ECNC

19 December - Today ECNC welcomed the 50th partner to join the ECNC Network: Swedish Species Information Centre. With the addition of this partner, we have added a new country to our Network, so now we have partners in 26 countries. We are very pleased that this 50th milestone has been reached in ECNC’s 15th anniversary year.

The Swedish Species Information Centre works for a rich plant and animal life in Sweden and internationally, and is a national centre for knowledge on species and habitats – a link between scientists, nature conservation and the public. Contact person: Johan Bodegård, Director of the SSIC.

For more information on SSIC, visit http://www.artdata.slu.se/english.

 

18 December - On 12 December 2008 Mr Chris Kalden, Director-General of the Dutch State Forestry Service visited ECNC's headquarters in Tilburg, the Netherlands. He was informed about the developments in ECNC and relevant projects, especially those in relation to EU Natura 2000 and site management.

Mr Kalden informed ECNC staff about developments in the State Forestry Service, including about ways to involve the public, the financing of the activities of the State Forestry Service, the way the organization deals with biofuels and also the effects of climate change on nature areas.

ECNC’s Executive Director Rob Wolters and Mr Kalden agreed that more challenging and less technical visions for biodiversity and nature conservation in Europe are required.

They also felt that it is very important to anticipate the successful outcomes of their activities for nature conservation. For example, this could include the European Ecological Network in terms of increased migration of large carnivores such as wolves and brown bears. Large carnivores will arrive at relatively short notice in areas where they have not been seen for centuries, including in the Netherlands. Strategies for increasing public awareness and for managing these new arrivals will need to be developed by NGOs, governments and other stakeholders to ensure the continued success of such initiatives.

For more information, contact Rob Wolters.

 

8 December - On 8 December 2008, Mr Lambert van Nistelrooij visited ECNC’s headquarters in Tilburg. Mr Van Nistelrooij is a member of the European Parliament and president of the Association of European Border Regions, among others. He is a member of various EP committees, including those on Regional Development and Climate Change.

Mr Van Nistelrooij was welcomed by ECNC’s Executive Director Rob Wolters, who presented ECNC’s work, with a focus on regions, climate change and EU-related issues.

Mr Van Nistelrooij complimented ECNC for its work, over 15 years now, and he said that he felt that ECNC was an important organization for linking European visions and expertise to regional and local realities and policies. He was especially interested in ECNC’s work with regions, municipalities and cities, such as Zagreb.
Mr Van Nistelrooij stressed the great importance of the development and introduction of EU territorial cohesion policies, which offer excellent opportunities to provide an overarching framework. He referred to the Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion: Turning territorial diversity into strength, which was published in October 2008. This paper focuses on concentration, connecting and cooperation, of which the latter specifically addresses biodiversity loss. The MEP suggested that ECNC review the positive and potential negative implications of the introduction of EU territorial policies and approaches for biodiversity and sustainability.

Mr Van Nistelrooij said that he was willing and interested to work with ECNC in relevant areas, especially those related to territorial cohesion.

For more information, please contact Rob Wolters or see http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/expert/committees/.

Photo: from left to right, Mr Lambert van Nistelrooij, Mr Rob Wolters and Mr Ben Delbaere © ECNC

 

25 November - On 13 and 14 November 2008 an international seminar took place in Lublin, Poland, about the role of the Bug River in the European Ecological Network and its cross-border management. The 722-km-long Bug River, which is shared between Poland, Belarus and Ukraine, is a vital and still very natural part of the European Ecological Network. The seminar, which was attended by participants from the three above-mentioned countries and various international organizations, discussed the conservation and management of this river.

The seminar also discussed the pros and cons of the designation of a Trilateral Ramsar site complementary to the proposed trilateral Biosphere Reserve, including its possible delineation. The seminar welcomed the transboundary and cross-sectoral cooperation between the water management sector and the nature and biodiversity conservation sector. The meeting was concluded with a Joint Statement about the cross-border conservation and sustainable management of the Bug River, outlining various proposed priorities and actions.

The seminar was organized by Wageningen International. ECNC’s Executive Director Rob Wolters delivered an opening speech on the future perspectives of the European Ecological Network, also in relation to the Bug River. He also chaired the second day of the seminar.

For more information, please contact Henk Zingstra (Wageningen International), henk.zingstra@wur.nl, or Rob Wolters.

 

12 November - At its meeting on 6 November 2008 the ECNC Board approved the applications of three new Network partners. This brings the total number of Network partners to 49 in 25 European countries, and increases the coverage of the Network to Denmark and Turkey. (See http://www.ecnc.org/EcncNetwork/Index_27.html for a complete list.). ECNC Network partners receive priority treatment in project development, partnership building and information exchange from the ECNC Secretariat. The new partners are:

• National Environmental Research Institute (NERI), University of Aarhus, Denmark (www.neri.dk)  
• Moscow City Pedagogical University, Department of Biology, Russian Federation 
• Turkish Environmental and Woodlands Protection Society (TÜRÇEK), Turkey (www.turcek.org.tr).

The National Environmental Research Institute (NERI) is part of the University of Aarhus. NERI undertakes scientific consultancy work, monitoring of nature and the environment as well as applied and strategic research. NERI’s task is to establish a scientific foundation for environmental policy decisions. For more information on NERI, visit www.neri.dk. Contact person: Dr Bo Normander.

Moscow City Pedagogical University provides teacher training and conducts scientific research in various aspects of science. In addition to conducting its own research the University participates in collaborative projects in the Russian Federation and abroad. The main areas of focus of the Department of Biology are environmental education and sustainable development, biodiversity and current methods of nature protection. Contact person: Dr Denis Bogomolov.

The Turkish Environmental and Woodlands Protection Society (TÜRÇEK) is a non-profit NGO, established in 1972, which works to preserve nature and the environment in Turkey. TÜRÇEK is working towards the establishment of the National Confederation of Nature Conservation, strengthening non-governmental organizations in Turkey working in the field of the environment and nature conservation, and supports the foundation of new local initiatives. It manages environmental education and visitors centres, and collaborates with various organizations. For more information on TÜRÇEK, visit www.turcek.org.tr. Contact person: Ms Ceren Üzel Gürbüz.

 

7 November - Last week, ECNC’s annual Board meeting took place in the ECNC head quarters.

ECNC's current President, Sir Brian Unwin, was re-elected and accepted another term. Mr Eddie Idle left the Board after 15 years’ service. Through his Board membership Eddie stimulated ECNC to communicate the important issues around biodiversity and its sustainable use. The Board will miss his enthusiastic contribution. During the meeting, the Board also accepted a new member; Croatia will from now on be represented in ECNC’s Board by the Director nature management, Ms Kornelija Pintaric.

The Board expressed strong appreciation of the progress so far in 2008 as regards the implementation of projects and development of new projects. The management team presented some highlights of project outcomes, and the Board was impressed with the quality and the diversity of the subjects.

The annual work plan and budget for 2009 were approved and the advice of ECNC’s Scientific Council was welcomed, and integrated into ECNC’s planning and operations.

To celebrate ECNC's 15th anniversary, on Thursday evening the Board and staff enjoyed dinner together at a local restaurant. On Friday morning, an interactive session took place in order to meet and greet each other. The programme was diverse, consisting of a facilitation part, a game, a play and even a singing ceremony. Board as well as staff members highly appreciated this combined meeting. 

 

31 October - The global increase in land put aside for growing crops that can be processed for the production of biofuels has become a topic of intense discussion amongst the press and media, politicians, nature conservationists and environmentalists and the interested public. Initially the general perception created in the public mind was that production of biofuels could become a crucial, if not the main, solution to the problem of non carbon emitting energy and fuel creation. But this is not so.

Although biofuels may have a significant role to play, the situation is much more complicated than that. There are serious implications for food production and therefore prices, and also - the main interest of ECNC - for nature and biodiversity conservation. These issues have not yet been adequately explored, and the purpose of the report 'Impacts on biofuel production on biodiversity in Europe' is to help inform and stimulate further exploration and discussion.

The report, including the list of impacts and a set of practical recommendations for biodiversity-friendly biofuel production, can be downloaded over here.

 

06 October - Around 70 representatives from 18 European countries gathered in Oisterwijk (the Netherlands) to discuss the planning and implementation of ecological networks in Europe. The workshop, organised by ECNC in cooperation with Alterra, sought to take stock of recent advances in the research, planning and implementation of ecological networks and to formulate clear recommendations to the relevant policy makers.

Click here to read more.

 

20 September - During the 25th conference of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), which took place in Antwerp Zoo, Belgium, from 16 to 20 September 2008, all EAZA member institutions were invited to sign the Countdown 2010 Declaration. By doing so, they acknowledge the threat of current biodiversity loss and promise to take any practical opportunity to stop it. EAZA reconfirmed the important role they play in conservation and education and the value of partnerships with nature conservation organizations.

Signing the Countdown 2010 Declaration was linked to the launch of the EAZA European Carnivore Campaign. This campaign runs from September 2008 to September 2009, focusing on the importance of Europe’s biodiversity and in particular its large carnivores. ECNC has a seat in the campaign planning group.

About 630 people from the 'zoo world' gathered in Antwerp, participating in the EAZA Annual Conference. There were many interesting sessions and meetings during the conference and special focus on the impact of climate change on biodiversity and the role of zoos and aquariums mitigating these.

Zoos and aquaria are vital partners in halting the loss of biodiversity. They reach hundreds of millions of people all over the world. Education - explaining the irreplaceable value of the entire biological system of the planet and all of its constituent components - is a powerful tool in raising the level of general awareness, thereby influencing people's attitudes and behaviour towards biodiversity, local and global. Next to that, zoos and aquaria conserve and breed species threatened with extinction. And they run and support an increasing number of in situ conservation and education projects.

EAZA already signed the Declaration, after which many zoos followed. EAZA stimulates its members to sign individually, thereby showing their commitment to conservation of biodiversity.

For more information, you can contact Martijn Los, EAZA, martijn.los@eaza.net or Hanneke Wijnja, ECNC, wijnja@ecnc.org. You can also visit the website www.carnivorecampaign.eu.

 

12 September - Mayor Ruud Vreeman and Aldermen of Tilburg municipality visited ECNC’s Headquarters on 12 September 2008. They were welcomed by ECNC’s Executive Director Rob Wolters, who presented ECNC’s work, with a focus on the city of Tilburg and the Dutch Province of Noord-Brabant. The delegation from Tilburg spoke to all staff members of ECNC and Eurosite.

The Mayor and Aldermen were very interested in ECNC’s work, including the activities on business and biodiversity as part of corporate social responsibility, urban biodiversity and sustainable development, and the impact of climate change on municipalities. The importance of the presence of European organizations in Tilburg for Tilburg’s international profiling was stressed. This is especially relevant, as Mayor Vreeman wants to focus more on the international strengths and opportunities of the city of Tilburg.

During the meeting Eurosite’s Director Gernant Magnin presented Eurosite’s work, including work on cities and Natura 2000. The visit was considered very successful and positive by all involved.

For more information, contact Rob Wolters.

 

27 August 2008 - ECNC's Annual report 2007 has been published. The report illustrates the range of ECNC's activities in 2007 and how ECNC continues to generate new activities at the interface of science and policy, business and biodiversity.

Click here to download the Annual report.

 

The SPECIATION Network begins September 2008 with a goal to train nine young scientists to PhD level in the biological disciplines needed to understand the evolutionary origin of biological diversity. This understanding is critical to the proper management of biodiversity, especially at a time of rapid environmental change. The collaborative Network involves participants from the University of Sheffield (UK), University of Jyväskylä (Finland), University of Groningen (Netherlands) and University of St. Andrews (UK).

The approach is to use powerful model systems for investigating the mechanisms of speciation and related ecological processes, applying modern techniques from theoretical modelling, quantitative and behavioural genetics, molecular ecology and environmental genomics to these questions. Students will receive advanced training through their projects, through institutional training programmes, through workshops and conferences organised by the Network and through secondments to non-academic institutions that represent both end-users of our research and potential employers.

ECNC will make a valuable contribution as an associated partner in the Network, providing an educational experience beyond typical PhD studies. The students will learn from ECNC’s day-to-day practice how biodiversity knowledge provides support to policy makers and conservation.

For more information see: http://speciation.group.shef.ac.uk/itn/.

 

28 July - As part of the work on the Biodiversity Technical Assistance Units (BTAU) project for 2008, Vineta Goba (Programme Manager – Business and Biodiversity) and Rob Wolters (Executive Director ECNC) provided substantial input to two BTAU meetings in Hungary.

Rob Wolters chaired the BTAU Financial Instruments Workshop on 16 July. The meeting was held at the premises of the EBRD in Budapest. It was attended by project team members Vineta Goba (ECNC), Zbigniew Karpowicz and Jack Foxall (RSPB), Attila Králl and Dénes Nagy (MME), Mira Dikova and Rouja Johnstone (BSPB), Zenon Tederko (OTOP), as well as András Demeter (European Commission), Eszter Kovács (Hungarian Ministry of Environment and Water), Miklós Hulényi (BTAU Hungary banking expert) and Botond Vincze (Corporate Business Development Department of UniCredit Bank, Budapest branch). Mark Hughes of EBRD London contributed to the morning session via a conference call.

During the morning session, the first set of actions on behalf of ECNC (such as meeting with EIB and discussions during CBD COP9), and the situation and needs of each BTAU were discussed. During the afternoon session, ECNC drew up and presented to the participants actions required to launch dedicated financial instruments for implementation of pro-biodiversity business projects.

On 17 July the BTAU project Steering Committee meeting was held at Aranyponty Fishpond enterprise, at Rétszilas, about 100 km south-east of Budapest. András Demeter of the European Commission chaired the meeting. Besides project team members from the previous day, Jane Feehan of EIB, Halmos Gergõ, Director of MME Hungary, as well as new team member and coordinator of BTAU Hungary – Levente Huszti – participated in the meeting.

During the meeting, the main items for discussion were the final draft of the BTAU Handbook, BTAU business plans, reports and updates from three countries, project progress, operations and future of BTAUs post-2009, as well as a branding workshop and the possibility to create a specific ‘pro-biodiversity business’ brand. Jane Feehan informed the meeting participants about the EIB’s increasing attention to biodiversity and plans to launch a biodiversity and ecosystem services fund by the end of 2008.

During the day, meeting participants had an opportunity to get acquainted with Aranyponty enterprise, to meet its owners, to see the visitor centre and hotel, fishponds and camping, and of course, to taste fish soup and other Hungarian delicacies at the local restaurant.

 

14 July - A communication workshop was successfully completed to instil the basic skills of communication, facilitation and negotiation to nature conservation practitioners in Macedonia. The workshop was part of the third and last phase of the project “Communicating Nature Conservation in South East Europe”, funded by the Norwegian Government and carried out by ECNC in partnership with the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning (MESP) (Macedonia) and the State Institute for Nature Protection (Croatia).

The sixteen participants represented various public and private institutions active in the field of nature conservation and management in Macedonia: the MESP, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy, National Parks, Local Self Government and nature conservation NGOs, such as the Macedonian Ecological Society (MES).

The workshop was opened by Mr Mile Jakimovski, Director of the Administration of Environment at the MESP. He underlined the importance of developing good communication skills for the nature conservation sector, in a time of increased public participation and advance towards European integration. Mr Mark Snethlage, Project Manager at ECNC, introduced the overall project aims and activities and accompanied the workshop throughout. The workshop was given by four enthusiastic and skilled facilitators: Mrs Robertina Brajanoska (MESP), Mr Dime Melovski (MES), Mr Naumche Noveski and Mr Oliver Avramoski (both from Galicica National Park) who had been trained by ECNC in the earlier phases of this project. The trainers had prepared a comprehensive programme combining short and clear theoretical introductions about the basics of communication, facilitation and conflict resolution with a series of hands-on exercises for the trainees to put the lessons into practice.

After some introductory presentations on the basics of communication, facilitation and negotiation, the participants engaged in exercises aimed at developing practical skills through learning by doing. These resulted in a series of presentations based on examples of challenges which the conservation practitioners face in their day to day professional lives. In this way the workshop ensured a direct link to the reality.

The workshop took place in the remote locality of Samokov, a village surrounded by extensive wooded hills, which are still very rich in biodiversity because until recently they were part of a restricted military area. The local economy is largely dependent on the collection of a wide variety of herbs which are marketed for culinary and medicinal use, an example of direct benefit of biodiversity to local sustainable livelihoods.

For more information, contact Aysegul Cil.

 

6 July - On 6 July, ‘Streekfestival Groene Woud’ took place in Liempde, the Netherlands. ECNC was there and, in cooperation with the Province of Noord-Brabant, manned a biodiversity-related stand. The stand especially focused on the Countdown 2010 Citizens’ Declaration, showing examples of and offering information about the different efforts citizens can choose from to support biodiversity. The stand attracted a lot of interested visitors and almost 200 Declarations were signed. You can find the (Dutch) Citizens’ Declaration on www.biodiversiteitbrabant.nl.

The ‘Streekfestival’ is an annual regional festival meant to display the activities within the National Landscape Het Groene Woud. It is located between Tilburg, Eindhoven and ‘s-Hertogenbosch and combines valuable natural and cultural aspects. More than 20.000 visitors enjoyed the weather and the 175 stands, presentations and other activities last weekend.

 

23 June - From 18 & 19 June 2008, the European Conference “Changing climate, changing biodiversity in South-East Europe” took place in Belgrade, Serbia. The conference, which focused on five SEE countries – Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey - was attended by 60 participants from countries in South-East Europe, experts from a number of Western European countries and various international organizations.

The conference confirmed predictions that Southern and South-East Europe (SEE) will be severely affected by climate change. There is a growing body of scientific evidence showing that the effects of climate change on biodiversity and the ‘goods and services’ that ecosystems provide that are already becoming visible, may begin to rapidly increase. This is of great concern, since South-East Europe contains extremely high biodiversity richness, and the impacts of climate are on top of existing threats to biodiversity such as agricultural intensification and development pressure.

It was concluded that the impacts of climate change in the SEE region will jeopardize the implementation of various national and international biodiversity policies, in particular the Convention on Biological Diversity and European biodiversity 2010 targets of reducing or halting the decline of biodiversity by the year 2010.

The conference participants proposed the development – without delay - of a strong and concrete action plan on climate and biodiversity for South-East Europe, while building on ongoing national and international initiatives, including of EU, UN and Council of Europe.

The conference urged that regional cooperation between countries and multi-stakeholders in SEE will be stepped up and that awareness and education actions on climate change, biodiversity and ecosystem services are of vital importance in order to reach the public, politicians and policy-makers and economic sectors.

The conference was organized by ECNC together with REC-Regional Environmental Center and its relevant country offices. Financial support was provided by the AECID, the Spanish International Cooperation Agency for Development through the Azahar programme.

 

25 June - Thursday 5 June 2008, the Vinus Zachariasse award 2007 for best policy research has been presented. Mr Hans van Meijl of Wageningen UR (the Netherlands) received the award for his contribution to the ECNC project Scenar 2020: scenario study on agriculture and the rural world. Scenar 2020 is a high-level study which identifies future trends and the impact of driving forces on agriculture and rural regions. It offers a framework for the development of European agriculture and rural economy towards 2020.

The Vinus Zachariasse award has been presented since 2006 by the board of the Social Sciences Group of Wageningen UR. It is granted to stimulate social-scientific research. Prof. dr. ir. Vinus Zachariasse contributed highly to social-scientific research in the agriculture sector.

 

2 June - ECNC's involvement in the 9th Conference of the Parties focussed on Countdown 2010 and communication, business and biodiversity, financial investments in biodiversity, communication for nature and biodiversity conservation, protected areas and ecological networks, and biodiversity conservation in South-East Europe. ECNC contributed to the organization and the discussions of various side events.

In the first week of the conference, ECNC participated in the Countdown 2010 Partners Assembly on World Biodiversity Day on 22 May and ECNC Deputy Director delivered a speech on ECNC's involvement in Countdown 2010 actions. ECNC received an Activity Award for its implementation of commitments towards the 2010 biodiversity target. See for more information http://www.ecnc.nl/jump/page/809/230508.html.
 
On Monday of the second week ECNC organized together with the Countdown 2010 Secretarat and the Swiss government a seminar about Business and Biodiversity, which was attended by over 30 participants. ECNC's Deputy Director Ben Delbaere and ECNC's Programme Manager "Business and Biodiversity" Vineta Goba presented "Biodiversity as a business case". The meeting was chaired by Robert Lamb of the Federal Office for the Environment FOEN.

On Wednesday, ECNC organized a side event on “Communicating nature conservation and biodiversity” during the CBD CEPA Fair, which was opened by ECNC's Executive Director Rob Wolters. ECNC’s Programme Manager "Nature and Society" Aysegul Cil presented the results of the ECNC communication project for Croatia and FYI Macedonia. A new ECNC brochure on this subject was presented during the side event. Aysegul Cil was afterwards interviewed by Montenegro national television.

ECNC's senior Programme Manager Dr. Lawrence Jones-Walters contributed to the side event on "SEBI 2010"- Streamlining European Biodiversity Indicators 2010", together with the European Environment Agency and UNEP.

During CoP9, the ECNC paper ‘Impacts of biofuel production on biodiversity in Europe’ and ‘The European Biodiversity Finance Compendium’ were presented. Both reports, as well as the communication brochure mentioned above, can be downloaded at the bottom of this page.

ECNC had a stand at the conference, organized by ECNC's Communication Officer Hanneke Wijnja, displaying various ECNC reports and Countdown 2010 brochures, including from the Noord-Brabant region. For more information, contact Hanneke Wijnja, wijnja@ecnc.org.

 

28 April - Last weekend, more than 25,000 people visited the three-day event ‘Animal Event’, in Safaripark Beekse Bergen, the Netherlands. The event offers educational entertainment for pet, animal and nature lovers. Central theme this year was ‘Children, nature and the future’. Sustainability, biodiversity and the natural environment of humans and animals were given an important role throughout the event. In the special biodiversity stand, for instance, visitors could sign the Countdown 2010 Citizens’ Declaration (see also www.biodiversiteitbrabant.nl).

During the first day of the event, an opening seminar was organized about the theme of Animal Event 2008. The Regional Minister for Ecology of the Province of Noord-Brabant, Mr Onno Hoes, gave a presentation and spoke of the importance of integrating biodiversity into all aspects of policy and promoting it actively to citizens. The chair of the national department of the International Year of Planet Earth, Mr Johan Meulenkamp, spoke about children and our earth, and the progress which is being made in saving biodiversity. Frank Petter, chair of the Brabant Taskforce for Biodiversity and Countdown 2010, led the signing ceremony of the Countdown 2010 Declaration. 7 Brabant municipalities and 3 organizations, such as the Zuidelijke Land- en Tuinbouw Organisatie (ZLTO), the biggest cooperation for farmers in the south of the Netherlands (19,000 members, representing 12,000 farmers), and the Recron, the cooperation of almost all recreation business in the Netherlands, such as leisure and bungalow parks and camping sites (representing 1,900 members), signed the Declaration.

Together 62 participants in Noord-Brabant have signed up the declaration until now. And at least another 36 are interested to sign in the near future. An overview of all partners is given here: www.biodiversiteitbrabant.nl.

 

17 April - The ECNC project ‘Communicating nature conservation in the Balkan Region: Capacity building and pilot projects in Croatia and FYRO Macedonia’ is now in its final phase, which aims to set up an in-country capacity for training infrastructure. The goal of this phase is to use and deliver the communication skills obtained in the first phase of the project and during the pilot projects in both countries through a series of training workshops. The in-country trainers will be supported in setting up and running a series of two-day in-country training sessions for staff of local, regional and national organizations and NGOs not involved in the original training sessions.

In order to achieve the project objective, ECNC organized a refresher course for four participants per country, who were selected for this task during the kick-off meetings of the current project phase in Croatia and Macedonia. The refresher course was designed by Dr Lawrence Jones-Walters, together with Aysegul Cil and Mark Snethlage, and focused on the use of communication skills through facilitation, specifically workshops and multistakeholder groups in countries.

The participants found the refresher course extremely useful for upcoming basic training courses, which are due to be held in May 2008 with 30 participants per country. They were also enthusiastic about giving this training for future training programmes on communication and using facilitation skills in their daily work and in stakeholder group meetings.

 

From now on Dutch citizens are also able to sign the Countdown 2010 Declaration. The website www.biodiversiteitbrabant.nl contains a Citizens’ Declaration (‘Burgerverklaring’) which is to be filled in and signed by as many citizens as possible. On World Biodiversity Day, 22 May 2008, the signed declarations will be presented to the Regional Minister for Ecology Mr Onno Hoes.

During Animal Event, a public event which this year will take place in Safaripark Beekse Bergen (the Netherlands) on 25, 26 and 27 April, biodiversity will be a main topic and will be thoroughly highlighted. At the event, visitors will be asked to take action for biodiversity and sign the declaration. Signing means that they promise to make concrete efforts in support of biodiversity, for instance, reducing their electricity usage, eating more regional, organic and vegetarian products or opening a green bank account.

More and more municipalities, organizations and businesses are signing the declaration in the Province of Noord-Brabant. For the first time, individuals can make a stand now too! The Taskforce Biodiversity and Countdown 2010 - a cooperation between local authorities and organizations to support biodiversity in Noord-Brabant - initiated the citizens' declaration.

 

23 February - The symposium 'Beautiful Hageland, Nature and Landscape as a lever for a region’ focused on ways in which the Hageland region’s identity and related high biodiversity and landscape richness can help in combining economy and ecology in a balanced and new way. The symposium, which was organized by Natuurpunt Oost-Brabant, also discussed progress in Natuurpunt’s Countdown 2010 campaign and the successful Walks for Nature.

Keynote speaker was ECNC’s Executive Director Rob Wolters, who addressed the issue of combining biodiversity and landscape, regional identity and economic development from a European perspective. He emphasized the need to develop new ways of thinking: biodiversity and landscapes as chances and pillars for regional economy instead of stumbling blocks. In order to illustrate the viability of this new thinking, Mr Wolters introduced various good examples of ‘new thinking’, which were partly derived from the Interreg project LIFESCAPE-YOUR LANDSCAPE, which was coordinated by ECNC. He also gave examples of successes in Europe, including the success achieved by the Dutch region of Noord-Brabant with the Countdown 2010, which results in ownership processes with local and regional authorities.

He suggested developing ‘Beautiful Hageland’ as a strong regional brand in Europe and the Benelux, in which all relevant institutions, entrepreneurs and other groups in the region would work together. He also proposed a Hageland Revolving Fund, which could be established with regional capital and would result in more money for the ‘keepers of the countryside’. Mr Wolters concluded that other European regions could learn from the experience in Hageland, including from the Walks for Nature concept and the successful efforts of Natuurpunt to reach the local population.

For more information: http://www.natuurpuntoostbrabant.be/.

 

6 February - From 30 January to 1 February, Aysegul Cil (ECNC Programme Manager) and Mark Snethlage (ECNC Project Manager) travelled to Zagreb for the kick off meeting launching the last phase of the Communicating for Nature Conservation project with the local partners in Croatia, the State Institute for Nature Conservation (SINP). They discussed the proposed work plan with Petra Rodiæ Baranoviæ, Kristijan Èiviæ, Aljoša Dupliæ of the SINP and with Aleksandra Majiæ of the University of Ljubljana.

Good communicating skills are essential for effective nature conservation. Nowadays decisions about use of land and natural resources are increasingly taken by a process of consultation and negotiation involving a wide range of stakeholders with different (and conflicting) interests. It is therefore essential for conservationists (both governmental and non governmental) to be able to formulate their interests in a convincing way.

This project, financed by the Norwegian Government, started in 2005 and now entered its last phase. It  seeks to train governmental and non governmental actors in nature conservation and teach them basic communication and facilitation skills they will need to achieve the best results in the decision making process.

The last phase consists of three sessions: a refresher course to prepare the local trainers, a basic training given by the local trainers and an advanced course with Master Class for the best trainees. In the coming 9 months, up to 60 people will be trained in Croatia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

During the meeting, the pilot study developed as part of this project, was reviewed and the current progress assessed. It is an initiative of public consultation and communication for a better protection of the Neretva Delta through the involvement of local stakeholders.

 

18 January - ECNC is coordinator of a project to assist and increase the capacity of five countries in South-East Europe (SEE) in taking the necessary measures to maintain the quality of their biodiversity and to avoid, where possible, further damage to ecosystem services on which local communities depend. The countries are: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey.  ECNC is implementing the project together with the Regional Environmental Centre for Central and Eastern Europe (REC).

The project results could also feed into the discussions on climate change and biodiversity in the framework of the EU, the ‘Environment for Europe’ process and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

A conference will be organized, bringing together experts and policymakers from the SEE region, and experts and expertise from other European countries, in particular Spain. Focusing mainly on the five countries involved, the conference will form the basis for:

• a background document containing easily accessible scientific information about the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and ecosystem services;
• the conference proceedings;
• practical and tailor-made recommendations to mitigate the effects of climate change on biodiversity and to increase the resilience of ecosystems in SEE;
• a platform to increase the networking between stakeholders in order to enhance information exchange and the creation of synergy and innovation;
• the dissemination of project results to the EU, CBD, the Council of the Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy (PEBLDS) and other relevant forums and stakeholders.

Links or cooperation will also be established with other relevant and active networks and communication vehicles in the region with the aim of utilizing them as the basis for a self-sustaining network for the exchange of written information and knowledge.

The project started in September 2007 and will run until 1 December 2008. It is funded by the AECI (Spanish Agency for International Cooperation) through the Azahar programme.

 

11 January - The European Commission has just released the hardcopy version of the report 'Scenar 2020: Scenario study on agriculture and the rural world'. This report lays down the results of a one-year study, led by ECNC, that looked into the future of agriculture and the rural world in Europe.

Based on numerous model calculations, executed by project partners Agricultural Economics Research Institute (the Netherlands) and Centre for Agriculture and Landscape Research (Germany) with ECNC, the report provides a look into Europe's agriculture and rural world on the horizon of 2020.
 
Conclusions are formulated around themes such as rural areas not being stable, trends in commodity markets, competition of non-food demand of agricultural products (e.g. biofuels) with food demand, and environmental issues linked to land use. The full report can be downloaded from the Commission's website at http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/publi/reports/scenar2020/index_en.htm.