COSYS-Med is the first (so far the only) LMI dedicated to the marine environment in the Mediterranean. This unique character reinforces the need to create a CREM in Tunisia so that the southern shore of the Mediterranean has regional visibility allowing it to integrate international programs such as the EU-funded BLUE-Med program (H2020 program).
It will be essential during phase 2 to forge links with the other LMIs involved in marine themes such as TAPIOCA (Brazil), ICEMASA (South Africa), ECLAIRS (Senegal) to identify common issues that can allow the creation of a GDRI (International Research Group).
The southern shore of the Mediterranean basin has seen the emergence of several partnership tools (LMI LIA) with water management as the main issue (LMI NAILA in Tunisia, LIA O-LIFE in Lebanon, LMI TREMA in Morocco). Building on their common theme, these partnership structures are weaving a network of regional actors that COSYS-Med will eventually join, within the framework of integrated projects on the dynamics of contaminants along a continent-coastal marine environment continuum.
LMI COSYS-Med scientists are intended to contribute to the initiative coordinated by the group of experts on climate and environmental change in the Mediterranean (MedEC www.medecc.org/), a group of experts whose objectives are to update and consolidate scientific knowledge on climate and environmental change in the Mediterranean basin and make it accessible to policymakers, key stakeholders and citizens.
The LMI COSYS-Med will join the international AMEDEE network coordinated by the IRD, the first collaborative platform for research/action/training to promote responsible mining activity in sub- and intertropical zones http://www.cote-ivoire.ird.fr/toute-l-actualite/l-actualite/AMEDEE.
Tunisia, like other countries in the region (Morocco and Algeria) is part of this network which aims in particular to reduce the negative impacts of mining activity, in particular that linked to the extraction of phosphate in Tunisia, which generates toxic waste. (phosphogypsum) extremely rich in metals.
The LMI COSYS-Med participates in the project supported by AMIDEX (Aix Marseille University) for the creation of a Mediterranean Institute for Environmental Transition (ITEM). ITEM will devote itself to the research and development of innovative solutions to better manage and anticipate natural and industrial risks, and ultimately develop more sustainable methodologies and paths of innovation for society, in connection with several of the SDGs and by favoring the Mediterranean basin.