To provide a mutual understanding of the activities envisaged as part of the BSB889 Copernicus assisted environmental monitoring across the Black Sea Basin (PONTOS) Project, Odessa National I.I. Mechnikov University has signed the Memorandums of Understanding with six local stakeholder organisations:
- Basin Management Authority of Water Resources for the Black Sea Rivers and the Lower Danube (Odesa, Ukraine)
- Centre of Ecological Safety, LLC (Odesa, Ukraine)
- Odesa State Environmental University (Odesa, Ukraine)
- Hydrometeorological Centre of the Black and Azov Seas (Odesa, Ukraine)
- Lower Dniester Natural Nature Park (Odesa Region, Ukraine)
- Department of Engineering Protection of City Territory and Development of Coast under Odesa City Council (Odesa, Ukraine)
The MoU verifies their high interest in PONTOS results and suggested solutions, and promotes and forms local clusters on water management and pollution prevention in all participating countries.
Basin Management Authority of Water Resources for the Black Sea Rivers and the Lower Danube is the organization responsible for sustainable management of the rivers within the northern Black Sea region based on the integrated drainage basin principle. The Authority’s tasks are directed toward maintaining and operating hydro-engineering facilities. It performs monitoring, flood protection, and water supply for irrigation purposes (https://oouvr.gov.ua/).
Centre of Ecological Safety, LLC is a small enterprise that, in cooperation with Odesa State Environmental University, is rendering a broad spectrum of services in ecological studies, environmental protection, radioecology, and environmental education.
Department of Engineering Protection of City Territory and Development of Coast under Odesa City Council is elaborating and implementing measures and long-term programs of engineering infrastructure development, first of all for engineering protection and sustainable management of city and coastal areas suffering complex geological processes (abrasion, landslides, water-logging and rock subsidence over underground workings). The Department permanently monitors dangerous engineering & geological phenomena and processes within the city area (https://www.facebook.com/InzZahyst/).
The Hydrometeorological Centre of the Black and Azov Seas is the leading organization responsible for state hydrological, meteorological, and air quality monitoring, a member of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) network; its observational data is used for climate change assessment, short- and long-term weather forecasts for the Black and Azov Seas area (http://www.hmcbas.od.ua/)
Lower Dniester National Nature Park is a protected area located in the lower reaches of the Dniester River. The Ramsar sites are located in areas essential for birds’ reproduction (nesting areas). Their research department studies flora, fauna, and hydrology in the Nature Park area. The spheres of particular attention are protecting biological resources and fixation of eutrophication phenomena cases. Of particular importance for the Nature Park is the water surface overgrowing with aquatic vegetation (https://nnpp.org.ua/).
Odesa State Environmental University is a higher educational institution that graduates ecologists, hydrologists, hydrometeorological and environmental economists. The University is also performing environmental studies and research. The University would like to use Environmental Observation data, new methods, and approaches for both educational process and research activities in the coastal and estuarine systems (https://odeku.edu.ua/).
Copernicus assisted environmental monitoring across the Black Sea Basin-PONTOS is a 30-month project funded by the European Union’s ENI CBC Black Sea Basin Programme 2014-2020. The PONTOS makes information about the Black Sea environment from the EU Copernicus Earth Observation platform accessible to scientists, policymakers, citizens, and other relevant stakeholders. It utilizes information technologies to automatically retrieve Copernicus products, couples them with national or regional infrastructures for data acquisition and processing, and provides monitoring services for the Black Sea and the surrounding environment in a transboundary, standardized, and homogenized manner. The environmental monitoring system developed is tested in pilot sites across Armenia, Greece, Georgia, and Ukraine.