Happy 2008

The seedling Christmas card sent by Dr Costas Thanos form the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Happy new year 2008!! Our blog's best wishes for all the SEMCLIMEDists and collaborators. Please find here the Christmas card received from the MAICh and UNKA teams. Please find for a few days the animated cards of the Botanical Garden of Valencia and the CIEF (dancing elfs are Drs. R. Curras, E. Laguna & A. Marzo - if needing please reload 2 or more times the webpage to accelerate the downloading process).

Christmas card sent from the MAICh team, including a image of the Cretan endemic Biarum davisii

The blogger has selected a image of the Butcher's Broom (Ruscus aculeatus L.), wearing the typical colours of Christmas eves -green and red- like the Holly (Ilex aquifolium L.). Don't forget that our blog will be 1 year old by 16th January 2008, so all your news are wellcomed. We need to work hard to finish the current project by April 2008, and maybe to cross a bit our fingers in order to go on with new projects, including the consolidation of GENMEDA network.

Ruscus aculeatus L. © Emilio Laguna, 2007

SEMCLIMED meeting in Barcelona, Spain

Research building of the Institut Botànic de Barcelona, where the meeting was held. © Emilio Laguna, 13.12.2007

As foreseen -see former blog post-, the IJBB (Institut i Jardí Botànic de Barcelona / Botanic Gardens and Institute of Barcelona) held the extraordinary meeting of Semclimed, focused in two points: 1) the future of the network established as a result of the projects GENMEDOC and SEMCLIMED, and 2) the possibilities to ask for new projects. All the attendants like to aknowledge the excellent organisation and facilities provided by the IJBB, and particularly by Dr. Josep M. Montserrat and his enthusiastic team.

Attendants from the CIEF, IJBB, CBB (Cagliari), CBNP (Porquerolles), JBS (Sóller) and ISR (Rabat, Morocco) joined the meeting and discussed for two days (13th and 14th December 2007) on the above indicated topics, yielding some preliminary conclusions that will be transmetted to the remainder partners during the next days. They will be asked on the possibility to call for a Interreg IV-MED focused on the work of seedbanks, and/or Interreg IVC project to reinforce the network during the next weeks. To see the possibilities of both ways, the partners are invited to visit and review the groundlines of both programmes at:

http://www.programmemed.eu/

http://www.interreg4c.net/

A moment of the Barcelona meeting, 13.12.2007 © Emilio Laguna

SEMCLIMED extraordinary meeting in Barcelona, 13th-15th December 2007

By 13th-15th December 2007, the IJBB (Institut i Jardi Botànic de Barcelona) is going to host an extraordinary meeting of SEMCLIMED partners, in order to study and planify future joint actions in the framework of the EU's Interreg-IV programme. All the partners are called to participate , contacting before the IJBB team, leaded by Dr. Josep M. Montserrat. In order to prepare the meeting, the partners are invited to carefully read the available documents from official Interreg websites. Information on Interreg IVC (call for proposals open till mid January 2008) can be accessed and downloaded from www.interreg4c.net ; please pay attention to the periodical renewal of useful (clicking on 'News' on the upper bar of the Interreg webpage).

The 13th UNFCCC goes on in Bali

Image of the conference opening, accessed 03.12.2007 from the UNFCCC website, http://unfccc.int/2860.php

The 13th United Nations' Framework Conference on Climate Change (UNFCCC, 192 Parties represented) and the 3rd joint Meeting of the 176 parties of the Kyoto Protocol will rule for 2 weeks (3rd-14th December 2007) in Bali, joining several thousands of representatives from governmental bodies, NGOs and research institutions. Both events will consider the reports and conclusions recently drafted by the IPCC and agreed in Valencia the 17th November 2007. Coinciding with this event, some countries like Australia have announced its will to sign the Kyoto Protocol -just when the UNFCCC is thinking of the post-Kyoto strategy!.

The press releases and news on the conference can be obtained on line from the UNFCCC official website, http://unfccc.int/