Phenoclim builds a collective scientific and educational observation network about climate change in the Alps.

In autumn 2004, the Research Center on Alpine Ecosystems (CREA) launched the program "Phenoclim" for schools, NGOs, individuals and protected areas of all the Alps.

Within the scope of "participative science", Phenoclim is both a scientific and educational program inviting the public to participate to data collection in order to measure the effects of climate change on alpine plants.

Every spring and autumn, volunteers observe phenology of common plant species and transmit the collected data to CREA’s team (dates of budburst, leafing, flowering, etc.) who analyses them.

More than 140 study zones are now spread across the French Alps, Aosta Valley in Italy and the Canton Wallis in Switzerland. The database is now extremely rich and will become even more over the long term, constituting a real interactive observatory of climate change in the Alps.

The interest of this observatory is also based on its expansion all over the Alps, to better take into account the geographical diversity of the whole mountain range. Through their vocations and richness of their territories, protected areas are the "natural partners" of such a project.

Therefore CREA wishes to collaborate with further Alpine Protected Areas to build and enlarge together this collective Alpine observation network.

For more information you can visit the website (in French and English) where you will also find the leaflet of the program.

If you are interested to participate in this initiative with your protected area, please contact Anne Delestrade (anne@crea.hautesavoie.net) , research director of CREA and Floriane Macian (floriane@crea.hautesavoie.net) , organizer of the Phenoclim network. They are also at your disposal for any further question.