The International Coverage of CLIMO
Together with 27 COST Countries and 4 Near Neighbor Countries (NNC), Action 15226 CLIMO, seeks a worldwide coverage with many international partners (IPC) and international organisations (IO). In fact, CLIMO builds on the network established since 2013 with MOUNTFOR, the Project Centre for Mountain Forests of The European Forest Institute (EFI). EFI is an international organisation, established by European States, which facilitates and stimulates forest-related networking and promotes the dissemination of unbiased and policy-relevant information on forests and forestry, it also advocates for forest research and for the use of scientifically sound information as a basis for forest policies. The involvement of this institution in Action 15226 will continue during the activity of CLIMO, which meets a core part of the MOUNTFOR mission. This involvement will ensure maximum dissemination of the Action outputs to policy makers on a pan-European level.
As mountainous regions comprise a significant proportion of the total area and population in Europe, these regions have been chosen, as they are ideally suited to address both ecological and social questions associated with climate change. Forests are important ecosystems in these mountainous areas, and forestry is a key industry for those countries with upland and mountain areas. CLIMO has representation from countries across Europe, and therefore, the participation of organizations such as the Mountain Research Initiative (MRI) and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is very important to implement CLIMO’s research network beyond European borders (in particular, in Asia with ICIMOD). This will ensure there is direct input into the action from policy makers and stakeholders from mountain regions in developing countries around the world. Other IOs participating, such as the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), link CLIMO to the agricultural sector in mountain environments.
The liaison with FAO, which originally developed the Climate-Smart Agriculture concept, is based on the connection with the Working Party on the Management of Mountain Watersheds (WPMMW), which promotes sustainable development in mountain watersheds with the view to enhance resilience to climate change and natural disasters, and to ensure the long-term provision of environmental services by watersheds for both upstream and downstream areas. As water provision, flood prevention, and erosion control are among the services provided by mountain forests to the inhabitants of mountain regions, these connections are crucial for targeting the outputs of CLIMO. The IPCs comprise Ecuador (University of Cuenca), Brazil (Universidade Federal do Tocantins), Chile (Universidad de Concepcion), Argentina (IMBV-CONICET) and Canada (University of British Columbia), covering the mountain regions of the Americas. Although their physical participation to the Working Groups of Action 15226 will be limited due to long distances etc., their contribution will be facilitated by the creation of connections through sharing of information, and selected invitations of representatives to WG meetings and training schools. This will allow CLIMO’s outputs to reach the widest audience, becoming a benchmark for the development of Climate-Smart Forestry criteria and policy tools in all mountain regions around the World.
COST Near Neighbours Countries (NCCs)
Albania
POLIS University. Contact person – Ms. Rudina Toto (rudina_toto@co-plan.org)
Armenia
National Academy of Sciences – Istitute of Botany, Republic of Armenia. Contact person – Dr Alla Aleksanyan (alla.alexanyan@gmail.com)
Jordan
Al-Hussein Bin Talal University. Contact person – Prof. Abdel Rahman Mohammad Said Al-Tawaha (abdeltawaha74@gmail.com)
Morocco
National Forestry School of Engineers. Contact person – Dr Fouad Mounir (mounirf@hotmail.com)
Ukraine
Ukrainian Research Institute for Mountain Forestry. Contact person- Dr. Taras Parpan (tarasparpan@gmail.com)
Ukrainian National Forestry University. Contact Person – Dr. Victor Kurylyak (vikur@ukr.net)
International Organizations
Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO). Contact person – Tomas Hofer (thomas.hofer@fao.org).
World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). Contact person – Anthony Simons (T.SIMONS@cgiar.org).
The Mountain Research Initiative (MRI). Contact person – Gregory Greenwood (green@giub.unibe.ch).
European Forest Institute (EFI). Contac person – Marc Palahi (marc.palahi@efi.int).
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). Contact person – David Molden (David.Molden@icimod.org)
Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE). Contact person – Bryan Finegan (bfinegan@catie.ac.cr)
International Union of Forest Research Organizations. Contact person – Pil Sun Park (pspark@snu.ac.kr).
International Partner Countries
Universidad de Cuenca (EC). Contact persons – Henrietta Hampel (hennihampel@gmail.com); Raul Vazquez (raulfvazquezz@yahoo.co.uk).
Universidad de Concepcion (CL). Contact person – Anibal Pauchard (pauchard@udec.cl).
The University of British Columbia (CA). Contact person – Verena Griess (verena.griess@ubc.ca).
Universidade Federal do Tocantins (BR). Contact person – Marcos Giongo (giongo@uft.edu.br)
Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal IMBIV-CONICET (AR).Contact person – Marcelo Cabido (mcabido@imbiv.unc.edu.ar)