New Alliance for the environment : "Food, Water, Climate, Territories"
04 March 2010, Cemagref
Twelve major institutions involved in scientific research have pooled their resources to create the National alliance for environmental research. AllEnvi is the fourth research alliance, following those for health (Aviesan), energy (Ancre) and digital applications (Allistene), and its goal is to organise, both in continental France and in the overseas territories, better synergy between research institutes on scientific issues concerning food, water, climate and territories.
The recent summit meeting in Copenhagen positioned the issues of global change and green growth squarely in the centre of current economic challenges, social concerns and international relations. Global change affects not only the climate, but also the environment and access to water, as well as sustainable agriculture and food production. Strong, coordinated research efforts on environmental issues are a decisive factor in finding the necessary solutions. France has significantly increased its research efforts, notably via the Grenelle 1 legislation that has budgeted 1 billion euros of public funds for environmental research, a sector that is also a priority in the national research and innovation strategy (SNRI).
By forming an alliance between all the concerned participants in research and higher education, AllEnvi will produce coordinated programming, propose priorities to the government and the French and European funding agencies, and suggest joint research platforms required for a number of fields that will receive funding from the upcoming special French bond issue.
The fields addressed by the alliance concern:observation of the environment, experiments on and modelling of changes in the environment over all spatial scales and the long term;
- research combining study of living processes and their interaction with the environment and human activities;
- innovation and engineering in the fields of water, biodiversity, food, agriculture, the oceans and territorial planning;
- better acknowledgement and incorporation of natural hazards and environmental evaluations;
- training and knowledge transfers.
Joint preparation of scientific programming and work coordination will take place in thematic and transversal working groups. Governance is ensured by the Alliance council in which all 12 founding members participate. The AllEnvi alliance may also accept public institutions active in the above fields as associate members.
1. BRGM, CEA, Cemagref, Cirad, CNRS, CPU, Ifremer, Inra, IRD, LCPC, Météo France and the National museum of natural history (MNHN).
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