PAP/RAC at the GID Parmenides II Forum

“Groupe interacadémique pour le développement” (GID) is an international association established in 2007 by ten academic institutions in Africa and southern Europe. In marshalling knowledge in the service of development, GID promotes one of the UN’s Millenium Development Goals, namely: Bridging the Gap Between the Scientific Output and the Needs of the Stakeholders.

Each year, European-Mediterranean (Parmenides) and African-sub-Saharan (FastDev) conferences bring together scientists and technologists as well as all development stakeholders in a given domain, namely, decision makers, economists, social scientists, GID partners, and representatives of society. These conferences aim to ferret out actual development needs; determine which knowledge is available (and which knowledge needs to be developed); identify the scientific, technological, socio-economic and cultural obstacles to the marshalling of knowledge in the service of development; and formulate proposals aimed at surmounting these obstacles.

This-year conference, GID Parmenides II Forum, took place in Dubrovnik, Croatia, on 17-19 March 2015, with the general topic “Common heritage and technologies: enhancement of heritage, a key to development”. PAP/RAC Director was invited to deliver a speech about PAP/RAC’s and UNEP/MAP’s efforts in the field of coastal zone management, with focus on ecosystem-based management and bridging science and decision making.