A recently signed Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) provides the basis for the European integrated long-term ecosystem, critical zone and socio-ecological research infrastructure (eLTER RI) and Alternet to collaborate together.
Between 2004 and 2009 the Network of Excellence ALTER-Net was instrumental in developing LTER Europe as a regional Group of the global ILTER. In 2018 LTER-Europe served as an entry point to the ESFRI Roadmap facilitating eLTER RI as a future major European Research Infrastructure.
eLTER RI is a research infrastructure that intends to respond to the challenge of understanding the functioning of European ecosystems including the complex interactions between people and nature over the long term. Environmental sustainability can only be achieved on the basis of the robust, multidisciplinary knowledge and empirical evidence needed to identify and mitigate human impacts on ecosystems. Moreover, eLTER RI provides the data basis to detect trends and tipping points of ecosystems calling for management actions and countermeasures taken by policy. eLTER RI aims to facilitate high impact research and catalyze new insights about the compounded impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss, soil degradation, pollution, and unsustainable resource use on a range of European ecosystems and socio-ecological systems, representing the “critical zone” in which we live. The in-situ backbone of eLTER RI will be about 250 eLTER Sites and eLTSER Platforms.
eLTER RI and Alternet have partly overlapping memberships which constitute a strong basis for collaboration thanks to common interests. Both parties are dedicated to environmental research covering biodiversity, ecosystem, and socio-ecological research. A close collaboration between Alternet and eLTER RI will strengthen the activities of both Parties by linking the strategic planning of the mentioned research with monitoring and experimentation on a European scale through recognised in situ infrastructures. By strengthening the activities of both parties, our common research area will play a cutting-edge role in European and global research on environmental matters. A close collaboration between Alternet and eLTER RI will also provide sound environmental and biodiversity knowledge to enlighten and support public policies.
For Alternet, new emerging research priorities and policy relevant research issues will be supported by using the eLTER data available via its infrastructure. Alternet should gain facilitated access to sites and data from eLTER RI for comparative studies e.g. as part of EC FP projects. eLTER RI should utilize the unique multidisciplinary expertise of Alternet members research staff. Strengthening the Alternet and eLTER RI relationship will lead to a unique and very strong position of both Parties in the European arena of problem oriented and dynamic biodiversity, ecosystem and socio-ecological research.
The overarching objective of the Alternet-eLTER RI memorandum of cooperation is to provide the framework for the cooperative and collaborative development between eLTER and Alternet while recognizing their independent, yet complementary, missions.
