Launch of the "Water in the Alpes-Maritimes" partnership chair

Drought, floods: the disruption of the water cycle is one of the main consequences of climate change worldwide. Faced with the growing scarcity of this resource, the Alpes-Maritimes region is mobilizing to preserve water. They have joined forces to create a Chair whose ambition is to create a continuum of reflection between all academic, institutional, economic and associative players, based on the latest research and innovation.

Through the Alpes-Maritimes department, the Nice-Côte d'Azur metropolitan area, the Sophia-Antipolis, Cannes Pays de Lérins, Riviera Française, Pays de Grasse, Alpes d'Azur and Pays du Paillons conurbations, the entire region is represented and involved in this Chair.

A three-pronged strategy

The Chair intends to propose a three-pronged strategy:

1. Water resources and aquatic environments: what methods should be developed to monitor and analyze the quantity and quality of water and aquatic environments? How can we model processes and envisage possible futures?
2. Uses of the resource: how to diagnose? Who consumes what? At what time of year?
3. Water governance: What tools and methods can we propose to help governance bodies integrate a long-term vision of water resources into a systemic approach such as nexus, which considers water in all its interrelationships?water in all its links with energy production, food production and the maintenance of the ecological properties of soils and ecosystems?

In this quest for sustainable management of water resources, the Alpes-Maritimes is a veritable laboratory for experimentation, with a wealth of innovative areas: the coast and its land/sea interface, the countryside, the mountains and the city.

Supporting the launch of joint expertise, training and research projects

To meet the challenges posed by the water issue, the Chair aims to animate the innovation ecosystem that is the Alpes-Maritimes region, and to structure a network of public and private players around projects whose results will make it possible to identify the best solutions.s around projects whose results will significantly advance research and innovation for the benefit of local stakeholders, as well as at regional, national, European and international levels.

Through a multi-year, 5-year commitment, the 10 founding members aim to rally sponsoring partners to work together to produce scientific, technical and educational innovation. For students and PhD candidates, taking part in the Chair's activities is a way of immersing themselves in the business world and understanding its challenges. The Chair gives them the opportunity to meet experts and get involved in real-life case studies, helping to train professionals capable of meeting the water challenges of today and tomorrow.

"Université Côte d'Azur has the capacity to bring together a wide range of researchers in the geosciences and the human and social sciences, and spontaneously shared the Alpes-Maritimes department's desire to create a Chair in Water for Territories.
Convinced of the benefits of a broad, systemic approach involving both public and private partners, Université Côte d'Azur naturally entrusted IMREDD, its Mediterranean Institute for Risk, Environment and Sustainable Development, which is an Innovation and Partnership Institute. Today, seven Université Côte d'Azur laboratories are involved in the project. However, in order to mobilize the knowledge needed for the Alpes-Maritimes region, partnerships will be extended both locally, throughout the Côte d'Azur region, and nationally and internationally.
Coordinated by Isabelle La Jeunesse of Université Côte d'Azur, chosen for her expertise in multidisciplinary approaches to water issues, theeau, the Chair will focus on 3 key areas: resources and environments, uses and governance, with particular attention to the opportunities for reusing treated wastewater and unconventional water. "Jeanick Brisswalter, President of Université Côte d'Azur