The course comprised a five-day programme (from 13 to 18 May 2013) including lectures from specialists to provide the theoretical background on restoration ecology and field trips to train practical research skills and learn about restoration projects on-site. The participants also gave short presentations on research projects. The participants gained a general overview of restoration ecology as well as detailed information on projects, techniques and skills. The topics addressed included restoration definitions and concepts, the importance of T-zero studies and of restoration experiments, long-term studies, plant dynamics, resilience and near natural restoration, the socio-economic and local context issues linked to restoration projects, post restoration management and the implementation of a habitat mitigation bank. The course also provided a dynamic platform for exchange of experiences between the participants, researchers and practitioners, who came from Europe, Africa and Latin America.

ECNC presented its work on restoration and the links with the European policy context such as the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, the New Biogeographical Process and the EU 2010 Biodiversity Baseline.

Het bericht SER Summer School – Restoration Ecology 2013 verscheen eerst op ECNC.

This record catch reflects improvements in the biological health of the lake due to reductions in phosphorus pollution from surrounding industry, sewage and agriculture. Other evidence includes lower concentrations of nitrates, fewer algal blooms, the return of sensitive plant species, and an increase in aquatic birds. News of improved angling at Loch Leven has been spreading across the world in recent years and this record catch is likely to attract even more visitors to the area, with consequent economic benefits to the fishery and local hotels.

The benefits of managing ecosystem services better are precisely what the meeting in Kinross was focused on. Project teams from two major EU-funded research projects on this topic, OpenNESS and OPERAs, were discussing how to ensure that scientific knowledge on ecosystem services and natural capital is used by land managers, businessmen and policymakers to generate sustained benefits for society and for the economy. One area of collaboration between the projects will be a joint pool of 35 case studies across the globe. The Loch Leven case study in the OpenNESS project will complement the ’Scotland’-level case study in the OPERAs project.

For further information:

Loch Leven fisheries: http://lochlevenfisheries.wordpress.com/2013/05/07/loch-leven-record-smashed

OpenNESS: Prof Eeva Furman, Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) http://www.openness-project.eu/node/6

OPERAs: Prof. Mark Rounsevell, University of Edinburgh http://www.operas-project.eu/operas/contact.html

Het bericht Witnessing the benefits of ecosystem services verscheen eerst op ECNC.

This three-day workshop was the first of two planned training sessions. It covered topics such as the management plan and the planning process; possible contents of a protected area management plan; the stakeholder involvement process and techniques; and an introduction to hands-on action planning.

The second two-day workshop, which will be held at the beginning of June, will focus on the detailed planning of management actions.

ECNC prepared a Toolkit to conduct the training. This will also be a useful tool for the participants in their future work on preparing the actual management plans of the protected areas where they work. The Toolkit deals with the topics covered by the training and gives step-by-step instructions on the planning process. It also contains various European examples of management planning methodologies and examples of management plans.

The workshop was held in Odessa, Ukraine, and was organized by ECNC together with project partners the Ukrainian Society for the Protection of Birds (Project leader) and Euroconsult Mott MacDonald, the Netherlands. It was part of the EU-funded project: ‘Enhanced economic and legal tools for steppe biodiversity conservation and climate change adaptation and mitigation (Steppe biodiversity)’.

Het bericht Preparing management plans for protected areas verscheen eerst op ECNC.

Het bericht New issue of ECNC Update published verscheen eerst op ECNC.

The meeting participants decided to establish a DAI support unit, hosted by UNEP, to renew the DAI strategy and to enter into a number of new DAI activities.

The Dinaric Arc Initiative is a broad framework of collaboration which aims to add value to the ongoing programmes and activities of all its partners, and to put in place new specific actions aiming at, inter alia,  the preservation of the wealth and integrity of the Dinaric Arc ecoregion through the conservation of its biological diversity and the sustainable management of its resources.

The Dinaric Arc, in south-eastern Europe, stretches along the eastern Adriatic coast from Trieste in Italy to Tirana in Albania, covering Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania. Much of the region is still unspoilt. Vast stretches of forest that cover the Dinaric Alps, that run parallel to the coast, are home to large carnivores such as lynx, European brown bear and wolf.

The members of the Dinaric Arc Initiative include ECNC, EuroNatur, IUCN, UNESCO-BRESCE, UNDP, UNEP, FAO, WWF, REC and CIC.

Het bericht New start for Dinaric Arc Initiative verscheen eerst op ECNC.

From over 50 recommendations, six final and principal ones were distilled – one for each European target. They were deemed by conference participants to be the most urgent and important requirements to enable Europe to meet its biodiversity targets for 2020 and beyond.

European Commission representatives agreed upon using the conference’s recommendations throughout the European policy trajectory.

The six recommendations are:

1. EU-target 1: Ecosystem health is the key to Natura 2000 (the EU’s network of protected areas), together with genetic health of its species; both are extremely important for human health 
2. EU-target 2: Mapping ecosystems and valuing their services is seen as beneficial in most cases, but there remains great concern about economic valuation and merchandising of biodiversity
3. EU-target 3: Knowing which problems need standard approaches and which need targeted approaches is vital to be able to apply effective regulation and innovative, diversified solutions 
4. EU-target 4: Science is the engine to generate adaptive management tools to optimize sustainable and ecosystem-based fisheries rather than management based on a single species approach
5. EU-target 5: Policy should aim at the broad impact of Invasive Alien Species and their interaction with native biodiversity, health and food production, rather than on details: the first challenge is to develop legal and economic instruments
6. EU-target 6: The price of food, fibre and water should encompass both the production and maintenance cost of the ecosystem.

ALTER-Net

ECNC is a consortium partner of ALTER-Net, and played a key role in implementing outreach activities for this event. ECNC facilitated the Network Strategy Workshop during the final conference day, dealing with ALTER-Net’s 2020 road map.

ALTER-Net is using social media as well. Please follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook or join our LinkedIn Group to find out more about us and stay updated. Links are on the ALTER-Net website http://www.alter-net.info.

Het bericht EU policymakers for first time actively involved in science underpinning biodiversity policy verscheen eerst op ECNC.

In the Groene Woud area, the local water board’s ecologist guided the group around an example of nature-based water management focusing on water quality, flood control, wetland habitat creation and recreation. Another example from this region was an organic cattle breeder cooperating with the regional nature management NGO in a mutually beneficial partnership, by having his cattle graze the protected areas where scrub encroachment needs to be controlled.

The second day focused on the opportunities created by the urgent need to anticipate future increased flood risk along the major Dutch rivers of the Rhine and Meuse. Rivers in the Dutch lowlands need more space to absorb increasingly frequent river discharges. These new buffer areas are being developed as nature and recreation zones, preferably in the vicinity of existing protected areas, such as the Biesbosch National Park, where the participants explored the numerous creeks of the wetland aboard a solar whisper boat.

Policy considerations and the role of the different government levels in creating enabling conditions for local biodiversity initiatives were reviewed during an interesting panel discussion hosted by the Mayor of Woudrichem, Mr Frank Petter.

On the final day of the visits, participants were shown the characteristic landscape system of the higher sandy soils of the Netherlands. Here, from the Middle Ages until the 19th century, extensive heathlands provided grazing grounds for large flocks of sheep that produced the manure to fertilize the small fields around the villages, thus creating very thick layers of accumulated organic matter. Some of the old fields have been returned to their former extensive use and planted with rare varieties of cereals used to fabricate local products such as beer, bread and biscuits.

The Mayor and Vice-Mayor of Alphen-Chaam, together with some of their staff, received the hardy group at the town hall, where the concepts of Cittaslow and payments for green-blue infrastructure were explained. The study tour ended at the Dassemus organics winery, where, after a guided tour through the vineyards and a nature restoration project, the participants enjoyed some fine wines and local cheeses.

Photo: Guided tour along de Chaamse Beek restoration project,© Mark Snethlage

Het bericht Study tour in the Netherlands on local biodiversity verscheen eerst op ECNC.

The conference – ‘How to push the implementation of the European Green Belt by landscape policy instruments?’ – was organized as part of the activities of the GreenNet project. The project focuses on non-legally or low protected ecologically valuable areas in the Central European Green Belt.

The results of the GreenNet project to date were presented, and ECNC’s contribution helped to place them in the broader European context. ECNC’s presentation covered the work done so far at the pan-European scale on establishing ecological networks at various levels. A link was made between the work already done and green infrastructure as the new policy instrument, stressing some learning points from this process, pointing out synergies and suggesting the way forward.

The conference was held in BOKU: University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, on 19 and 20 February 2013. The full conference proceedings will be published later this year.

Het bericht Implementing green infrastructure and ecological networks in Europe verscheen eerst op ECNC.

The Institute’s main areas of research include analysis, synthesis and interpretation of landscape elements for landscape ecological planning, optimal spatial organization and utilization of the landscape; study of the impact of human activity on the landscape; research into ecological problems of agricultural landscapes; the maintenance of biodiversity; and protected area management.

For more information visit the ILE-SAS website

Het bericht ECNC welcomes new Network partner verscheen eerst op ECNC.

ECNC’s role was to present the results of a review study on ecosystem assessment and mapping projects and case studies in the Western Balkans, and to facilitate the interactive sessions. The workshop brought together 30 participants including representatives of national agencies carrying out the national ecosystem assessments, policymakers and scientific experts in the field of ecosystem services valuation and mapping.

Seven country cases were presented: the finalized national ecosystems assessments in the UK and Spain, ongoing work in Belgium, Austria and Switzerland, the review of the Western Balkans and an exploratory approach to the assessment and mapping of marine ecosystem services. Participants worked in breakout groups to list the challenges related to policy, methods and data and formulated concrete recommendations for the next steps in the project. Throughout the workshop there were fruitful exchanges with the representatives of the European Commission.

The workshop was held in Brussels on 19 and 20 March 2013. ECNC is a member of the consortium, led by Alterra, that is implementing the project.

Het bericht Experts and policymakers discuss Europe-wide mapping of ecosystems and their services verscheen eerst op ECNC.