LifeWatch ERIC in El-Hiwar Euro-Arab Policy Dialogue on Opportunities for Women’s Empowerment

El-Hiwar

On 24 March 2022, LifeWatch ERIC Gender Consultant, Africa Zanella, took part in the El-Hiwar Euro-Arab Policy Dialogue on Challenges and Opportunities for Women Economic Empowerment in Times of Climate Change. El-Hiwar II is a project funded by European Commission DG NEAR and implemented by the College of Europe, conceived as a dialogue tool for the EU and the LAS to support strengthened work relations and to learn about each other’s functioning, mechanisms and policies. There was strong female representation among the 37 participants of the Dialogue, made up of gender experts and policy officers from both the EU and the LAS, as well as representatives from the UN and prominent women’s organisations.

Specifically, this policy dialogue was centred around gender and climate action priorities, particularly in terms of revamping policies and initiatives to support women’s economic empowerment, in light of the evolving situation generated by climate change and its wide-ranging consequences on economic sectors. Women play a crucial role in climate change adaptation and mitigation, with knowledge of what is needed to adapt to changing environmental conditions and to come up with practical solutions. Unfortunately, they are still a largely untapped resource. Key topics included the role of women in rural areas and the consequences of climate change on the Arab region, with an open call made to attendees to consider Horizon Europe as a funding mechanism for further research on women’s contribution to climate action and/or capacity building for women in rural areas to mitigate and adapt to climate change in key regions in the Mediterranean.

European Commission frameworks such as the Gender Equality Strategy and the Green Deal are making extra efforts to involve more women in the areas of energy, fund SMEs and entrepreneurs, and get closer to reaching SDG 5, “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”. Damningly, to date, no country is on track to achieve SDG 5 by 2030; while steps forward have been made in terms of education and health, little concrete economic progress has been seen. Participants agreed that there was a need to “walk the talk”.

Africa Zanella had much expertise to offer both in her role as social scientist, and as a representative of LifeWatch ERIC, whose crucial role in biodiversity and ecosystem research was pertinent to the discussions at hand. The infrastructure already has a well-established relationship with ASREN, the Arab States Research and Education Network, and is planning to present a joint paper on women and sustainability at its next annual meeting. Furthermore, following the Dialogue, Ms Zanella is in the process of exploring further potential synergistic collaborations between LifeWatch ERIC and other gender and ecology -oriented organisations. She reflected on the crucial subjects covered in the meeting:

Of the 22 countries involved in ASREN, over 50% of the population is under 25 years of age; this huge generational gap highlights the urgency of taking immediate climate action. It is in this context that I hope that the role of women in combating climate change will be a key topic at the COP27 in Egypt, to seriously examine the difference in the impact and contribution of the genders, considering also that women tend to be poorer and more likely to be impacted by environmental disasters.

Policy Relevance and Uptake

  • End of May 2026 – Policy-brief to demonstrate the application of habitat-based mapping in supporting EU strategies (e.g., Biodiversity Strategy, Nature Restoration Law).

Mapping user requirements

  • End of January 2025 – Catalogue of services already available in LifeWatch ERIC or research lines addressing ecological responses to climate change;
  • February 2025 (TBD) – Online working table on setting priorities, timeline and milestones for the mapping service and model requirements by scientists and science stakeholders.
Greece

The Greek National Distributed Centre is funded by the Greek General Secretariat of Research and Technology and is coordinated by the Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture of the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, in conjunction with 47 associated partner institutions.

To know more about how Greece contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Italy

The Italian National Distributed Centre is led and managed by the Italian National Research Council (CNR) and is coordinated by a Joint Research Unit, currently comprising 35 members. Moreover, Italy hosts one of the LifeWatch ERIC Common Facilities, the Service Centre.

To know more about how Italy contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Netherlands

The Dutch National Distributed Centre is hosted by the Faculty of Science of the University of Amsterdam. Moreover, The Netherlands hosts one of the LifeWatch ERIC Common Facilities, the Virtual Laboratory and Innovation Centre.

To know more about how The Netherlands contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Portugal

The Portuguese National Distributed Centre is managed by PORBIOTA, the Portuguese e-Infrastructure for Information and Research on Biodiversity. Led by BIOPOLIS/CIBIO-InBIO – Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, PORBIOTA connects the principal Portuguese research institutions working in biodiversity.

To know more about how Portugal contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Slovenia

The Slovenian National Distributed Centre is led by the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU). It focuses on the development of technological solutions in the field of biodiversity and socio-ecosystem research.

To know more about how Slovenia contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Spain

The Spanish National Distributed Centre is supported by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, the Regional Government of Andalusia and the Guadalquivir River Basin Authority (Ministry for Ecological Transition-MITECO). Moreover, Spain is the hosting Member State of LifeWatch ERIC, the location of its Statutory Seat & ICT e-Infrastructure Technical Office (LifeWatch ERIC Common Facilities). 

To know more about how Spain contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Bulgaria

The Bulgarian National Distributed Centre is represented by the  Agricultural University-Plovdiv.

To know more about how Bulgaria contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.

Implementing services

  • End of January 2025 – Internal distribution of a questionnaire on the most used/relevant model resources in the WG member research activity;
  • February 2025 (TBD) – Online working table on setting priorities, timeline and milestones for the mapping service and model requirements by scientists and science stakeholders.

Knowledge Exchange and Capacity Building

  • End of December 2025 – Create a shared repository of guidance documents, tools, templates, and data resources accessible to WG members and broader communities.

Organising WG workshops and conferences

  • End of January 2025 – Setting priority research lines and contributions to the BEeS 2025 LifeWatch Conference for the session on the “Ecological responses to climate change”;
  • March/April 2025 (TBD) – Workshop ‘Ecological modelling and eco-informatics to address functional responses of biodiversity and ecosystems to climate change’ co-organised with the University of Salento;
  • 30 June – 3 July 2025 – Participation to LifeWatch 2025 BEeS Conference on “Addressing the Triple Planetary Crisis”.

Fund raising

  • End of January 2025 – Establishing a WG Committee on scouting project application opportunities and fundraising.

Meetings, Webinars, International Conferences & Networking (2025/2026)

  • Organising and participating at discussions on emerging technologies in biodiversity monitoring;
  • Organising webinars on machine learning, eDNA analysis, and automated data collection;
  • Fostering collaboration between researchers, technologists, and decision-makers.

Collaborative Research & Case Studies (2025/2026)

  • Conducting pilot projects to test new monitoring methods;
  • Publishing scientific and popular science papers and reports on advancements in biodiversity assessment.

Data Standardisation & FAIR Principles Implementation (2025/2026)

  • Developing best practices for data curation and sharing;
  • Ensuring that biodiversity data aligns with FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) standards.

Development of VREs for Ecosystem Simulation (2026)

  • Creating virtual models of ecosystems to predict environmental changes;
  • Enhancing conservation strategies through AI-driven simulations.

Mapping Requirements and Gap Analysis

  • End of December 2025 – Catalogue of services already available in LifeWatch ERIC or research lines Ecosystem services mapping.

Methodological Alignment and Innovation

  • End of January 2026 – Online working table on mapping standards, classification systems, and indicators across members;
  • End of January 2026 – Catalogue of advanced techniques (e.g., remote sensing, GIS modelling, and machine learning) for scalable, habitat-based ecosystem service mapping;
  • End December 2026 – Methodological framework to support methodological innovation through joint development and testing of mapping approaches, especially linking ecosystem service supply and demand.
Belgium

The Belgian National Distributed Centre makes varied and complementary in-kind contributions to LifeWatch ERIC. These are implemented in the form of long-lasting projects by various research centres and universities distributed throughout the country and supported by each respective political authority.

To know more about how Belgium contributes to LifeWatch ERIC, please visit our dedicated webpage.