"The Mediterranee:
a weak system that we must learn to protect"
MEDTRAIN is an advanced training course for post-graduate students and young scientists, dedicated to the study of Mediterranean ecosystems under the threat of global environmental change, and the associated monitoring and protecting strategies. MEDTRAIN has been developed as a joint initiative of six Mediterranean-focussed EU-Environment & Climate Projects that have specifically addressed questions related to the impact of global change on Mediterranean Ecosystems (MEDEFLU, EUROFLUX, POPFACE, LUCIFER, RESMEDES, RICAMARE). MEDTRAIN is coordinated by
Pr. Franco MIGLIETTA (IATA-CNR, Italy).
MEDTRAIN was held in Tramariglio, near Alghero at the Porto Conte Ricerca campus, Sardinia (Italy), from October 2 to 14, 1999. The programme was as follows:
Theme 1: Monitoring mass and energy exchanges in Mediterranean ecosystems
Coordinator: Riccardo Valentini, Università della Tuscia, Viterbo
Theme 2: The potential effects of rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations on MTEs
Coordinator: Franco Miglietta,
IATA-CNR, Firenze
Theme 3: Ecophysiology of Mediterranean vegetation
Coordinator: Joao Pereira
(University of Lisbon)
Theme 4: Plant biodiversity and global change in the Mediterranean Basin
Coordinator: Sandra Lavorel
CEFE-CNRS, Montpellier
Theme 5: Forest fires
Coordinator: Jose Manuel Moreno, University of La Mancha, Toledo
Theme 6: Process Models for Mediterranean Vegetation
Coordinator: John Tenhunen,
University of Bayreuth
Theme 7: Land use and cover in the Mediterranean Region
Coordinator Gerard Begni,
MEDIAS-FRANCE
Theme 8: Remote Sensing application for the Mediterranean region
Coordinator: Hans Jurgen Bolle,
University of Berlin
This series of courses was indeed very successful. Some members of the MEDIAS network were heavily involved in that initiative - including the restless coordinator, Franco MIGLIETTA ! A consensus appeared on the idea that MEDTRAIN should not be a one-shot initiative, but should be periodically renewed in order to fulfil the training needs about Mediterranean ecosystems under the threat of global environmental change. MEDIAS France strongly supports such a recommendation : the young scientists of the MEDIAS network could take a major advantage of future MEDTRAIN training sessions.