Matís recently received an invitation to visit the premises of the European Union delegation and present Matís' projects that have received funding from the EU, with a special emphasis on the project BioProtect, which recently received funding from the Horizon Europe program.
The EU ambassador, Lucie Samcová-Hall Allen, and the staff of the delegation welcomed the group made up of Matís' project managers and department heads together with Julian Burgos, a marine ecologist at the Norwegian Marine Research Institute who is the scientific leader of the BioProtect project.
During the visit, there was an opportunity to discuss the diverse research and innovation projects that have been funded by the European Union and that Matís has worked on over the years. Lucie also told about the delegation's main projects and the development of their work in Iceland in recent years.
However, the main focus of the visit was the presentation of the research project BioProtect, which officially started yesterday, on May 1, 2024. Sophie Jensen, project manager at Matís leads the project and Julian Burgos is its scientific leader, and they presented their plans for the work of the next four years.
The project is about developing methodologies and technical solutions to facilitate decision-making about resource utilization or the protection of ocean areas. Emphasis is placed on good cooperation with economic partners, which are, for example, shipping companies and fisheries associations, local authorities and especially fishing communities, national and international governments, nature conservation organizations, researchers, policy makers and experts.
The biological diversity of the sea will be monitored so that it will be possible to account for its status and predict possible changes. There will also be extensive mapping of the use and impact of humans on individual sea areas and species in the sea. An action plan for the prioritization of conservation and restoration measures will also be prepared, as well as an assessment of the ecological, social and economic effects of these conservation measures in five ocean areas, ie by Iceland, Norway, Ireland, Portugal and the Azores.
We thank you very much for the wonderful welcome and hope for continued good relations with the EU delegation in Iceland.