GLOBIMED involves four main types of activities:

1. 1. Work and discussion meetings: meetings are plannedfor identifying the scientific gaps of the group members and of the national scientific community in the field of global climate change and its impact on Mediterranean ecosystems, and to adopt strategies for filling these gaps and thereby achieve a more coherent and comprehensive programme of research that avoids redundancies and dispersions and optimises research resources. At the end of GLOBIMED's first year, its operations will be assessed on the basis pre-defined indicators and the proper measures will be adopted in order to enhance fulfilment of the long-term objectives and the planning of those that have arisen in the first year of work.

2. Exchange of students and scientists: GLOBIMED aims to train both students or hired personnel and member scientists in the network in complementary scientific fields, thereby taking advantage of the multidisciplinary nature of the network itself. This training will achieve greater synchronisation of research between groups and make medium and long-term collaborations more feasible for staff researchers. It will also lead to the training of more competitive research personnel in the case of students, interns and employees.

3. Pilot collaboration in joint experiments: These specific projects, in which scientists in the network will contribute their experience and expertise to the work of other GLOBIMED scientists, will enable the establishment of an LTER network (Long Term Ecological Research). The absence of such a network in Spain is a major lacking in the field of terrestrial ecology, in contrast with the clear priority given internationally to this type of studies of global climate change and biodiversity loss, as shown in numerous international committees and organisations (e.g. IGBP, IPCC, DIVERSITAS, SCOPE) and the national research plans of countries like the US, Canada, Switzerland, and Germany, to cite just a few examples.

4. Extension of network beyond academic world: The organisational effort of a network like GLOBIMED is justified in large measure by the notable lack of connection between research, management of Mediterranean natural spaces and forest systems and scientific policy on these issues. This lack of connection is seen not only in Spain but also throughout the international scientific community (see: http://www.biodiversity.be/bbpf/). Through GLOBIMED meetings, which will bring together representatives of several institutional managers of Mediterranean ecosystems and scientific policy, as well as the publishing and the distribution of an educational brochure and a GLOBIMED website, the aim is to enhance communication between these groups, which operate on different time scales and whose objectives, though similar, often do not converge.

These activities will also include:

• Centralization of a database on projects, organisations, working teams, publications and results of research that is relevant to the objectives of GLOBIMED
• Development and use of common research infrastructures
• Integration of the work of GLOBIMED in other Spanish and European thematic networks
• Search for additional sources of funding for GLOBIMED's research and educational work.