13 of 74 Guidelines for project description: Please provide a detailed project description, jointly filled by all applicants, max. 10 pages of A4 excluding annexe; minimum type size 11 (Arial) or 12 (Times Roman), which addresses the following: Title of the proposal General information (name, institute, country) on the 1. Project Leader (Coordinator) 2. Partners involved Project description: Research plan 1. Scientific objectives with detailed account of their relationship to the themes of the call 2. Theory and methods (innovation and new approaches) 3. Division of work packages between the partners including management plan 4. Proposed exploitation of future project results 5. Communication plan for the project (seminars, conferences, publications etc.) 6. Detailed schedule for the project 7. Breakdown of budget per year by each partner 8. References ANNEX I ANNEX II ANNEX III CVs and publication lists of each principal investigator involved (incl. current topics on related research projects) Sharing of work and cooperation with external organisations contributing to the project (if applicable) For each partner of the consortium: Letter of intent signed by authorised institution

14 PAGE: 14 of Funded projects Circle Nordic call 2008 Research on consequences of climate change for policy making in the Nordic countries The following projects will be funded during the years : PROJECT S NAME and funding all together ( ) Climate change: A Regional Assessment of Vulnerability and Adaptive capacity for the Nordic countries (CARAVAN) SWEDEN: Partner and national funding Centre of Climate Science and Policy Research, Linköping University (LIU) NORWAY: Partner and national funding University of Oslo (UiO) Climate Change adaptation in Norway, Sweden and Finland Do research, policy and practice meet? a) Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) & b) Linköping University a) , b) Climate change, community response and multilevel governance a) Stockholm Environment institute (COORDINATOR) & b) Umeå University Department of Social and Economic Geography a) Norwegian Meteorological Institute & b) Center for International Climate and Environmental Research Oslo (CICERO) FINLAND: Partner and national funding Finnish Environment Institute (COORDINATOR) a) Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) (COORDINATOR) & b) Helsinki University a) , b) a) , b) Western Norway Research Institute a) , b) Arctic Centre - Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law (FINLAND)

15 PAGE: 15 of 74 NATIONAL FUNDING Sweden all together ( ) Norway all together ( ) Finland all together ( ) TOTAL ( )

16 PAGE: 16 of 74 Project descriptions: Climate change: A Regional Assessment of Vulnerability and Adaptive capacity for the Nordic countries - CARAVAN The central aim of this two-year project is to compare and contrast alternative approaches to quantifying regional vulnerability to climate change in the Nordic region with a view to conducting more detailed vulnerability assessments in follow-up national and Nordic studies. Vulnerability is a function of exposure to climate change, sensitivity to its effects and adaptive capacity. The project's five specific objectives (each comprising an individual work package) are to: 1. explore alternative methods of describing exposure to climate and to climate change, based on a consistent set of climate observations and scenarios from a range of sources; 2. examine alternative impact models employed in partner countries for evaluating sectoral sensitivity to climate change, and analyse their applicability for application at municipality scale within each country as well as Nordic-wide;3. analyse appropriate indicators of adaptive capacity, based on literature review, comparison of national approaches and experiences, and available data and scenarios; 4. undertake preliminary vulnerability mapping for the present-day and future (e.g. 2050) in each country for at least one common sector using alternative approaches, scenarios and indices and compare the results; 5. report the results to stakeholder groups and prepare recommendations for future integrated assessments of regional vulnerability to climate change in the Nordic region. Systematic assessments of this kind are required to identify regions, sectors and communities in the Nordic region that may have difficulties in meeting the challenge of climate change. There are six work packages: WP 1 covers management and co-ordination; WPs 2-6 address the five objectives described above. Results will be presented at two workshops. Workshop 1, at month 6, will target key researchers in the field of vulnerability assessment. Workshop 2, at month 21, will target stakeholders working at national and municipal level. All three Partners have prior experience in some aspects of climate change vulnerability assessment, and are planning or already undertaking vulnerability assessments in their own countries. This project would provide us with an excellent opportunity to pool our knowledge and experience to develop effective methods of assessment to serve the whole region. Climate change adaptation in Norway, Sweden and Finland - Do research, policy and practice meet? Building on climate, impact and adaptation research, in dialogue with policy and practitioner representatives the objectives of the project are: to assess the present use of regional climate scenarios in communication, decision support and decision-making on climate change adaptation and mitigation; to map the present status of national and Nordic adaptation studies; to identify and analyse differences and best practices in the Nordic countries; to provide recommendations on future climate, impacts and adaptation research, research/policy dialogue and policy. The National Meteorological Institutes (FMI, SMHI, met. no) are experts on scientific basis of climate change and have the best knowledge of the national research projects and initiatives on impacts and adaptation. Helsinki University, Department of Economics and Management; CICERO and the Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research, Linköping University from Sweden lead the stakeholder dialogue, evaluate policy relevancy and will compare these national approaches. All partners will participate in formulating recommendations. The work is divided into four work packages:

17 PAGE: 17 of 74 Survey and assessment of climate scenarios and downscaling strategies used in climate change impact and adaptation studies in the Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, and Finland); Review on adaptation studies in the Nordic countries; Review and assessment of national policy approaches; Recommendations for better adaptation research and policies: A synthesis. The results of this project are expected to enhance transfer of knowledge between the countries and between different economic sectors, on adaptation to climate change. Special attention will be given to use and usefulness of climate scenarios. Another important outcome will be improved networking among the Nordic actors. Finally, the recommendations of this project are expected to have impact on future shaping of research agendas and policy actions by pointing out gaps of knowledge, needs of coherence, benefits of joint efforts, and prioritization of actions. Climate Change, Community Response and Multilevel Governance The aim of this project is to build a Nordic network for research on local climate adaptation and mitigation in the context of multilevel governance. By organizing a series of workshops for researchers and stakeholders, it will create a foundation for making creative links among the increasing number of ongoing research projects on climate adaptation. Furthermore, by placing the climate adaptation research into a context of sustainable development, it will explicitly link the analysis of adaptation to the issues of mitigation. The theoretical context of multilevel governance will create a potential for analysing the links between local, national, and international climate policy. The expected output of the project is a network that will increase the value of ongoing research projects by sharing of methods and results. It will also serve to bridge between research and practice in Finland, Norway, and Sweden. This will produce one or more joint research proposals that take advantage of the different national settings to develop strong comparative approaches in relation to both different national contexts, between EU and non-eu contexts, and between rural and urban areas. One of the workshops will focus on the Arctic, which will allow analysis that explicitly examines the role of international regional governance. Moreover, we will produce a review article of climate adaptation in the participating countries. The workshops will include representatives of major ongoing research projects on climate adaptation in the Finland, Norway, and Sweden and link to research on sustainable development in the context of Local Agenda 21 and on other environmental stressors and social processes. Common themes for the workshops will be the challenges of participatory research and the role of local mitigation and adaptation actions in the context of national and international climate politics. Special attention will be paid to the role of international regional cooperation with the Arctic as an example. Furthermore, we will focus on combining scenarios of climate change with scenarios of socio-economic change to better understand the cumulative effect of these two processes for local vulnerability. We will also raise the long-term challenge of preparing for a post-carbon society; a concept which have just recently been coined by the EU. 2.3 Schedule Timetable for the Nordic group The joint call was open between 15th of October 2007 to the 10th of December 2007* The scientific evaluation was carried out during one month ending with a panel meeting 25th to 26th of February 2008

18 PAGE: 18 of 74 The CSC and members of the organisations Scientific Boards met 7th of April for ranging the proposals Funding decisions by each national organisation during May The joint research projects started in June 2008 Midterm meeting in spring 2009 Final meeting in autumn 2009 or early 2010 *AKA had to prepare a pre-announcement of the call already in August, according to their rules. 3 Mediterranean Call (MED Call) 3.1 Call process A requisite of the MED Call was that research proposals were to include researchers from contributing countries, but also had to associate researchers belonging to other countries sharing Mediterranean coastline. The five CIRCLE-MED partners agreed to pay not only for their own national researchers, but also for researchers of non EU countries. Funding pledges initially summed up to 2.15 million Euros. By the cut-off date, sixteen proposals were received, representing a request of 3.46 million Euros. Institutions applied from many countries including Tunisia, Egypt, Greece, Albania, Croatia, Turkey and Morocco. Finally eight projects were selected for a total budget of 1.65 Million. These projects associate research bodies from France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Israel, Morocco, Tunisia, Croatia, and Albania. All funded projects will be monitored and assessed over the course of their duration. Three meetings are already scheduled: - a kick-off meeting in Rome in November 2008, to introduce all the projects and the researchers, and build a community dedicated to the call; - a mid-term meeting in Portugal in fall 2009, to review the mid-term report sent by the project teams; - a final meeting to be held in France at the end of 2010, where project teams will present the results of their research projects. Reviewing process: Proposals were first sent to scientific reviewers. A Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) then met on January 15th 2008 in order to harmonize ratings across the reviewers and achieve consensual evaluation. Only projects passing all scientific thresholds were submitted to the next step. The Call Steering Committee met on January 31 st 2008, ranked the project according to their relevance for national stakeholders, and recommended what projects to fund. Blue Plan assisted the Call Steering Committee by giving insights on regional relevance. As requests from institutions did not match national pledges, solutions were found among the five institutions in a cooperative manner.

19 PAGE: 19 of Call text CIRCLE-MED FIRST COORDINATED CALL Integrated Coastal Zones and Water Management INTRODUCTION Climate change in countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea is becoming a major problem in terms of development policies, quality of life and environmental protection. Its effects can be felt in terms of temperature, precipitations, and sea level, either through mean trends or extreme events patterns. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007) documented for the first time wide ranging impacts of changes in current climate such as retreating glaciers, longer growing seasons, shifts of species ranges, and health impacts due to heat waves. The observed changes described above are consistent with those projected for future climate change. (Part WGII-AR4 of the IPCC document) Still according to the IPCC, Southern Europe, already vulnerable to climate variability, will be mainly negatively affected from future impacts of climate change: more frequent high temperatures, more frequent droughts, more frequent heat waves. Finally IPCC stressed the need to promptly conduct impact studies and implement proactive climate change risk management adaptation plans. II - CONTEXT Specificities of the Mediterranean Regions The Mediterranean regions have been developing mainly in coastal zones as outlets for more continental regions, through the settlement of industries and services, rapid population growth in big cities, intensive urbanization of rural coastal areas, and important tourism development. All of these factors generated considerable difficulties in environment preservation. Hinterland zones support food security and recreation activities for urban peoples they provide ecosystem services vital for many activities: their contribution to water resources is major through watershed functions. Water resources in the Mediterranean region The Mediterranean region is highly vulnerable to climatic extremes, which can affect water resources and harvests. A major climate change can add vulnerability and raise serious questions about the sustainability of the region. Water scarcity is a constant issue for the development of these regions. Water is not only a fundamental resource necessary for the livelihood of our societies; it is also a production factor in industry, agriculture and services, and a major factor in the preservation of coastal ecosystems. In recent times, the intensification of agriculture through new crops (fruit, vegetable, early produce), large technical works (dams, irrigation networks) and management innovations for organizing irrigation networks helped meet food security needs and promoted new food consumption patterns in urban areas. Climate change adaptation through water resources management concerned essentially agriculture, the highest consuming sector for water. High water demand (for the development of industrialization, growth of large cities, maintaining good urban sanitary conditions and fulfilling other human needs) is a source of potential conflicts, and therefore creates a need for high-level planning processes and institutions. Water has clearly become a strategic factor in the viability and development of the Mediterranean region. The first impacts due to a small rise of global surface temperature in the Mediterranean region will be felt in the water resource system. Reductions in water availability would hit the southern Mediterranean countries. Some countries are particularly more vulnerable, such as Egypt, Libya, Lebanon, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Syria, and Malta where water availability already falls below, or approaches 1,000 m3 per person per year,

20 PAGE: 20 of 74 which is the common benchmark for water scarcity. Even technologically advanced countries, such as Spain, France, Italy, Greece and Israel, could suffer more frequent regional water shortages due to the twin problems of climate change and rising waterdemand. Some water supplies could become unusable due to the penetration of salt water into rivers and coastal aquifers as sea level rises. Water pollution, which is already a major health hazard in the region, would worsen still as pollutants become more concentrated with reductions in river flow. Adaptation strategies of Mediterranean regions to these threats require an optimization of water management for each use, as well as efficiency improvements. But it is widely acknowledged that these strategies will not be sufficient: new tradeoffs between different uses are drastically needed and are a key for continuing development and diminishing tensions between classes, communities, regions and nations in the Mediterranean region. Coastal zones: The impact of a higher average sea level on coastal areas may be increased during high tides and storms. Higher average sea level means higher tides and coastal storm flooding and storm surges covering more area. Larger areas of coastal lands could potentially be flooded and damaged. The coastal ecosystems particularly at risk include saltwater marshes, coastal wetlands, sandy beaches, coral reefs, river deltas, coastal archaeological sites, coastal cities towns and resort areas. Changes in these ecosystems and infrastructures would have major negative effects on tourism, freshwater supplies, and biodiversity. Over most of the Mediterranean basin, a possible sea level rise could affect some low-lying coastal areas, which will be lost through flooding or erosion, while rivers and coastal aquifers would become more salty. The worst affected areas will be the Nile Delta, Venice and Thessaloniki where local subsidence can also play a role. With increasing temperatures many valuable Mediterranean ecosystems could be lost as species fail to cope with the shift in climatic boundaries. Wetland sites will face the dual threats of drying out and sea level rise. Most wetland sites in southern Europe could disappear with a 3 to 4 C rise in temperatures, affecting also biodiversity, such as food plants and in fisheries. Most expected climate change impacts on the coastal zone (e.g., on water temperature, sea level, turbulence and surface currents, tides, floods, etc.) behave as direct ecological drivers that control and impact on ecosystem structure (e.g., species composition and abundance) and function (e.g., food web dynamics, biogeochemical fluxes rates), both in marine and transitional habitats. We can hence expect that climate change will cause a thorough departure from the good ecological status demanded by the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/E). Consequently adaptation measures will need to consider this issue. Understanding the functional relation between those climate change drivers, the ecosystems processes and the provision of goods and services by aquatic ecosystems is necessary to properly assess the status of surface waters, and to foresee the ecological consequences of different adaptation strategies in terms of ecosystem structure and functioning. III - RESEARCH CALL In accordance with the aforementioned context, this call will focus on the following topics: 1. Adaptation Strategies in the Water Sector and Coastal Zones The following issues can be considered: Urban zones: Maintaining recharge areas in the urban environment to cope with extreme storms and facilitate recharge of aquifers, optimize reclamation of wastewater in a sustainable manner. How to design sewage networks in ways that are sustainable for society and that preserve or improve human health. More specifically, the problem of water-borne diseases provoked by the dysfunction of marshy and coastal waters should be dealt with.

21 PAGE: 21 of 74 Agriculture: new production schemes, efficiency improvements in plant water use, techniques of precise transport of water to plants. Utilization of treated waste water. Industries: improving techniques for optimal use of water in industrial processes may derive from more severe constraints on water availability. Tourism: consequences of new sea-resorts on the human-environment system, importance of sea water quality in natural preserved zones. Climate change and coastal ecosystems/water resources management: estuaries, lagoons, terrestrial ecosystem structure, processes and services affected by climate change and related changes in water resources. Coastal zone/marine ecosystems and water management, which include: Studying the impact of climate change drivers on the coastal zone through scenario simulations; Determination of the changes in the surface water and the coastal area s environmental conditions subject to such drivers; Determination of the changes in the organisation and functioning of biological communities and ecosystems subject to such drivers; Determination of the role that natural ecological processes and structural complexity play for the resistance of aquatic ecosystems to such drivers, and for the supply of genetic resources needed for a long-term adaptation; Estimation of the impacts on natural resources and human activities in the coastal area; Proposal of management solutions and investment plans 2. A New Equilibrium in the Integrated Management of Water Resources and Coastal Resources a) How to rationalize, govern and put into action the trade-off between different water uses in the perspective of climatic change (IPCC scenarios give good frameworks for guiding the conceptualization of this question). b) Regulation between regions, spatial heterogeneity of the resource and the importance of watersheds in creating or regulating this heterogeneity may be important and could transform the way we think about collaboration and competition between zones; in some cases, transboundary problems may shift the equilibrium between nations. c) In all cases, at the planning level, innovative actions are to be elaborated for all kinds of resource allocation managements. IV GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS - Multi-disciplinary approaches should play an important role in the different research fields mentioned above; a good balance between biotechnical sciences (from hydrogeology to agronomy) and social sciences is expected at the project level. - Adaptation strategies call for early collaboration with decision makers in order to effectively disseminate recommendations from the call to policy practitioners. Research projects should aim at identifying and providing information to help solve practical adaptation problems. - Bilateral or trilateral collaborations between nations are important ancillary parameters for providing a better European and Mediterranean collaboration

22 PAGE: 22 of Call framework FRAMEWORK FOR THE FIRST PILOT CIRCLE-MED COORDINATED CALL Integrated Coastal Zones And Water Management CONTENTS 1. Background 2. Purpose of this Paper 3. Management of the First Pilot Co-ordinated Call 3.1 Call Steering Committee 3.2 Contact Persons - National Secretariats 3.3 Virtual Common Secretariat 4. The Principles of CIRCLE Coordinated Call 4.1 Call funding Funding Rates and Eligibility Deadline Project Duration 4.2 Project proposal Eligible Project Structure and Project Management Requirements for Grants How to Present your Proposal? Submission of the Proposal 4.3 Evaluation process Formal Evaluation - Eligibility check Scientific Evaluation - Scope and Priority Check Final Ranking 4.4 Project Monitoring and Reporting 5. Application Forms 5.1 Common application form 5.2 National application form 5.3 List of eligible countries This announcement represents the first pilot call of the ERA-NET CIRCLE. It is launched by the Mediterranean community within CIRCLE: CIRCLE-MED. This call is meant to establish transnational collaborative research projects on the following specific area within climate change research: Integrated Coastal Zones And Water Management. 1. Background CIRCLE is an Era-net funded by the European commission. Its main aim is to coordinate European research on the impact of, and adaptation to climate change. It should help decision-makers design effective strategies, since adaptation is needed regardless of developments on greenhouse gases. This clear focus excludes research on mitigation, which is being developed elsewhere. The Mediterranean community within CIRCLE (CIRCLE-MED) agreed to launch an international common call as a pilot operation within CIRCLE. Experience acquired will allow refining how such common calls could be launched in the future and managed to be as efficient as possible. Scientific results will facilitate a better definition of more ambitious future calls within the same area. The research projects initiated by this call will be financed by the following partner institutions from the ERA-NET Circle Consortium: the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and

23 PAGE: 23 of 74 land use (MEDAD), France; The Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Portugal; Italian Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea (IMELS), Italy; the Ministry of the Environment (IME, Israel); The Regional Ministry of Innovation and Industry of the Galician Government through the Directorate General for Research, Development and Innovation (XUNTA), Spain; hereafter called PARTNERS CIRCLE partners have made funding pledges of up to 2.15 million Euros, consisting of the following national contributions. Partner Funding pledge (up to ) in Euros: France Italy Israel Portugal Spain (Galicia) Purpose of this Paper This Framework intends to describe the practical aspects of the collaborative work, an applicant s guide (topic area, funding, application procedure) and the common application form. The aim is to set up and implement a joint call, involving a common multinational evaluation system and common plans for the dissemination of results and experiences. 3. Management of the Pilot Co-ordinated Call 3.1. Call Steering Committee (CSC) The Call Steering Committee (CSC) will act on behalf of the Contributing Countries (the CIRCLE participants taking part in the call) to manage the Coordinated Call, using the principles in this paper as its operating framework. The CSC is constituted by one representative of each national organisation participating in the ERA-NET CIRCLE-MED and involved in this funding initiative. The key role of the CSC will be to manage the purpose, scope, and duration of the programme, and specifically: - To manage the proposal evaluation process; - To appoint an International Scientific Advisory Board; - To create a ranking list of project proposals according to scientific quality and political relevance; - To decide the funding of projects within the framework of the available budget and partners possibilities to fund research projects. - To send to all applicants information on the evaluation results within one month after its decision. 3.2 Contact Persons - National Secretariats Each contributing country will appoint one contact person to act as a national secretariat for the call. The national secretariats will have relevant roles, principally: - To provide a national point of contact to CIRCLE for applicants and researchers funded by the call; - To undertake the administrative tasks associated with national operations of the call. Details for contact persons are given at the end of this announcement. 3.3 Virtual Common Secretariat

24 PAGE: 24 of 74 All national contact persons will form the Virtual Common Secretariat which is responsible for the first stage of the evaluation process ( eligibility check, see point 4.3). Projects positively evaluated will be sent, by e- mail, to the call steering committee (CSC). The Virtual Common Secretariat will provide, eventually, support to CSC meetings. 4. The principles of CIRCLE Coordinated Call This call will operate through a Mixed-mode model, which allows countries to pay for their own researchers and, on occasion, to pay for other countries researchers, for instance by means of subcontracts of national laboratories. Restrictions apply for Italy for national funding of a trans-national project. Moreover, Israel cannot fund other countries at all. 4.1 Call Funding Funding Rates and Eligibility Each funding organisation will rely upon its usual rules to determine the funding rate, eligibility of different types of cost, and eligibility of different types of organisation. The implication of this approach is that different researchers in a trans-national consortium will be funded under different rules, and there will be different requirements in terms of eligibility of costs, funding rates, and requirement to bring third party funding to the project. However each researcher will be operating within a rule-set which is normal for their country. Clarifications on national rules can be obtained from the National Contact Persons listed at the end of this Announcement. There is no strict upper limit for a project, but in the view of available budget, we recommend that projects should not exceed Euros Deadline The call will be published on the same date (Wednesday 11 July, 2007) in all Contributing Countries in their national language. It will also be published in English on the CIRCLE website The deadline for submission of proposals is Friday, October 12th, Project Duration Financial support will be awarded for a project duration of up to 2 years. 4.2 Project Proposal Eligible Project Structure and Project Management Within the framework of this call, funding will be provided for trans-national, interdisciplinary joint projects based on a division of labour. Each project will consist of several work packages. Each project must include participants from a minimum of two and an unrestricted maximum number of partner countries, and must in addition include at least one participant from a Mediterranean country not part of the partner (contributing) group (the list of eligible Mediterranean countries not part of the contributing group is annexed to this document and can be downloaded at the following site However, applicants should take into account that the building and management of large consortia with more than five partners might be too time-consuming under the given framework conditions.

25 PAGE: 25 of 74 All participants accept the rules and agreements made within the framework of the ERA-NET CIRCLE funding initiative. The co-applicants designate a Project Leader among them. He/she must represent the project to the Call Steering Committee Requirements for Grants The Project leader who manages the project must be from a Contributing Country. Contributing countries will fund their own institutions, and abide to national regulations in this respect. Participants from a Mediterranean Country not part of the partner (contributing) group will come as a subcontractor of an institution from a contributing country or through their own funding. Participants from other countries may participate but must bring their own funding How to Present Your Proposal? A proposal has two parts: SECTION 1 (Common Application Form) which must be the same for all partners; SECTION 2 (National Application Form): where Contributing Countries introduce instructions related to their own regulations for funding research. Clarifications on national rules can be obtained from the National Contact Persons listed at the end of this Announcement SECTION 1- Common Application Form Form 1 Common Application Form: for drafting proposals of joint collaborative projects, a form is to be downloaded at The form is to be completed in English and requires information on: - administrative details; - a summary of the proposal; - a list of work packages; - calculated costs per partner and requested funding; - time schedule; - detailed project description. SECTION 2- National Application Form Form 2 - National Application Form: Additionally, applicants have to submit their part of proposal activities within the proposed project, which are to be realized with national funding according to the national funding rules Submission of the proposals Within the deadline indicated in the call text the coordinator of the project will send the common and the national forms by , at the following mail address submissionmed@circle-era.net We recommend that submission mails be identified with the following object: submission circle-med-name of your project 4.3 Evaluation Process The evaluation of proposals is carried out at two different levels: 1. First Stage: Eligibility Check 2. Second Stage: Scientific Evaluation Formal evaluation- Eligibility Check:

26 PAGE: 26 of 74 The first stage of the assessment procedure will be carried out by the Virtual Common Secretariat based on the following general criteria (exclusion criteria): o The submitted project outline includes research institutions or companies from at least two of the contributing countries and one other eligible Mediterranean country, fulfills formal requirements of this call and is written in English. o Research institutions from third countries which are involved in the submitted project proposal furnish proof of their own funding. Eligible third countries are EU countries, Norway, Switzerland, and accessing countries. o The given deadline for application is met. The form of the project outline and further formal criteria are in line with the regulations in this announcement. The project coordinators will be informed by of the results of this assessment within one month Scientific Evaluation -Scope and Priority Check o Only proposals which are fully compliant with the procedures outlined in the previous paragraph shall be eligible for consideration for this stage. The second stage of the assessment procedure is based on the following specific criteria o Relevance o Potential impacts o Scientific excellence o Quality of the consortium o Prospects for success with regard to the work and financial plan including time schedule o Quality of the management o Added value in scientific and regional bridging capacity In this second step, the project proposals will be assessed according to the above mentioned criteria and rated by an international Scientific Advisory Board appointed by the Steering Committee. Each Contributing Country will delegate at least one expert chosen from purely scientific considerations who will be member of this Scientific Advisory Board Final Ranking In a final step, the project proposals will be ranked by the Steering Committee according to their relevance for public policies. Only excellent or very good project proposals, as judged by the scientific evaluation will be examined at this stage. The Steering Committee will then decide upon funding within the framework of the available budgets. All applicants and also the Contributing Countries involved will receive information on the results within one month after the Steering Committee s decision. 4.4 Project Monitoring and Reporting All funded projects will be monitored and assessed over the course of their duration. The monitoring of projects will comprise of a review of the reports and deliverables that the projects are to generate have promised to generate. The institutions involved in the projects submit interim and final reports in accordance with the funding regulations to their corresponding funding organisations. The scientific part of the reports is to be written in English (but an extensive summary may be required by Contributing Countries in their national language). The formal part of the reports is to be written in the national language. (For details check section B national rules) Reporting to the steering committee: It is the responsibility of the main applicant, i.e. the project leader, to submit two reports to the steering committee. A mid-term report will describe the progress made during the first half of

27 PAGE: 27 of 74 the research project. A final report should be submitted at the end of the project to the steering committee for assessment of the report and control of the fulfilment of formal criteria. Funding recipients are expected to establish a presentation on the CIRCLE website giving a description of their research project, at the latest 3 months after the start of the project. Conferences: Conferences provide a great added value after activities have started. A kick off meeting and a mid-term seminar will be organized by Circle. The researchers should plan their budget accordingly. After the projects have been concluded, the research results will be presented by the project leaders on the occasion of one of the regular ERA-NET CIRCLE meetings. ANNEX 1 CIRCLE MED call Eligible Countries ERA-NET CIRCLE MED Consortium (contributing countries and regional entities): The Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and land use (MEDAD), France; The Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Portugal; Italian Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea (IMELS), Italy; the Ministry of the Environment (IME) Israel; The Regional Ministry of Innovation and Industry of the Galician Government through the Directorate General for Research, Development and Innovation (XUNTA), Spain. Non EU countries sharing Mediterranean coastline (access through subcontracting; restrictions may apply, depending on contributing countries national funding rules): institutions from: Albania, Algeria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Macedonia, Montenegro, Morocco, Serbia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey All EU members sharing Mediterranean coastline (must bring own funding); Spain (own funding or on occasion subcontract from Galicia), Greece, Malta, Monaco, Slovenia, Cyprus Monaco and other countries: must bring own funding SECTION 1: COMMON APPLICATION FORM: For drafting proposals of joint collaborative projects, a form is to be downloaded at. SECTION 2: NATIONAL APPLICATION FORM For information on the Call and on the national rules regarding submission of a proposal, please contact: France Laurence Colinet Ministère de l'écologie du développement et de l aménagement durable Bureau de la prospective et de la recherche en sciences humaines D4E/SRP 20 avenue de Ségur PARIS SP 07 FRANCE Tel: (33) laurence.colinet@ecologie.gouv.fr