Tourism is one of the most impacted sectors from the Covid-19 pandemic. The extent of the impact is expected to be particularly severe for tourist destinations where the virus is actively circulating and tourism plays an important role in the economy. With a rich endowment of tourism potential, the Hauts-de-France (HdF) was part of the French regions classified as Covid-19 "red zone" the day after deconfinement (May 11th). The research project THREpiCo addresses the issue of the consequences of this pandemic on both tourism demand and supply. In terms of tourism demand, the project aims at understanding individuals’ perceptions of the region with regard to the Covid-19 epidemic risk and analysing the role of their perceptions in their visit behaviour and revisit intentions. Particular attention will be paid to the individuals’ trust in regional policy-makers and confidence in Covid-19 risk mitigation measures. The changes in demand for trips and individual welfare due to the pandemic will also be explored. In terms of tourism supply, a number of Covid-19 health and safety protocols, combined with related communication strategies, have been implemented, particularly in the commercial accommodation sector, in an effort to restore visitors’ confidence and stimulate demand. Another objective of this project is to investigate the attractiveness of these tools among visitors by estimating the extra amount of money that they would be willing to pay for one night in a hotel establishment. Finally, additional changes are expected to be made in the regional tourism industry in the medium term to strengthen the resilience of the sector. With this in mind, qualitative survey interviews of tourism stakeholders will be carried out with the objective of co-constructing a restructuring plan for the tourism supply organised into different actions (or scenarios). An ex-ante economic valuation of these scenarios will be conducted to support the decision-making process. This research project will be led by a multidisciplinary research team, whose expertise covers all aspects related to the impact analysis of a pandemic on tourism. The team will rely on close collaboration with the diverse tourism-based organisations within the HdF and the original combination of several non-market economic valuation methods, quantitative and qualitative surveys, coupled with the use of secondary data about tourist trips during the last ten years, to provide a broad picture of the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic on tourism activity in the HdF. The expected results are empirical, methodological and operational.

"Tourism is one of the most impacted sectors from the Covid-19 pandemic. The extent of the impact is expected to be particularly severe for tourist destinations where the virus is actively circulating and tourism plays an important role in the economy. With a rich endowment of tourism potential, the Hauts-de-France (HdF) was part of the French regions classified as Covid-19 ""red zone"" the day after deconfinement (May 11th). The research project THREpiCo addresses the issue of the consequences of this pandemic on both tourism demand and supply. In terms of tourism demand, the project aims at understanding individuals’ perceptions of the region with regard to the Covid-19 epidemic risk and analysing the role of their perceptions in their visit behaviour and revisit intentions. Particular attention will be paid to the individuals’ trust in regional policy-makers and confidence in Covid-19 risk mitigation measures. The changes in demand for trips and individual welfare due to the pandemic will also be explored. In terms of tourism supply, a number of Covid-19 health and safety protocols, combined with related communication strategies, have been implemented, particularly in the commercial accommodation sector, in an effort to restore visitors’ confidence and stimulate demand. Another objective of this project is to investigate the attractiveness of these tools among visitors by estimating the extra amount of money that they would be willing to pay for one night in a hotel establishment. Finally, additional changes are expected to be made in the regional tourism industry in the medium term to strengthen the resilience of the sector. With this in mind, qualitative survey interviews of tourism stakeholders will be carried out with the objective of co-constructing a restructuring plan for the tourism supply organised into different actions (or scenarios). An ex-ante economic valuation of these scenarios will be conducted to support the decision-making process. This research project will be led by a multidisciplinary research team, whose expertise covers all aspects related to the impact analysis of a pandemic on tourism. The team will rely on close collaboration with the diverse tourism-based organisations within the HdF and the original combination of several non-market economic valuation methods, quantitative and qualitative surveys, coupled with the use of secondary data about tourist trips during the last ten years, to provide a broad picture of the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic on tourism activity in the HdF. The expected results are empirical, methodological and operational."

Areas weakly or not interconnected with large power grids, and in particular islands, usually rely on fossil energy sources for their electricity production. This results in high levels of emissions and pollution, but also higher costs than what can be found on the continents. In order to reduce their energy dependence while helping get closer to carbon neutrality, recourse to renewable energies is preferred. However, these need to be coupled with energy storage means to cope with their variability and their intermittence. If battery storage is often considered, hydrogen can have complementary contributions to that of batteries, especially in terms of long-term storage, integration between different sectors (electricity, transport and heat) or even the provision of ancillary services. However, the roles that hydrogen can play in the energy transition of islands are still insufficiently studied. The HyLES project aims to study the roles and impacts that hydrogen can have to support a transition to energy independence and carbon neutrality for electricity production and transport in weakly or non-interconnected areas. It will particularly focus on three case studies with different locations, needs, resources, economies and cultures: Corsica, Reunion Island and two islands in French Polynesia. As an interdisciplinary approach between engineering sciences, climate sciences and human and social sciences is particularly necessary on this subject, the project relies on contributions from partners (FEMTO-ST, GEPASUD, LE2P-ENERGY Lab and SPE) from these three fields and the three studied areas. First, the project will study local contexts not only in terms of production and consumption potentials, but also in terms of socio-economic barriers to the integration of hydrogen technologies. Studies by 2050 and beyond will make it possible to envisage different prospective scenarios taking into account the expected impacts of climate change. In a second step, these results will be used for integration at the local scale (building, district) and at the scale of the island networks. This integration will be based not only on electrical needs, but also on the decarbonization potential of transport (land and sea) or the production of hot and cold. Finally, in a last part, the project will carry out a study of the socio-economic impact of the integration of hydrogen technologies on the studied territories, and will publish a white paper of recommendations regarding the integration of hydrogen in island territories. Particular attention will be paid to interactions with the populations of the studied areas as well as with institutional, industrial and academic players.

Nearly 90% of flowering plants depend on pollination making this process a vital ecosystem service for humanity. The sustainable maintenance of pollination services depends primarily on the conservation of wild pollinator populations and the resilience of plant-pollinator interactions to ongoing rapid environmental changes, such as global climate and land use changes. However, management and conservation policies in response to these changes are hindered by the lack of integrative studies on pollination services from plant-insect interactions to livelihood economics, especially in developing countries. We propose to address this issue in a transdisciplinary project focusing on the ivory palm (Phytelephas aequatorialis), a palm endemic to the Ecuadorian Andes that is of economic interest to rural communities and whose pollination success is based on floral thermogenesis. Our hypothesis is that a change in the thermal environment of the palm, triggered by deforestation and climate change, would disrupt plant-pollinator interactions based on floral heat, with cascading effects on palm productivity and the economic benefits of smallholders who depend on it. We will determine how these two anthropogenic stresses could affect plant-pollinator interactions, pollination efficiency, palm genetic diversity and ultimately the benefits to local communities, in order to provide them with optimal and sustainable management strategies for the conservation of ivory palms and pollinators. The project is organized in five work packages (WPs) with across different levels of organization - from the flower to the socio-ecosystem - and combines a range of observational, experimental and modelling approaches. WP1 will detail the mechanisms involved in palm-pollinator interactions, in particular the effect of floral temperatures on the emission of volatile compounds and the role of these floral traits in attracting pollinators and ultimately on palm seed production. WP2 will study how floral traits and pollinators respond to changes in thermal regime, by comparing palm-insect interactions in different environments at the landscape scale. These first two WPs will produce a predictive spatial model of palm productivity based on pollinators. This model will then be combined with socio-economic data obtained in two subsequent WPs. In WP3, an agent-based bio-economic model will be built from surveys and data collected from local communities on their knowledge of palm harvesting and pollination and the surrounding landscape, and socio-economic data on their choices in palm management. This model will help identify, from a collective perspective, sustainable strategies for palm management and pollinator conservation. WP4 will develop role-playing games (RPGs) revolving around the results of the agent-based bio-economic model within a multi-stakeholder platform (farmers, palm product companies, forest conservation NGOs, park rangers) to define locally viable and acceptable ivory palm management strategies at the landscape level. These strategies will then be simulated in the agent-based bio-economic model. Our communication strategy for the project will be deployed in a WP5, and will include, among others, the adaptation of the RPG as an educational tool to support learning objectives in natural resource management for private and governmental institutions in Ecuador.