The CSIC center, the University of Valencia and the Generalitat Valenciana, celebrates the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought with informative activities.
The Desertification Research Center (CIDE-CSIC-UV-GVA), a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the University of Valencia (UV) and the Generalitat Valenciana (GVA), celebrates 25 years of research against desertification and drought. The beginning of the celebrations of this anniversary coincides with the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, which is commemorated this June 17 under the slogan Restoration. Land. Recovery. Until the end of the year, the CIDE (CSIC-UV-GVA) is organizing several informative activities at the CSIC's Casa de la Ciència in Valencia, including a series of conferences and an escape room for high school students.
The CIDE (CSIC-UV-GVA), which opened its doors in 1996, has focused its work on the scientific and technical development of studies on fundamental aspects for the fight against environmental degradation. In particular, it has focused on the risk and potential impact of desertification and climate change on ecosystems and human beings. With great experience in soil assessment and degradation, the CIDE (CSIC-UV-GVA) is one of the few CSIC centers that continues working on this topic. This center also deals with other disciplines such as systems biology, forest fires, ecosystem restoration, environmental health/pollution, agriculture and climate variability.
Since its inception, the center has deepened its research on the scientific aspects crucial to understand the space inhabited by human beings and on which they depend, focusing on the fight against the threat of desertification of Mediterranean ecosystems. “From its very origin, the CIDE (CSIC-UV-GVA) was conceived as a center formed by a multidisciplinary team aimed at soil typification and the study of soil degradation processes, the study of plant ecology and evolution, as well as the analysis and integration of information on the state and dynamics of the different components of the environment in thematic cartographies as a basis for territorial planning”, explains Patricio García-Fayos, CSIC researcher and director of the center.
During these 25 years many researchers, fellows, predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows, laboratory and field technical staff, administrative and service staff have worked at the CIDE (CSIC-UV-GVA), as well as students and researchers from all over the world who have visited it. The achievements “would not have been possible without the participation of the staff of the three institutions, professionals who contributed their value, know-how and dedication”, acknowledges Miguel Verdú, CSIC researcher and vice-director of the center.
The contribution of CIDE (CSIC-UV-GVA) to global challenges at the forefront of the political agenda, such as the fight against climate change and environmental protection, is framed in the growing impact of global climate change and its consequences, which affect the stability of terrestrial ecosystems in arid and semi-arid areas. "25 years later, environmental problems continue to be strategic issues, of increasing relevance, on which it is necessary to continue researching in order to provide answers. In this sense, from the CIDE (CSIC-UV-GVA) we work to provide evidence-based knowledge and to communicate to society the importance of environmental issues, and in particular, the risk and potential impact of desertification and climate change on ecosystems and human beings, and thus contribute to the protection and good management of our environment", adds Verdú.
Informative activities
In the framework of this anniversary, different activities will be developed over the coming months that will be open to the public who want to know what happens in the natural environment. One of the highlights is the series of conferences Nature: Our origin, our future, which will take place from October 20 to November 17 at the Casa de la Ciència, a benchmark for the popularization of science in the city of Valencia. The series features two winners of the Jaume I Environment Award, Xavier Querol (Institute of Environmental Diagnosis and Water Studies, IDAEA-CSIC), and Fernando T. Maestre (University of Alicante), along with María José Sánchez, director of the BC3 Basque Centre for Climate Change, and CIDE researchers (CSIC-UV-GVA) Yolanda Picó, professor at the University of Valencia, and Juli G. Pausas, researcher at the CSIC.
In November, the #DesertRoom activity is also organized, a current format of popularization in the form of escape room with which to tell about science in a fun and entertaining way. This activity, aimed at high school students, will be held within the framework of Science Week 2021, thanks to funding from the Fundación General CSIC through the Cuenta la Ciencia program. The dates and details of the CIDE (CSIC-UV-GVA) anniversary program will be published in the social media accounts that the center has just opened.
The celebration of the anniversary of the CIDE (CSIC-UV-GVA) aims to transcend the commemorative to enhance the flow of information between those who generate knowledge and those who demand it, thus making visible the variety of ecosystems, species and genes that make up the natural capital.
CIDE Communication
