ICRE8 May 2017 Newsletter
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Newsletter
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Josef Adler ICRE8 Intern DAFNE Project |
From the editor: I am very happy to announce our fourth newsletter. Since you last heard from us nearly half a year has passed. During this period everyone at ICRE8 has been very busy and productive. Hence, I am glad to share our latest re-search activities, projects, team publications, meetings and events with you. I would like to thank our researchers and colleagues who have contributed to the production of another newsletter which I hope you will enjoy and ap-preciate once more. Thank you all for sharing your comments, suggestions and feedback. |
ABOUT ICRE8
The International Centre for Research on the Environment and the Economy (ICRE8) is a non-for-profit, private, Research Centre dedicated to interdisciplinary research on the Environment, Energy, Economy, Eco-inCentral to ICRE8's mission is the pursuit of excellence in conducting and presenting research and a commitment to explore relevant environmental, natural resources and energy issues, for a variety of circumstances and stakeholders and across different temporal and spatial scales. The Centre’s research expertise includes financial analysis, socio-economic and econometric analysis, environmental valuation, political and institutional analysis, integrated environmental-economic modeling, cost-benefits analysis, multi-criteria analysis, life cycle analysis, risk analysis, geographical information systems, multi-stakeholder mediations techniques, game theory, information technologies and decision making tools development.
To read more about ICRE8, visit our website.
Forthcoming Events
23rd Annual Conference of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists hosted by ICRE8
Visit EAERE Conference website for more information.
ICRE8 Participation in the EAERE 2017 Annual Conference
The 23rd Annual Conference of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE) will be held in Athens, Greece, between the 28th of June and the 1stof July, 2017. The conference is organised by the International Centre of Research on the Environment and the Economy (ICRE8), in collaboration with Athens University of Economics and Business, the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, and ATHENA Research and Innovation Center.
Prof. Koundouri will chair one thematic session titled “What are US Households willing to pay to avoid injuries from the deepwater horizon oil spill?” and along with Prof. Loïc Berger, she will organise another thematic session titled : “Deep uncertainty and climate change economics”. The latter session includes a peer-reviewed paper titled “Alternative types of ambiguity and their effects on the probabilistic properties and tail risks of environmental-policy variables” co-authored by Prof. Phoebe Koundouri, Prof. Nikitas Pittis, Dr. Panagiotis Samartzis, Dr. Nikolaos Englozos, and Prof. Andreas Papandreou.
In addition to the aforementioned publications, ICRE8 founder and scientific director, Prof. Phoebe Koundouri will organise and chair a policy session titled The New SDG Index and Dashboards and SDGs Implementation in Greece and neighbouring regions, which will include discussions regarding the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), SDSN’s main goals and activities, projects and relevant initiatives within Greece and the potential for collaboration with appropriate Mediterranean and Central-Asian Initiatives. Panelists for this policy session will include former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, as well as Prof. Koundouri.
To read more about ICRE8's participation in EAERE, click here.
ICRE8 News
ICRE8 researchers met with Prof. Michael Grubb, Professor of International Energy and Climate Change Policy at UCL
European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2017 participation
ICRE8 researcher Nicos Theodossiou promoted to Full Professor
Prof. Phoebe Koundouri appointed Director of the ReSEES Lab
The Assembly of International and European Economic Studies Department of the Athens University of Economics and Business has recommended to the School Dean the appointment of Prof. Phoebe Koundouri (ICRE8, AUEB, LSE) as the first Director of the recently established Research Laboratory on Socio-Economic and Environmental Sustainability (ReSEES).
MEP Water Group: The role of Water in Adaptation to Climate Change
Dr Ebun Akinsete, Senior Researcher at ICRE8, participated in a panel discussion on “The Role of Water in Adaptation to Climate Change”, hosted by the the MEP water Group in Association with The European Water Supply and Sanitation Technology Platform (WssTP) at the European Parliament, in Brussels, on 6 December 2016. Speakers included Yvon Slingenberg (Director of Dir A — International and Mainstreaming, DG CLIMA), Mario Nova (Director General of the DG Environment, Energy & Sustainable Development of the Lombardy Region), Jakob Møller Nielsen (Director for Urban Development, City of Copenhagen), and Jean-Pierre Maugendre (Deputy Director for Sustainable Development, SUEZ representing The Business Alliance for Water and Climate - BAFWAC). The event was chaired by MEP Ester de Lange (chairwoman of the MEP Water Group and Vice-Chair of the European People’s Party). Speakers passed commentary on the importance of water in the context of climate change from a policy perspective as well as in the context of case studies in Copenhagen, Denmark as well as the Region of Lombardy in Italy
EKLIPSE’s first joint science-policy-society conference
EKLIPSE’s first joint science-policy-society conference on a Knowledge and Learning Mechanism for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services took place on 7 and 8 December 2016, at the Belgian Science Policy Office in Brussels. The EU funded EKLIPSE project held the first joint science-policy-society conference on a Knowledge and Learning Mechanism for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Brussels. The two-day event was held on the 7th and 8th of December and brought together a diverse range of participants from different disciplines and countries across Europe. The EKLIPSE project aims to establish a robust and flexible long-term mechanism for policy support on issues related to Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, communicating and engaging a wide set of knowledge holders in its work and ensuring tailor-made outreach of results – to knowledge requesters and to society more broadly.
In addition to a number of in-depth presentation on the EKLIPSE project work packages, the conference ran a number of interactive sessions which focused on various aspects of the project such as online platforms, stakeholder engagement and capacity building. The conference closed with participants exploring different means by which they could engage with the project going forward. ICRE8 is involved in the project as part of 'the networks of networks' and participating over the 2 days was Dr Ebun Akinsete, Senior Researcher at ICRE8.
We Welcome Sotiri Mavrikis to the ICRE8-Team!
We are happy to welcome our new intern from Wageningen University & Research Centre who has just joined the ICRE8 team.Sotiri Mavrikis specialises in Renewable Energy Technologies. He will be involved mainly in the BRIGAID project.
New ICRE8 Projects
RECONNECT (Interreg) - Regional cooperation for the transnational ecosystem sustainable development (RECONNECT)
The objective of the project is to improve the capacity of local management authorities by promoting efficient management of natural resources through a regional approach. The specific objectives include: 1. Enrich the current management toolbox with instruments based on the genetic and functional biodiversity; 2. Identify and map the key marine habitats and evaluate the services they provide by socio-economic, cultural and legal approaches; 3. Engage citizens in environmental monitoring and conservation activities and involve stakeholders to boost potential for blue growth; 4. Develop a platform for the data storage and analysis of results based on cutting edge information technologies; 5. Establishment of a Decision Supporting System to enhance the MPAs management on a scientific basis.
Updates on Ongoing ICRE8 Projects
OpenAIRE-Connect (H2020) - CONNECTing scientific results in support of Open Science
DAFNE (H2020) - Decision Analytic Framework to explore the water-energy-food Nexus in complex transboundary water resources of fast developing countries.
DAFNE Stakeholder Workshop Lusaka, 2-5 February, 2017
SMIRES (H2020) - SMIRES: Science and Management of Intermittent Rivers and Ephemeral Streams (H2020)
This Action will bring together hydrologists, biogeochemists, ecologists, environmental economists, social researchers and stakeholders from 14 different countries to develop a research network for synthesising the fragmented and recent knowledge on IRES, improving our understanding of IRES ecology, and translating this into science-based, sustainable management of river networks.
SMIRES WG2 workshop
The SMIRES WG2 meeting took place at the University of Evora on January 30-31 2017. The meeting’s purpose was to discuss how to incorporate flow intermittency in the design of environmental flows. This workshop corresponds to the objective 2 and deliverable 4 of the WG2, and was identified as a priority in the project’s kick-off meeting.
BRIGAID (H2020)
Innovators, sign up for the BRIGAID H2020 project newsletter!
Are you an innovator, an investor or an end user interested in climate adaptation innovation? Subscribe to the BRIGAID newsletter now! If you are an innovator you should not miss this opportunity to participate in BRIGAID with your innovations! Also end users and investors could be interested in receiving the project’s news digest and learn about upcoming BRIGAID events, innovations and outcomes straight to your inbox. You can unsubscribe at any time.
3rd BRIGAID Project meeting took place in Berlin
ICRE8 junior researcher Petros Xepapadeas participated in the 3rd BRIGAID Project Meeting that took place in Berlin, Germany on 11 & 12 May 2017. The next project meeting will be taking place on 9 & 10 November 2017 in Venice Italy. It will be combined with an end-user conference.
BlueBRIDGE (H2020)
The 4th BlueBRIDGE TCom Meeting, 7-10 March 2017
"BlueBRIDGE: Cloud infrastructure serving aquafarms and supporting models" seminar @ NKUA PESD Lab
Blue economy and integrated aquaculture management
Stella Tsani, Phoebe Koundouri, Eleni Petra, Charalampos Dimitrakopoulos and Gerasimos Antzoulatos have developed a framework to support the integrated management of aquaculture production and allows for decisions that are consistent with the concepts of environmental sustainability, economic and social efficiency. The framework is available as a web tool through the Virtual Research Environments (VREs) of the BlueBridge Gateway (https://bluebridge.d4science.org) integrated with additional tools that can be exploited by the Aquaculture companies.
Recent and Forthcoming Publications
Koundouri, P., Chen, W., Dávila, O.G., Giannouli, A., Brito, J.H., Kotoroni, E., Mailli, E., Mintenbeck, K., Papagianni, C., and Souliotis, I. (2017). "A Socio-Economic Framework for Integrating Offshore Multi-Use Platforms in Sustainable Blue Growth Management: Theory and Applications". In Nunes, P.A.L.D., Svensson, L.E., and Markandya, A. (Eds.) Handbook on the Economics and Management of Sustainable Oceans. Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 25-43.
Dávila, O.G., Koundouri, P. Pantelidis, T., and Papandreou, A. (2017). Do Agents’ Characteristics Affect their Valuation of ‘Common Pool’ Resources? A Full-Preference Ranking Analysis for the Value of Sustainable River Basin Management. Science of the Total Environment, vol. 575, no. 1, pp. 1462-1469.
Fragkos, P., Tasios, N., Paroussos, L., Capros, P., and Tsani, S. (2017). Energy system impacts and policy implications of the European Intended Nationally Determined Contribution and low-carbon pathway to 2050. Energy Policy , vol. 100, pp. 216-226.
Tsani, S. and Menegaki, A (2017). "The Energy-Growth Checklist for Authors" in Menegaki, A. (Ed.) The Energy-Growth Nexus Economics and Econometrics. A Manual., Springer International Publishing.
Menegaki, A. and Tsani, S. (2017). "Critical Questions that Need to be Answered in the Energy-Growth Field" in Menegaki, A. (Ed.) The Energy-Growth Nexus Economics and Econometrics. A Manual. Springer International Publishing.
Tsani, S. (2017). "The economics of wealth management" in Ibrahim, M., J., (Ed.) Microeconomics and Macroeconomics. Intech Open Science
Akinsete, E. and Nelson, M-M. (2017). Deconstructing Sustainable Development, The International Journal of Social Sustainability in Economic, Social and Cultural Context, vol. 13, no. Issue 1, March 2017, pp. 53-71.
Drichoutis, A.C., Vassilopoulos, A., Lusk, J., and Nayga, R.M. (2017). Consumer preferences for fair labour certification, European Review of Agricultural Econonomics, vol. 1-20
Koundouri, P. (Ed.) (2017). The Ocean of Tomorrow, Investment Assessment of Multi-Use Offshore Platforms: Methodology and Applications - Volume 1. Springer.
A new article by ICRE8 Scientific Director Prof. Phoebe Koundouri (ICRE8, AUEB, LSE) and ICRE8 Senior Researcher Dr. Stella Tsani, “Integrated production models for aquaculture and blue growth” will be published in the forthcoming issue of The European Files Magazine
, dedicated to "Blue Growth Strategy”.
To see the full list of recent and forthcoming publications, click here.
ReSEES News
About ReSEES
Central to ReSEES Foundation mission will be the pursuit of excellence in the conduct and presentation of research and a commitment to explore relevant environmental, natural resources and energy, issues for a variety of circumstances and stakeholders and across different temporal and spatial scales.
Updates on Ongoing ReSEES Projects
GLOBAQUA (FP7)
Managing the effects of multiple stressors on aquatic ecosystems under water scarcity. The main aim of GLOBAQUA is to achieve a better understanding of how current water management practices and policies could be improved by identifying their main drawbacks and alternatives.
The GLOBAQUA Project Newsletter - January 2017
MARS-GLOBAQUA-SOLUTIONS Internal Workshop to be held in Sesimbra, Portugal in March
Venue: Sesimbra, Portugal
MERMAID (FP7) - Innovative Multi-purpose offshore platforms: planning, design and operation
MERMAID developed concepts for the next generation of offshore platforms which can be used for multiple purposes, including energy extraction, aquaculture and platform related transport. The project does not envisage building new platforms, but theoretically examines new concepts, such as combining structures and building new structures on representative sites under different conditions.
EU waters and the ocean of tomorrow: New book by Prof. Koundouri on the investment assessment of multi-use offshore platforms
Genesis FP7 Project continuation
ReSEES has recently received funding for the GENESIS Project National Contribution by the General Secretariat of Research and Technology (GSRT).
Climate Change under Uncertainty
Decision Making Under Uncertainty: The Example of Climate Change - AUEB University Funding for Original Research
Paper Coming out of "Climate Change Under Uncertainty"-Seminar to be Presented at a Thematic Session at EAERE
SDSN Greece News
About SDSN Greece
The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) set up by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2012, promotes practical problem solving for sustainable development, including the design and implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted in 2015 by the United Nations.
Through a growing number of National and Regional Networks, SDSN supports the localization and implementation of SDGs, develops long-term transformative pathways for sustainable development, promotes education around Agenda 2030, and launches solution initiatives.
The Greek SDSN has been included in the SDSN network and is co-hosted by ICRE8: International Center for Research on the Environment and the Economy and the Political Economy of Sustainable Development Lab. It is co-chaired by Prof. Phoebe Koundouri and Prof. Andreas Papandreou, aiming to contribute to achieving the goals of the SDSN network.
Read more about SDSN Greece
Forthcoming Events
“Sustainability and Resource Valuation” workshop during EAERE Conference under the auspices of SDSN-Greece
3rd SDSN Med Conference
The Mediterranean Sustainable Development Solutions Network (MED Solutions) was launched on July 3-5 2013 in Italy with the 1st International Conference of SDSN Mediterranean, hosted by the University of Siena while the 2nd international UN SDSN Mediterranean Conference was held again in Siena on March 5-6, 2015. The 3rd International Conference of SDSN Mediterranean, to be held in Greece, will be a new opportunity to the networks of the Mediterranean region to coordinate and work together on topics of common interest. The conference will provide a platform for debate and exchange of ideas across stakeholders in the Mediterranean region, including network partners, policymakers and scholars.
The 3rd International Conference of SDSN Mediterranean, to be held in Greece in September 2017, will be a new opportunity to the networks of the Mediterranean region to coordinate and work together on topics of common interest. The conference will provide a platform for debate and exchange of ideas across stakeholders in the Mediterranean region, including network partners, policymakers and scholars.
The focus of the conference will be on the 3 major thematic priorities of the SDSN Greece:
- Natural Capital Valuation: Sustainable Investment Allocation
- Climate Change: Mitigation and Adaptation Policies
- Sustainable Development in Times of Crisis
Official launch of SDSN GREECE to be held in September 2017
The official launch of UN SDSN GREECE will take place in Athens on 7 & 8 September 2017, during the 3rd international UN SDSN Mediterranean Conference. The first day will include a discussion among all participants on the three thematic priorities of the SDSN Greece. In the second day, where the official launch of the SDSN Greece will be held, chairs and invited speakers will present their ideas and engage in a thorough and lively discussion on the SDG dashboard for the Mediterranean, Sustainable energy in the Mediterranean and educations advancements around SDGs.
Past Events
SDSN Greece Youth participated in 4 sustainability events in March, 2017
ICRE8 participates in the “Commitment for sustainable development – 17 global goals for a better common future” Conference
For more information on the event, click here.