MICROORC’s Post

The University of Prishtina and the University of Giessen in Germany have won a project funded by the German Environmental Foundation. 🌍 The transdisciplinary and binational project, #ORGVITI, focuses on the sustainable utilization of organic watercourses in the Republic of Kosovo, with a specific focus on the municipality of Viti. 🌱 The project aims to develop transferable methodologies applicable to other municipalities in Kosovo and the Western Balkans. Coordinated by Prof. Dr. Arben Mehmeti and Prof. Dr. Hysen Bytyqi from the Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary - University of Prishtina, along with Prof. Dr. Rolf-Alexander Düring and Prof. Dr. Rainer Waldhardt from the University of Giessen, the project involves representatives from local authorities in Viti and the city of Kirchhain. 🤝 It also includes students from Viti, Kosovo, and other Western Balkan countries, as well as potential investors for sustainable projects related to municipal and agricultural organic waste in Viti. ♻️ The project implementation is set to commence in June 2024 and will run until May 2027. 📅 Today, the rector of the University of Prishtina, Prof. Qerim Qerimi, expressed commitment and special interest in actively participating as a partner in various international research and innovative projects that benefit students and staff, generating broader social and economic effects. 👨🎓🌐 More information can be found at the provided link: https://lnkd.in/dhF8cNGw. 📚🔗 #Research #Sustainability #InternationalCollaboration

With… 🐞70-80% fewer insects 🪱60-70% of EU soils in poor health 🪶Half a billion fewer birds in the last 40 years 🗑️20% of food lost or wasted 🐄Overconsumption of animal proteins Europe needs ambitious policies to prevent environmental destruction, protect farmer livelihoods, and ensure future food security. Instead, Europe has witnessed its leaders downgrade measures designed to protect in favour of short-term "fixes"🫣 With EU farms in steep decline, such measures will do nothing to help farmers📉 Instead, they are the first to suffer the consequences💰🤒   Europe needs political courage that is based on science to ensure: 🌱 a transition to agroecology 💸 that public money supports and rewards activities leading to a healthier society 🍎 EU agriculture is the basis of a healthy, seasonal, more plant-based and local diets 🧑🌾 that the rural economy is inclusive, fair and attractive for new generations Hear more from Faustine Bas-Defossez via La Coopération Agricole - LUZERNE DE FRANCE's (presentation in French)👇 https://lnkd.in/eXvH6h79

Today 25th July, we had the honor to welcome His Excellency, FLAVIO MAREGA, Ambassador of Brazil to Algeria, at our office the National Council for Scientific Research and Technologies. This meeting enlighten His Excellency on our paradigm shift in research for sustained economic growth. His Excellency briefly presented Brazil's research and development ecosystem, highlighting the advances and progress made in the fields of agriculture, biodiversity, health as well as the development of public policies in the areas of scientific research and innovation. Algeria and Brazil already have a global cooperation framework, they could explore opportunities for collaboration in the fields of agriculture, energy, health and digitalization by sharing experiences and know-how in sectoral public policies, their implementation and their evaluation. Many issues related to national priorities will be discussed at future meetings that will be scheduled for this purpose.

It's time for new challenges! ⬆🔝 We have submitted an application to the European Commission, confirming our interest and readiness to become a Regional Innovation Valley specialising in ✅#bioeconomy and ✅food systems. The application has been accepted and is currently being evaluated. The final decision will be announced in March 2024. Fingers crossed for us to become one of 100 regional deep-tech innovation valleys in the European Union! Meanwhile, our Head of Development and Project Department, Laila Gercāne, was invited to participate in the panel discussion of the launching event of the EU’s Regional Innovation Valleys for #bioeconomy and food systems in #Plovdiv last week. It was a great honour to be there. In the panel discussion, ☝️L. Gercāne emphasized the connection between the skilful management of the region's biological resources and the level of well-being of residents. 🔘 "Vidzeme is a region rich in biological resources, but for the wider development of innovation, companies need access to the latest research, world-class expertise, and innovation infrastructure, and they must create closer cooperation ties with each other both at the national level and across borders," 🔘 she said. As you probably already know, Regional Innovation Valleys (RIVs) is a new flagship initiative launched by the European Commission, a fully supported and necessary concept to bring to life in the regions. The concept aims to establish a community of regions that meet local challenges and needs whilst contributing to the European Union's strategic priorities. https://lnkd.in/eJGp2pCm

Today I had the great privilege to attend a reception organized in Gyldendal, a well-known publishing house in Copenhagen, in connection with publication of a Danish book by Rasmus Dalland titled: “Tied to the earth - a journey around the Danish agriculture” (Jordbundet - en rejse rundt i dansk landbrug). As I had the pleasure to show Rasmus around in Goodvalley in March this year, with the purpose to include Goodvalley’s history, philosophy and view on the agriculture into his book, I was really looking forward to both see the book and talk to the author. I spoke shortly with Rasmus today, but he had a lot of guests to attend, so I spotted his father Jan and we talked for almost one hour. It turned out that Jan had a great knowledge of Poland and had visited our country several times since late 70-ties. We had a very interesting exchange of views on the historical development that had taken place in Polen over last 40 years and we also discussed the present situation and the future of European agriculture. Our common conclusion I liked very much: we need a balanced approach to European agriculture which takes into account both the undeniable necessity to reduce the environmental impact 🌎 and agriculture’s fundamental responsibility to provide enough food for the growing world population 🥘. We mustn’t go to any extremes - neither establish huge corporate farms or promote and support a fragmented structure of inefficient small farms. But this is quite difficult to achieve as the mental distance between the countryside, and the cities is growing and the debate about agriculture’s role in the climate- and biodiversity crisis is really intensive. At the same time we have to admit that many participants in this debate do not quite know what they are talking about… nevertheless, it was really great to experience that we shared similar views on such important topics, over the border…

So when will this all end ………… Horizon Europe sharing research with United States - Research and innovation - European Union The EU and the US share research values of openness, transparency, fairness, inclusiveness, academic freedom and ethics, and are natural partners in science The US has had the highest level of participation in EU research and innovation programmes of all non-EU and non-Associated countries for many years and US researchers and innovators are welcome to team up with European counterparts in Horizon Europe. In global terms, any new UK programme will be small relative to others, which reduces the UK’s ability to set the regulatory and research agenda. As a comparison, the US National Institute of Health (NIH) spends the equivalent of over £30 billion annually on research. The UK Medical Research Council and National Institute for Health Research combined spend under £2 billion. Associating to Horizon Europe does not mean that the UK will have less scope for forging new links outside Europe. Horizon Europe is expected to become highly international itself, with countries such as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA expressing an interest in participating. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is ditching animal testing. The agency intends to cut back 30 percent on requests and spending on animal tests by 2025. It hopes that all requests and funding will be eliminated by 2035. But the Government of the Netherlands is by far world leading in their quest to end animal testing. The previous Dutch cabinet, expressed the ambition to make the Netherlands ‘largely free of animal testing’ by 2025, and to become an international leader, just as it had been in 1997 with the ban on animal testing for cosmetic products. The Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality is fully committed, together with the partners of the Transition Programme for Innovation without the use of animals (TPI), to the Netherlands as a forerunner in the international transition with animal-free innovation’. So UK Parliament, the balls in your court, if you want to be world leading you know what to do !!! #theprocessofanimaltestinghasneverbeenscientificallyvalidated https://lnkd.in/e-RNN-ZC

EU Kalaallit Nunaanni allaffittaartoq It’s finally here! This week we’re issuing a Greenlandic newspaper supplement with the two nationwide Greenlandic papers Sermitsiaq and AG. In March, Commission president Ursula von der Leyen cut the blue ribbon to the European Commission’s new Office in Nuuk. Our paper tells the story why, explores the history of EU-Greenland relations and highlights some of the many areas of EU –Greenland cooperation. Though Greenland left the EU in 1985, the fisheries agreements and the EU’s support for the Greenlandic education sector have been some of the areas that have always connected us. But in this paper we also tell the stories of all those areas of cooperation that are perhaps lesser-known or more recent: the many opportunities offered by the Erasmus+ programme, the EU’s support to digital infrastructure as well as the opportunities that may lie ahead in critical raw materials and green energy. In recent years, the pandemic and Russia’s illegal attack on Ukraine have caused the EU to reflect upon ourselves, our values, our position in the world - and who our friends are. And this is why we now turn to Greenland with even greater commitment. Because we share a fundamental belief in democracy and human rights as well as a strong commitment to fight climate change and boost sustainable development. With the opening of the doors to the Nuuk Office, we also open the door to even wider cooperation, as equals and like-minded partners. Thanks to all who helped bring the stories to life: Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen, Tomas Baert, Peter Handley and to the many, many others who offered valuable advice along the way.

Last Thursday we celebrated the 60 years anniversary of Concawe, at the stunning Villa Empain - Fondation Boghossian in Brussels. Thank you to the amazing team at the association for organizing a memorable evening with many old colleagues and friends. The level of #science, both qualitatively and quantitatively, conducted by Concawe and its member companies scientists over the past 60 years is highly impressive. It is therefore even more sad to see, that their research has once more been framed and published out of context by #eNGOs in the debate to make their point. Different voices in a science debate are needed, and one should be able to challenge and test published research as this is science by definition. However, this outdated stereotypical finger pointing is not helpful and only has the contrary effect. In other key science areas, like the development of #NewApproachMethodologies to replace #animaltesting for #saferchemicals, there is a healthy debate with all stakeholders around the table, including #industry and #NGOs, proving that progress in applied #regulatory sciences, even if only slowly, can be made together, and perhaps even only together. Concawe's unprecedent research, as that from others in the field, is even more needed in the years to come, helping to face the complex challenges #society is dealing with. Congratulations Concawe, for your continued significant contribution to the scientific community! #REACH #CSS #chemicalindustry #Concawe #EuropeanFuelManufacturersAssociation #cleanfuelsforall #saferchemicals

💡 HuMUS will be in the spotlight at the EU Soil Day in Brussels on 6 November! Annalaura Vannuccini and Francesco Molinari from Anci Toscana will present the project and launch the Open Call for proposals to fund pilot projects that contribute to effective exchanges of experiences between #municipalities and #regions across #Europe, creating spaces and practices for discussion and dialogues on #soilhealth challenges and promoting the co-implementation of solutions aligned with societal needs. 💰 The #funding will support public authorities at the #local and #regional levels, associations of #land managers (e.g. #farmers associations), #civilsociety organisations, and #research institutions throughout Europe. 📢 Are you interested in the funding bid for your #soil health project? Watch this space! https://lnkd.in/ectytN8V SOST-CDTI european regions research and innovation network NATI00NS PREPSOIL - Preparing for the "Soil Deal for Europe" Mission #opencall #callforproposals #requestforproposals #MissionSoil

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