MISTRALS ("Integrated Mediterranean Studies at Regional and Local Scales") is a research program dedicated to the study of the Mediterranean basin and its surroundings, with the aim to "better understand the impact of global factors on this region and to anticipate changes over a century of living conditions".The Mediterranean basin under high-scientific monitoring
article of the french newspaper

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

, 2011/04/06. Established in August 2008 under the auspices of the CNRS, it quickly became a collaborative program of many research organizations from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and other Mediterranean countries. "Corporate governance is provided by an International Steering Committee and a Steering Inter-Agency Committee, which validate the scientific plans of each program and provide working capital finance".Introducing MISTRALS
on its website, accessed October 12, 2011. Its scientific direction and financial support are provided by CNRS and IRD (the co-directors are Etienne Ruellan CNRS / INSU and Abdelghani Chehbouni IRD), together with eleven other French research institutions ( ADEME, BRGM, CEA,

Cemagref The Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA), formerly known as Cemagref, was a public research institute in France focusing on land management issues, such as water resources and ag ...

, CIRAD,

CNES The (CNES; French: ''Centre national d'études spatiales'') is the French government space agency (administratively, a "public administration with industrial and commercial purpose"). Its headquarters are located in central Paris and it is und ...

, IFP énergies nouvelles,

IFREMER IFREMER (Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer; ) is an oceanographic institution in Brest, France. Scope of works Ifremer focuses its research activities in the following areas: * Monitoring, use and enhancement of coa ...

, INRA, IRSN and Météo-France). In 2011, over 1,000

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosoph ...

s worked in seven scientific programs. Research programs are interdisciplinary. The themes include

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...

and

marine ecosystems Marine ecosystems are the largest of Earth's aquatic ecosystems and exist in waters that have a high salt content. These systems contrast with freshwater ecosystems, which have a lower salt content. Marine waters cover more than 70% of the su ...

, fisheries,

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...

urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

, the availability of fresh

water Water (chemical formula ) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living ...

economic An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

and

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

.A laboratory of the interaction between man and his environment
newspaper article

, dated April 6, 2011.Mediterranean: "The misconceptions are abysmal!"
Abdelghani Chehbouni maintenance, co-director of Mistrals, in the special issue July–August 2011 from Sciences et Avenir.

References

External links

MISTRALS
{{in lang, en Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub North Africa Levant