Objectives:

1. To develop a cross-border network of infrastructures (e.g. micro-meteorological stations, aerial platforms) and experts for the assessment and management of water, carbon and energy fluxes and stocks in agricultural and pastoral ecosystems in the Pyrenees.

2. To combine flux measurements, meteorological data, remote sensing techniques and modelling to produce predictive land use, productivity, carbon distribution and snow cover maps, and to assess the impacts of climate and land use change on Pyrenean ecosystems.

3. To ensure the creation and exchange of data, knowledge and expertise through innovative networking and cooperation techniques, and to facilitate the training of students, technicians and researchers in the fields of ecology and climate change.

4. To guide policies and local actors for the sustainable management of the land and natural resources in the Pyrenees (climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies).

5. To raise awareness among citizens about the importance of cutting down greenhouse gas emissions, reducing energy consumption, and managing natural resources sustainably.

6. To strengthen the Regional, European and International scientific cooperation in the field of climate change.

Questions:

• How to best characterize and quantify spatio-temporal dynamics in water, carbon, and energy fluxes and stocks in mountain ecosystems?

• What are the drivers for those dynamics: vegetation type, phenology, land use, soil type, management, topography, climate, etc., and which are the feedback mechanisms between the biosphere and the atmosphere involved?

• What are the impacts of climate change on ecosystems (e.g. biodiversity), resource availability (e.g. water, fodder) and human activities (e.g. agriculture, forestry, tourism) in the Pyrenees, and which indicators can be used to describe those impacts?

• Which mitigation and adaptation strategies and policies are suitable to cope with climate change, at local and regional scales, and how should they be coordinated?

• Which role can networks such as FLUXPYR play in the study of climate change and how should they be managed to optimise their benefits?