Conference on Research Infrastructures and the Paris Agreement

Ana López-Ballesteros by the TCD represented SEACRIFOG in the "Research Infrastructures and the Paris Agreement" conference, held in Brussels on 20-21 November. This conference was organized by the EU H2020 project COOP+, a project that promotes a cross-domain collaboration among global and European Research Infrastructures (RIs) in order to face the most important environmental global challenges.

The conference was focused on how Research Infrastructures can effectively support the political decisions towards the fulfillment of the Paris Agreement. Key policy-relevant challenges posed to current research infrastructures in this regard, are: 1) the quantification of anthropogenic GHG emissions using atmospheric observations and models, 2) the provision of robust observations of changes in carbon storage and GHG emissions over the oceans, and from natural and cultivated systems, 3) and the generation of science-based evidence on the resilience of marine and terrestrial ecosystems to climate change and adaptation strategies. However, to address these global challenges, international collaboration among research infrastructures worldwide as well as efficient data sharing and cooperation mechanisms are crucial. The conference gathered the experience of relevant already-implemented international research infrastructures, such as ACTRIS, ARGO, ICOS, Copernicus, TERN, the Global Atmosphere Watch and IG3IS, which both belongs to WMO. SEACRIFOG and SAEON were present to represent, current activities aiming to fill the large observational gaps in the African continent. The presentation can be accessed here.