J.C Gascard, representative from the LOCEAN in Paris, France, gives the speech on new EU project for Climate Change, Economy and Society (ACCESS) which is a joined call from different departments of European Commission.
Under The University Pierre et Marie Curie coordination and involving 27 partners from 10 countries, the 4 years ACCESS project (Arctic Climate Change, Economy and Society 2011-2015) was selected in response to the first call 'the Ocean of Tomorrow' of the EU 7th Research and Development Framework Program (FP7-Ocean-2010) under Transport, Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, Energy, Environment, Socio-economic sciences and Humanities supervision.
The main objective of ACCESS is to build the knowledge for a sustainable growth of sea-based activities in the Arctic a) by improving understanding of Arctic marine ecosystems' response to a combination of natural and anthropogenic factors and b) by providing a scientific foundation for feasible, sustainable management measures supporting policies and related technologies.
ACCESS will evaluate the latest Arctic climate change scenarios and establish their impacts on marine transportation (including tourism), fisheries, marine mammals and the extraction of hydrocarbons in the Arctic for the next three decades with particular attention to environmental sensitivities and sustainability.
Understanding the socio-economic impacts of these changes on markets, economies and on European policy objectives along with their influence on Arctic governance, are key areas of research within ACCESS. An open and inclusive forum will give the opportunity to all stakeholders interested in the ACCESS consortium activities and cross-cutting research to interact with ACCESS.