Our French partners from DEMO5 held their annual regional steering committee meeting on July 4 on the CARDIMED demo site of Saint Charles in Marseille, France.
SEMIDE, Aix-Marseille University (AMU), EMPAN, and the Region SUD were present to welcome representatives of local and regional stakeholders of the project, a total of 36 people were present. The people present were part of public authorities, research centers, expert associations and private organizations.
The committee meeting lasted half a day and included a series of presentations summarized below:
- Presentation of the progress of work and scientific monitoring of both DEMO sites, by Alain Sandoz (AMU) and Laure Moreau (EMPAN)
- Renaturation of sub-DEMO5.1: assessment of soil flora and fauna recolonization two years after unsealing, by Lola Czuckermand and Manon Grangeat (IMBE)
- Protocols for monitoring biodiversity indicators at the Saint-Charles site: training and awareness-raising tools for campus students, by Valerie Montes (LPED)
- Nature-based solutions: scientific mediation as a lever for understanding and action, by Aude Inaudi and Jihane Omari (IMSIC)
- Fine particles on the St Jérôme campus: Sources and impact of vegetation, by Julien Kammer (LCE)
- CARDIMED demonstration sites and digital solutions developed within the project, by Eric Mino and Elrik Du Saillant Du Luc (SEMIDE)
- Networking and transferability of the CARDIMED project across the South Region by Marie Caroline Vallon (Region Sud)
The various exchanges in the form of questions/answers that followed these presentations enabled regional stakeholders to better understand the progress of the project and its potential outcomes.
Perrine Prigent, Aix-Marseille Metropolitan Councilor responsible for roads in the City of Marseille and City Councilor of Marseille, spoke about the metropolitan area’s interest in studies on heat islands and reiterated the importance of working together with the ISSU national project.
Anne Claudius-Petit, president of the regional agency for biodiversity and the environment and chair of the Energy Transition, Waste Strategy, and Air Quality Commission, also spoke at the committee meeting. She emphasized the importance of implementing NBS and monitoring them so that they can be adapted at the local level according to the needs of communities.
The annual regional steering committee will meet again next year to present the completion of both french Demo sites and the results of the first year of the CARDIMED indicators monitoring.
