Jordan joins Mediterranean research effort to tackle water, food insecurity
Jordan has become the 19th country to sign up to an international research effort to tackle water scarcity and food insecurity in the Mediterranean region.
The agreement, which was signed in a ceremony at the World Science Forum in Jordan on 10 November, sees the country join a list of partners including Israel, Lebanon and Turkey, who have agreed to work together to develop ways to meet the growing challenges of climate change, population growth and urbanisation in the region.
Carlos Moedas, EU Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, who attended the EU-Jordan signing ceremony, called the initiative ‘the most ambitious joint research and innovation programme ever to be undertaken by countries across the Mediterranean.’
The 10-year partnership for research and innovation in the Mediterranean area, known as PRIMA and due to start in 2018, will develop scientific research into water and sustainable food production, topics of pressing concern to the countries of the Mediterranean region.
It will be financed with funding of EUR 274 million from the participant countries, backed by EUR 220 million from the EU’s Horizon 2020 research funding programme.
Read the full article by Kevin Casey via Horizon | The EU Research & Innovation Magazine.
[Photo by hopeless128 | Flickr]