university of haifa
We are honored to announce a NIS 50 million gift from the Kadas Family
Charitable Fund to support the creation of an International Faculty Initiative
of Global Climate Change, with an initial emphasis on marine and coastal ecology
research. The largest one-time donation in the University’s history, the gift
will be used to create a virtual community of scholars, spanning universities
and research centers across the globe. This project, will begin with an initial
focus on waterways in general, and on the Mediterranean, in particular. “The
Eastern Mediterranean Sea hosts more than 17,000 marine species and contributes
an estimated 7% to the world’s marine biodiversity. Today, this rich ecosystem
has come under threat from climate change, pollution, over- fishing and coastal
infrastructure projects,” explains Prof. Dan Tchernov, Scientific Director of
the University’s Mediterranean Sea Research Center of Israel. “The generous gift
from the Kadas Charitable Fund will be crucial in predicting the ongoing effects
of environmental and climate change in the rapidly changing Eastern
Mediterranean basin, with the ultimate aim of using this research to predict the
impact of climate change on other waterways and coastal regions. A consortium of
global universities and research centers, employing virtual technology, will
offer online educational modules, and employ cutting edge technology to create
virtual research platforms untethered by geographical location. Each and every
one of the nodes in this venture will think local, but act globally.”
