ENVINET

Working groups are established to create a forum for scientific and technical collaboration in the network.

Working groups organisation
At the first meeting, there was a discussion about which types of working groups to establish (see minutes, sec. 9.2, 8 and 8.4). The conclusion was to start with three disciplinary groups, representing different environmental media and sciences:

Atmospheric working group

Terrestrial working group

Marine Working group

Each group has a leader and is set up with an e-mail list server for internal communication.

The working groups have proposed activities for the network
In the first phase of the network, the role of the groups was to identify which activities are relevant and scientifically feasible for ENVINET.

Within each of the four environmental problems the network shall work on (climate-change, ozone-layer/UV-radiation, long-range transport of pollutants and biodiversity), the groups evaluated and suggested:

	state of knowledge
	existing research and monitoring at the specific sites
	existing methodology, equipment, protocols etc.; need for improvement
	existing data, databases, bibliographies, networks etc.
	missing data and measurements
	needs for other diciplines
	key-questions and suggestions for projects relevant for the network

Before the meeting in Interlaken, drafts for these documents were circulated in the working groups. The discussions at the meeting (see minutes, sec. 8, 9 and 12.2), concentrated on brainstorming and selection of projects for the network, based on the documents from the working groups. These projects have been named "technical tasks".

The process in the working groups has also resulted in many ideas for research and scientific collaboration between the stations. ENVINET strongly encourages such initiatives (see ENVINET goals 5), though the network is not allowed to fund research projects.