Alliances such as the one we are fostering with AECID are essential for connecting scientific knowledge with the needs of the Mediterranean, in order to develop solutions to the common challenges posed by global change.
Science as a tool for cooperation
Science and international cooperation share a common goal: generating knowledge and strengthening capacities to address global challenges. At CREAF, we therefore see scientific research aimed at the sustainable implementation of solutions as a tool for international cooperation that contributes to development. Beyond being an area of cooperation itself, science is also a means of building multilateral partnerships designed to foster knowledge exchange, improvement and progress. In this context, CREAF's collaboration with the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) via the MedCREAF programme seeks to put science at the service of these challenges, with a particular focus on the southern shore of the Mediterranean.
During his visit to CREAF, Santiago Morán Medina, coordinator of AECID's Masar al'an programme, gained first-hand insight into the centre's research in fields including forestry, soil restoration linked to regenerative agriculture, vegetation responses to the different drivers of global change, and the impact of human activity on the environment, the biodiversity and the climate system, among others. Morán Medina toured CREAF's laboratories and met directly with the scientists leading several research groups whose work is closely related to the challenges facing the Mediterranean region. He also held discussions with CREAF Director Joan Pino and Lucía Galiano, the centre's Head of Experimental Infrastructure.
Joan Pino
The first collaboration between AECID and CREAF dates back to the 1st international workshop 'Agro-ecological Transition: Contributions of Regenerative Agriculture and Ecological Restoration in the Mediterranean', held in June 2025, brought together around thirty expert voices from across the Mediterranean region in Barcelona, including representatives from Berytech (Lebanon), the Beta Tech Center, CIHEAM, the European Forest Institute, the FAO (Rome and Egypt), INRGREF (Tunisia), the Institut des Régions Arides (Tunisia), the International Water Management Institute (Egypt), INRA (Morocco), MedCities, MedWaves, the government of the Generalitat de Catalunya, among others.
A look inside CREAF
A look inside CREAF
Researcher Jordi Vayreda provided an overview of his group's work on the impacts of disturbances and global change on forests, focusing on processes of forest decline, vulnerability and resilience. He also presented the group's work on analysing data from national forest inventories and managing CREAF's forest databases.
Researcher Xavier Domene welcomed the delegation to the Soil Laboratory, together with members of his research team, which focuses on preventing and reversing land degradation in both agricultural and natural ecosystems. Until now, AECID's engagement with CREAF's work on the ecological restoration of regenerative agricultural soils had centred on the first specialised workshop on the subject, held a year ago. The visit therefore offered an opportunity to Santiago Moran Medina from the Agency see first-hand how the laboratory operates from a multifunctional perspective.
Researcher Laia Andreu-Hayles and several postdoctoral researchers from her team introduced the AECID representative to their groundbreaking work on the climate memory preserved in the tree rings of centuries-old trees at the Dendrochronology Laboratory. The visit concluded with presentations by researchers Teresa Gimeno and Rafael Poyatos on their joint work in ecophysiology and global change. Accompanied by members of their predoctoral and postdoctoral teams, they explained how understanding vegetation responses to the different drivers of global change is essential for predicting how terrestrial vegetation and the biosphere can contribute to mitigating the effects of climate change.
The collaboration between the Masar al'an programme and CREAF is designed to address climate change and biodiversity loss in North Africa and the Middle East. In line with the objectives of the development cooperation programme, it seeks to create opportunities through regional partnerships, practical solutions and innovation, while strengthening scientific cooperation and knowledge exchange.
