Water research in the Mediterranean: challenges and perspectives. The Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA)

Abstract

The mission of the Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA) is to implement a holistic, multidisciplinary approach to water research, taking into account all components related to freshwaters and human-used waters. The ICRA has developed a coordinated, cooperative organization structure to allow this multidisciplinary approach across a broad spectrum of water related sciences and technologies. ICRA’s main goals are to provide scientific and technological perspectives and tools to issues derived from water needs, scarcity, and ecosystem conservation in the Mediterranean context

This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competiveness through the project SCARCE of Consolider-Ingenio 2010 program (CSD2009-00065) and the projects CARBONET (CGL2011-30474-C02-01), GEISTTAR (CTM 2011-27163), WATERFATE (CTM2012-38314-C02-01), (DEGRAPHARMAC-CTQ2010-21776-CO2-02), CDTI INNPRONTA ITACA project (IPT-2011102), MBRControl (CDTI - OHL MedioAmbiente INIMA SAU) andARCOS (CGL2012-33033). It also received funding from the European Community 7th Framework Programme under Grant Agreement No. 603629-ENV-2013-6.2.1-GLOBAQUA, ECsafeSEAFOOD (FP7 KBBE 311820), ENDETECH (FP7-ENV-2011-Eco-innovation), and SEA-on-a-CHIP. Also, the Marie Curie Reintegration Grants (2010-RG-277050; FP7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG 303946) and the Marie Curie Initial Training Network SANITAS (ITN-289193). M. Pijuan also acknowledges the Ramon y Cajal research fellowship (RYC-2009-04959) provided by the Spanish Government.