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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - COOP_PLUS (COOPERATION OF RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURES TO ADDRESS GLOBAL CHALLENGES IN THE ENVIRONMENT FIELD)

Teaser

\"Humanity is facing enormous environmental challenges: biodiversity decline, climate change, ocean acidification, sea level rise, overpopulation, etc. One of the first and more successful responses provided by science to address these challenges is the collecting of long-term...

Summary

\"Humanity is facing enormous environmental challenges: biodiversity decline, climate change, ocean acidification, sea level rise, overpopulation, etc. One of the first and more successful responses provided by science to address these challenges is the collecting of long-term series of biophysical variables. During the last four decades we have created a diverse ecosystem of environmental research infrastructures (RIs) covering a wide range of spatial and thematic scales. The information gathered by RIs has helped us to understand the structure and functioning of natural systems at local and regional scales. However, this is not enough to address the overwhelming challenge that we face: to understand and simulate the structure and functioning of the Earth System under a global change scenario.

We need to add new “superpowers” to the already existing RIs in order to address the abovementioned global challenges. These new capabilities are related to social abilities such as: empathy, cooperation and synergy. It is not only about strengthening the technical functioning of the already existing RIs, we need to make them work together. Environmental international RIs should be open and available to others, affirming to others, should not feel threatened that others are able and good.

The COOP+ project (H2020 Scientific Cooperation Action) has followed up the actions started by COOPEUS (FP7) to foster the cooperation among environmental RIs. The general goal of COOP+ was to strengthen the links and coordination of the ESFRI RIs related to Marine Science (EMSO), Arctic and Atmospheric Research (EISCAT), Carbon Observation (ICOS) and Biodiversity (LifeWatch), with international counterparts and to leverage international scientific cooperation and data exchange with non-EU countries. During the time span of COOP+ (March 2016 to July 2018) we did our best to implement the abovementioned philosophy in the cooperation agenda of environment RIs.

During the project life, we filled the term \"\"cooperation\"\" with real life problems. COOP+ activities focused on environmental Global Challenges: polyhedral and sometimes wicked problems that threaten the sustainability of our modern societies from a social and environmental perspective. COOP+ used the concept of Global Challenges as \"\"cooperation threads\"\", incorporating the lessons learned in COOPEUS. This reinforced the cross-disciplinary view, adding participants from other regions and complementary disciplines. We promoted an open coordination framework for Global Cooperation, based on scientific excellence and win-win collaborations opportunities with third parties.

The most relevant conclusion, once COOP+ has finished, is that there is still a long way towards an effective cooperation among RIs. Despite the huge effort done and the positive performance of the project, I (as coordinator) think that we have only started to began to understand the social and behavioral mechanisms that hinder cooperation. Using global challenges as topics to foster the cooperation has been a good idea, because it has \"\"forced\"\" us to put the focus in real problems.
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Work performed

COOP+ has successfully achieved all its initial objectives. The following list shows our most relevant outcomes:
- We have put the cooperation of RIs to address global challenges in the scientific arena, thanks to the publication of a special issue in an open access journal (https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/1748-9326/page/Environmental-Research-Infrastructures). This special issue is freely available for dissemination.
- Strategic Innovation Agenda that would hopefully be a very useful guide to define which topics will be the focus of the cooperation among RIs. SRIA is freely available through COOP+ webpage.
- Permanent forum of RIs beyond the COOP+ Open board. This forum was created in collaboration with international RIs.

The most important drawbacks or limitations that we have found to achieve our objectives are:
- The funding frameworks around the world are not always well aligned. E.g when EU is funding a project on international collaboration, US colleagues have not any budget to work and vice-versa.
- The definition of RI is very vague and fuzzy around the world. This situation makes difficult the mapping of RI-like initiatives to collaborate with.
- Most of the EU RIs that are working on strengthening the cooperation are involved in a process of self construction. This makes difficult the cooperation because a huge effort must be allocated to the definition of internal structures.

Final results

\"Since COOP+ project is exploring \"\"uncharted territory\"\" with regards to the cooperation of RIs in the international arena, most of the expected results as well as their progress could be considered beyond of the state of the art. Nevertheless, we have summarized below those expected results that could be considered as outstanding:
- Establishment of an international board of environmental RIs. COOP+ is investing a great amount of energy in configuring this board. This work will hopefully pave the way to the establishment of a permanent board where representatives of international RIs could discuss on several topics: data interoperability, community building, linkages with global challenges, funding, collocation of infrastructures, etc. The open board is composed so far by RIs working in Europe, USA, South Africa and Australia. During the timelapse of COOP+ we will celebrate two face to face meetings as well as several videomeetings. The socio-economic impact of this board will be high because it will promote the creation of sinergies among RIs and their respective scientific communities. This will help us to face up the global environmental challenges that threatens the functioning of our society.
- Publication of a special issue in a high impact Earth science journal containing several case studies of cooperation among RI in the environmental field. This special issue will be published in ERL journal and will also include the description of several global challenges under the point of view of RI. This information can be considered as a gap analysis that will identify strengths and weakness of the current fleet of RI in order to address global challenges. The socio-economic impact of this result will be restricted to the scientific communities. Taking into account that ERL is a high impact journal, we will achieve a good positioning in the scientific arena. The message delivered by the published manuscript will be available to many scientists. This will provoke a very positive impact in the RIs because their associated scientific community will be wider.
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Website & more info

More info: http://www.coop-plus.eu/.