Description
Description (EN): PONTOS aims to enhance transboundary cooperation for large-scale, harmonized environmental monitoring across the countries of the Black Sea region and beyond. The vehicle towards this objective is the exploitation of numerous freely available and incrementally credible Copernicus data and services (e.g. Copernicus Land and Marine Environment Monitoring Services). Intelligent fusion of data and information shall lead to novel services and products for actors operating along the coastal zone. Latter shall become, through PONTOS operational platform and mounted online services, freely available to and accessible by a multitude of local, national and regional stakeholders. Transboundary spaceborne derived primary (e.g. images) and secondary (e.g. maps) products will be coupled with existing data and knowledge of in situ conditions. Tailored to the regional challenges, solutions will be generated by utilizing this information thesaurus and retrieving methods and results (e.g. online modules and models) from EU and national past and ongoing research and development projects. Citizens’ current and future well-being will be the focus. As such, marine and lake coastal and inland human activities will be mapped targeting industry, recreation, agriculture, aquaculture, and commerce in Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, and pilot-wise in Greece. Their effluents towards the Black Sea or the lakes around it will be calculated, while at the same time spaceborne and in situ data will monitor fluctuations in marine features’ values, such as surface water temperature, salinity, nutrients, potentially toxic elements, and algae presence. The impact will be assessed in relation with set benchmark conditions. Local stakeholders and actors will be informed and equipped with the adequate interface to access the information and its regular updates. Co-development and co-creation actions will respect national and local needs, constraints and vision. Together with capacity building activities PONTOS aims to offer the means to exploit in tandem existing local monitoring networks and Copernicus products and services, to align its online services with a compatible manner to existing hard- and software infrastructures, and to leverage cooperation and exchange of ideas and best practices across the region.
Read more Achievements (EN): Main achievements of the project:
1) Development of the PONTOS Platform (hosted on the server of the Lead Partner – American University of Armenia Fund). The PONTOS Platform offers easy-to-use, easy-to-access and free-of-charge online services, as it makes information about the Black Sea environment from the EU Copernicus Earth Observation platform (retrieves and manages satellite, airborne, and field data, automatically finds and utilizes existing maps from Copernicus and other repositories, and allows data uploads from end users).
The Platform offers the following services:
- PONTOS Data Cube: easy production of maps from satellite data;
- PONTOS Web Application: airborne and in-situ data management support;
- PONTOS WebGIS: a combination of already available information already existing on maps.
The platform can be accessed here: https://pontos-eu.aua.am/pontos-platform/.
2) Collection of data from the pilot sites through field visits. Regarding the defined areas that are incorporated in the PONTOS Platform, those correspond to PONTOS’ pilot sites:
- PONTOS - AM (Armenia): Sevan Lake and Sevan Lake Basin;
- PONTOS - GE (Georgia): Rioni River Delta and Kolkheti National Park;
- PONTOS - GR (Greece): Nestos River and Nestos River Delta;
- PONTOS - UA (Ukraine): Coastline from Odessa city to the Danube river delta as well as Dniester river delta area and adjacent estuary.
The assessments performed are available here: https://pontos-eu.aua.am/pontos-assessments/.
3) Capacity Building for Young Scientists and Practitioners. Two sets of training sessions on Earth Observation and Environmental Monitoring for Young Scientists and Practitioners were organized by all partners. Further information is available at the following links: https://pontos-eu.aua.am/outreach/firsttrainingsession/ and https://pontos-eu.aua.am/outreach/secondtrainingsession/.
4) Capacity Building for Public Administration, Civil Society Organizations, and Private sector actors. Four local events for the familiarization with PONTOS outcomes have been organized in all partner countries. 18 Memorandums of Understanding have been concluded with various stakeholders.
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Website: http://blacksea-cbc.net/
Expected Results (EN): R 2.1 Level of availability of cross-border compatible environmental monitoring data and information
Expected Outputs (EN): Results of the project are:
- Integration of online services' tools based on Information Technology applications that leverage remotely sensed and Copernicus environmental data in tandem with in situ retrieved ones in an integrated and synergistic way to account for an efficient enviornmental monitoring for the Black Sea and its surrounding environment.
- Improved availability and timeliness of cross-border compatible environmental monitoring data and information for the BSB.
- Capacity building and homogenization across the Black Sea to comprehend and utilize provided online services through tailor made training material and actions targeting on one side the young generation of actors and on the other side the established employees of the public and private sectors.
- Establishment of a transnational and transdiciplinary cooperation team to act as the core of flexible local clusters involving stakeholder groups promoting data sharing via PONTOS proposed methodology and tools.
- Raise awareness on the importance of water quality degradation for local and national sustainable development.
These results contribute to the programme expected results through:
- origin and gender independent services and technology transfer across the region,
- capacity building and awareness raising for Copernicus and environmental monitoring,
- insight towards other nations’ strategies for handling similar and neighboring natural and anthropogenic processes and impacts.
To sum up, the relevant programme result indicator for the addressed priority is the level of availability of cross-border compatible environmental monitoring data and information. PONTOS will exploit data and information of other environmental protection projects, repositories and in-situ collections to provide online monitoring services, tools and indicators aiding the environmental management of the Black Sea basin.
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Partners (6)
Lead Partner:
American University of Armenia Fund
Department:
AUA Acopian Center for the Environment
Address:
Baghramyan Avenue 40, 19 Yerevan, Armenia
Legal status:
private
Website:
http://aua.am/
Total budget:
EUR 225 000.00
ENI budget:
EUR 207 000.00
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Democritus University of Thrace, Special Account for Research Funds
-
Name:
Democritus University of Thrace, Special Account for Research Funds
Department:
Department of Environmental Engineering
Address:
University Campus, 69100 Komotini, Greece
Legal status:
public
Website:
http://DUTH.GR
Total budget:
EUR 160 432.28
ENI budget:
EUR 147 597.70
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Odessa National I.I. Mechnikov University
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Name:
Odessa National I.I. Mechnikov University
Department:
Regional Centre for Integrated Environmental Monitoring and Ecological Studies
Address:
Dvoryanskaya str. 2, 65082 Odessa, Ukraine
Legal status:
public
Website:
http://onu.edu.ua/en/science/nauchdosl/research_unit/monitoring_center
Total budget:
EUR 151 405.00
ENI budget:
EUR 139 292.60
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ΕΘΝΙΚΟ ΚΕΝΤΡΟ ΕΡΕΥΝΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΤΕΧΝΟΛΟΓΙΚΗΣ ΑΝΑΠΤΥΞΗΣ / ΕΚΕΤΑ
-
Name:
ΕΘΝΙΚΟ ΚΕΝΤΡΟ ΕΡΕΥΝΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΤΕΧΝΟΛΟΓΙΚΗΣ ΑΝΑΠΤΥΞΗΣ / ΕΚΕΤΑ
Department:
Information Technologies Institute
Address:
Charilaou Thermi Road 6 km, 57001 Thermi Thessaloniki, Greece
Legal status:
public
Website:
http://www.certh.gr
Total budget:
EUR 214 250.00
ENI budget:
EUR 197 110.00
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Green Alternative
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Name:
Green Alternative
Address:
Paliashvili str. 39b, 179 Tbilisi, Georgia
Legal status:
private
Website:
http://greenalt.org/home/
Total budget:
EUR 128 880.00
ENI budget:
EUR 118 569.60
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Environmental Protection and Mining Inspection Body of RA
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Name:
Environmental Protection and Mining Inspection Body of RA
Address:
Charents 46, 25 Yerevan, Armenia
Legal status:
public
Website:
http://www.ecoinspect.am/
Total budget:
EUR 120 000.00
ENI budget:
EUR 110 400.00
