PROGRAMME OBJECTIVES, EUROPEAN DOMENSION
The proposed project brings together a well balanced team of institutions and researches from the European Communities and Mediterranean partner countries. Expertise and resources of the European partners are harnessed, in close cooperation with local expertise provided by the DC teams, to address challenges and problems of the Mediterranean region, which at the same time provide a testing ground for methods and approaches more generally applicable.

This is well in line with the overall objectives of the call ICFP501A4PR03.

The cooperative, and balanced structure of the consortium and the work plan are designed to enable a close collaboration in the spirit of mutual benefit, and common learning. The emphasis here is not on technology transfer, but on joint research and development, with each team contributing its respective strength and specific experience.

The proposed approach is inter- and multi-disciplinary, and in particular aims to bring together quantitative numerical analysis as the basis for any rational resource management policies with the tools and methods of socio-economic research. Combining the rigor of quantitative analysis and numerical modeling with the flexibility and problem orientation of in part qualitative socio-economic analysis should result in a consistent, plausible, and practical contribution to development policies.

The project directly involves and addresses the state and its institutions as well as the civic society as the ultimate end users of policy research for sustainable development and giving due consideration to market forces as major controlling element in development and any sustainable resource management strategy.

Tools for the analysis and operational management of complex natural resources systems implementing concepts of applied systems analysis are the expected product: Again, this approach and its objective contribute directly to the objectives of the programme as expressed in the call.