The MCST- TÜBİTAK funded UNIMED research project invites Plumtri readers to join in its Second Community of Practice Workshop in Malta. The event will take place at the Esplora Science Centre on 8 February 2024, starting at 14:00 till 15:30 pm. Participation is free of charge, but we kindly invite your advance registration using this link. The event is being run in conjunction with the PRIMA Collaborate Event, uniting med researchers in Malta for innovation.

The ‘UNIfied framework to cope with droughts under MEDiterranean climate change conditions’, UNIMED, is aimed at the methodological development of a Survivability-of-Droughts Index in the context of the Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem (WEFE) Nexus. This is a novel idea which derives from the quantification of four underlying indices: perception, vulnerability, adaptability and recoverability.

UNIMED’s First Community of Practice Workshop which took place on 7 July 2023, resulted in the enlargement of an originally foreseen set of economic, social and environmental indicators in a participatory manner. The enlarged set has since been checked against data availability in both Malta and Turkey and the resulting, ‘best available’ dataset will be presented during this follow-up event. Participants will be invited to assist us in reaching sound policy recommendations in the context of coping with droughts. Recently implemented, still in the pipeline initiatives or projects will be scrutinized against their level of effectiveness as well as their cost-effectiveness. Possible synergies between these initiatives or projects will also be explored.

The UNIMED research continues to enjoy an excellent synergy with the PRIMA funded Mara-Mediterra research project. Mara-Mediterra aspires to accelerate the uptake of agro-ecological practices to sustain the livelihoods of rural communities around the Region. Most recently the latter project created the opportunity to bring the testimonials of two young farmers in Malta on their successful adoption of Nature-based Solutions to produce organic vegetables under conditions of severe water scarcity.

The UNIMED research in Malta is being led by Integrated Resources Management Company Ltd., in collaboration with the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology. Our Turkish research colleagues from the Dokuz Eylul University Industrial Application and Research Center, will be joining us for the Second Community of Practice Workshop in Malta.

We are looking forward to meet up with you as well!

The UNIMED project is financed by the Malta Council for Science and Technology trough the MCST-TÜBİTAK Joint Call 2022 for R&I Proposals

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The UNIMED write-up which is included in the MCAST Research and Innovation Expo 2023, the 5th MCAST Research and Innovation Expo which ran from 14 to 15 December 2023

Figure 1a: The empty canvas

Figure 1b: A graphical representation of the canvas

Şekil 1. Çalıştaydaki iki katılımcı grubunun sistem haritalama çalışma panoları /Figure 1. Systems mapping exercise boards of the two groups of attendees at the workshop

Şekil 2. Çalıştaydan fotoğraflar / Figure 2. Photos from the workshop

Exploring sustainable water mnagement solutions for farmer communities in the Mediterranean Region

Carmen Frendo, Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Business, Management & Commerce, MCAST   was invited to showcase the UNIMED project at the MED-WET final project event on 28 October 2024. The event was aimed at the exploration of sustainable water management solutions for farming communities in the Mediterranean region.

MED-WET is an initiative which aims at providing efficient low-cost and nature-based technologies and practices to improve the irrigation efficiency of small farmers in the Mediterranean region. The project involves partners from Malta, Germany, Egypt, Morocco and Portugal. MED-WET is 100% funded by Xjenza Malta through the PRIMA Programme, which is supported by the European Union.

The UNIMED project is also being financed under the PRIMA programme through the bilateral Malta-Turkey Call 2022 for R&I Proposals. Its aim is to develop a unified, indicator-based, framework to better assess, adapt and ultimately cope with agricultural droughts under Mediterranean climate change conditions.  The framework consisting of a Survivability-of-Droughts Index is being derived from the quantification of four underlying indices – perception, vulnerability, adaptability and recoverability. Each of these indices draws on a mutually exclusive set of relevant economic, social and environmental indicators, ensuring that the assessment framework is aligned with the Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem (WEFE) Nexus approach.

UNIMED Symposium on coping with droughts in the agricultural sector in the Mediterranean

Registration is now open!

We look forward to welcome you at the UNIMED final project event which will take place at MCAST during the morning of 5^th and 6^th December 2024. Attendance is free, but please register by 1^st December 2024 via this link.

The ‘Unified framework to cope with droughts under MEDiterranean climate change conditions’ project is funded by Xjenza Malta and the Scientific Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK) through the Xjenza Malta (formerly MCST) – TÜBITAK 2022 Joint Call for R&I projects. This initiative is part of the PRIMA Programme supported by the European Union.

The event has been shaped as a Symposium during which the research partners from the Dokuz Eylül University in Izmir, Türkiye will present the UNIMED research findings on the development of a Survivability-to-Droughts Index, a novel concept as it integrates social, economic and environmental indicators in four underlying indices: perception, vulnerability, adaptability and recoverability.

Throughout its duration, UNIMED enjoyed an excellent synergy with the PRIMA funded Mara-Mediterra project, including through the provision of rainfall data from close to 40 rainfall stations from all around the Mediterranean and over 500 replies to a survey addressed to farmers.

The coordinating team at the Soil and Water Research Institute (SWRI) in Thessaloniki, Greece will present the achievements of the ‘Safeguarding the livelihood of rural communities and the environment in the Mediterranean through Nature-based Solutions’ research project, with case study findings from Algeria, Egypt, Greece, Lebanon, and Turkey.

The event also creates the opportunity for IRMCo, who are Work Package Leaders in both projects, to take a look back at 30 years of EU funded environmental research projects, driven by the aspirations and expectations of local communities in Malta, Europe, the MENA region and beyond.

While the first day brings a focus on the Mediterranean Region as a whole, the second day will bring the spotlight on coping with droughts and the uptake of Nature-based Solutions in the Maltese agricultural sector. To this effect, outcomes of research on these topics will be presented also by invited speakers from the University of Malta (UoM) and MCAST.

On both days, the presentations will be a followed by a panel discussion.

The agenda of the symposium can be downloaded from the website of the Xjenza Malta- TÜBITAK funded UNIMED project via this link.

The agenda of the symposium can be downloaded from the website of the Xjenza Malta- TÜBITAK funded UNIMED project via this link.

Venue: MCAST, Conference Hall, Engineering and Transport Institute, Block N, (link to location on map)

Please confirm your participation by registering via this link

Venue: MCAST, Conference Hall, Engineering and Transport Institute, Block N, (link to location on map)