Indo-Italian Centre of Excellence

Eyes wide open on the EU-India Environmental Research

The pressure exerted by the development of human societies on the planetary environment is quickly increasing, widening the already dramatic series of implications on the quality of water, soils and bioresources, bringing the resilience capacity of many ecosystems very near to their breaking point.

India, in particular, with its huge population involved in a quick industrial and social development rate has to face a number of strategic environmental challenges whose meaning and influence goes well beyond its boundaries, being of paramount interest for the whole world. Issues like the preservation of biodiversity, the protection of chemical quality of water for agriculture and human consumption, the optimization of land planning process, the impact of pollution on human health, the waste waters control and reuse and the remediation of polluted sites are only some of the key aspects linked to this massive process of development which is going on within this large and complex country.

Indo Italian Centre of Excellence for Environmental Sustainability (INITCEES) has been established with the purpose to study and interact with these challenges by joining the best expertise of CNR and CSIR, the main research institutions of the two countries, in the field of environmental sciences and engineering.
Geologists, Geochemists, Environmental Engineers, Biologists and Ecologists with a wide experience of the Indian context are involved in the Centre where they carry out part of their scientific and technical activities.
Many projects are currently active under the INITCEES umbrella and a MoU is expected to be signed soon to formally inaugurate the Centre.