The OFIDIA Consortium

The OFIDIA Consortium includes two Research Institutions, the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC) and the University of Ioannina, along with three stakeholders: the Decentralized Administration of Epirus-Western Macedonia, Forest Directorate (DAFD), the Province of Lecce and the Metropolitan City of Bari.

The Ioannina Regional Unit Fire Corps is also actively participating as an operational collaborator of the regional Forest Directorate for the direct exploitation of the developed infrastructure. Moreover, based on regional agreements, the Province of Lecce will involve the Province of Brindisi, to include the Province of Brindisi area as well, among the areas covered by the OFIDIA project.

The partners have complementary roles:

• CMCC provides experience in data management/analysis, viz tools and fire danger forecasting;
• University of Ioannina contributes expertise in weather forecasting and data storage management;
• DAFD (with Ioannina Regional unit Fire Corps), the Province of Bari and the Province of Lecce provide expertise in forest protection, fire fighting and environmental monitoring in the Epirus and Apulia Regions.

 

CMCC (Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici / Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change) is a research organization that conducts and promotes scientific and applied activities within the scope of international climate change research. CMCC aims to gain in-depth knowledge on climate variability, its causes and its consequences, through the development of high-resolution simulations using global models of the Earth System as well as regional models, focusing in particular on the Mediterranean area.
The specific objective of these research studies is to provide scientifically reliable, rigorous and updated results that will help to investigate, know and represent the interactions between the climate system, the marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and society. [Website]

 

The University of Ioannina was founded in 1964. In 1970 became an independent Higher Education Institution, which grew rapidly in the coming years.
Today, the University of Ioannina includes 17 academic Departments which altogether number 13,523 undergraduate students. A number of organized postgraduate study programs are an offer that combine taught and research elements both at Master’s and Doctoral level. Approximately 1,300 students are involved in full-time study mode progressing to a Master’s degree, while 2,217 students are currently pursuing their studies at Doctoral level. [Website]

 

The Decentralized Administration of Epirus and Western Macedonia is one of the seven decentralized administrations of Greece, consisting of the peripheries of Epirus and Western Macedonia. Seated in Ioannina, Epirus, it is currently led by Acting Secretary-General Vasileios Michelakis.
Decentralized Administrations were created in January 2011 as part of a far-reaching reform of the country’s administrative structure, the Kallikratis reform (Law 3852/2010).
They enjoy both administrative and financial autonomy and exercise devolved state powers in urban planning, environmental and energy policy, forestry, migration and citizenship. Beyond that, they are tasked with supervising the first and second-level self-governing bodies: the municipalities and regions, in this case the 30 municipalities of Epirus and Western Macedonia, and the two regions themselves. [Website]

 

The Metropolitan City of Bari (Città Metropolitana di Bari) is a metropolitan city in the Apulia region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Bari. It replaced the Province of Bari and includes the city of Bari and some forty other municipalities (comuni). It was first created by the reform of local authorities (Law 142/1990) and then established by the Law 56/2014. It has been operative since January 1, 2015.

The Metropolitan City of Bari is headed by the Metropolitan Mayor (Sindaco metropolitano) and by the Metropolitan Council (Consiglio metropolitano). Since 1 January 2015 Antonio Decaro, as mayor of the capital city, has been the first mayor of the Metropolitan City.

It has an area of 3.825 km2 (1.477 sq mi), and a total population of 1,261,152 (2014). [Website]

 

The Province of Lecce (Provincia di Lecce) is a province in the Apulia region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Lecce which is known as the Florence of the South. The province itself is called the “Heel of Italy”.
Totally included in the Salento peninsula, it is the second most populous province in Apulia and the twenty-first most populous in Italy.

It has an area of 2,759 square kilometers (1,065 sq mi) and a total population of 814,495 (2012). There are 97 municipalities (comuni) in the province. It is surrounded by the provinces of Taranto and Brindsi in the northwest, Ionian Sea in the west, Adriatic Sea in the east. This location has established itself as a popular tourist destination. It has been ruled by the Romans, Byzantine Greeks, Carolingians, Lombards, Arabs and Normans. The main towns are Lecce, Gallipoli, Maglie and Otranto. The most important agricultural products are wheat and corn. [Website]