ECNC

ECNC’s Programme Areas highlight the relationship between nature and people; address the business side of biodiversity; focus on ecological connectivity of nature and land uses; monitor changes in biodiversity; and combine international and European policies with regional and local realities and approaches.

Click on the links for details of project activities per Programme Area in 2009:

Nature and Society
Business and Biodiversity
Green Infrastructure
Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity Assessment
Policy Support

Projects implemented by ECNC in 2009
The following summary shows the projects implemented by ECNC in 2009, briefly outlining the main project aims, duration and geographical coverage.
Click on a project title to read about results achieved in 2009.

Programme Area Nature and Society

Biodiversity works at the regional level (Biodiversiteit werkt in de regio!)
2007–2009; The Netherlands
Awareness-raising among local and regional authorities of the need to halt biodiversity loss. Establishment of network of biodiversity practitioners to exchange experience and best practice in the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

Knowledge for ecological networks – KEN
2007–2009; Europe, with special focus on Croatia, Estonia, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom
Stimulation of practical partnerships and consensus-building within and between stakeholders involved in the practical implementation of ecological networks. Improvement of the skills of policymakers and other stakeholders at all levels in Europe in strategic and interactive communication.

Dealing with conflicts in the implementation and management of the Natura 2000 Network
2008-2010; Europe / European Union
Promotion of best practices for achieving a balance between potentially conflicting interests and uses of Natura 2000 sites to ensure engagement of the population and respect of the ecological value of the site.

EAZA European Carnivore Campaign
2008-2010; Europe
Contribution to the conservation of European carnivore species by raising public awareness and by raising funds for selected conservation projects.

Biodiversity Coalition 2010
2009-2010; The Netherlands
ECNC assisted in the formation of the Biodiversity Coalition, whose goal is to communicate about biodiversity to a wide range of audiences during the International Year of Biodiversity 2010

Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for Local Sustainable Development in the Western Balkans – SEE-BAP
2009-2011; Ten municipalities in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Kosovo (UNSCR 1244)
Promotion of a comprehensive and integrated approach to biodiversity and ecosystem services for the sustainable development of rural municipalities and their local communities in the Western Balkans.

Programme Area Business and Biodiversity

European Learning Network on Functional AgroBiodiversity – ELN-FAB
2008-2009; The 27 Member States of the EU plus Norway and Switzerland
Exchange of knowledge and practical experience between farmers, policymakers, scientists, businesses and NGOs, to enable fast and effective implementation of best practices in agrobiodiversity.

Scenar 2020 II – Update of analysis of prospects in the Scenar 2020 study
2008-2009; EU Member States
Identification of major future trends and driving factors and the perspectives and challenges resulting from them for European agriculture and rural regions.

Biodiversity Finance Workstream and Working conference ‘Boosting investments in Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services’
2009-2009; Europe
Establishment of an international biodiversity finance workstream, and stimulation of investments that support biodiversity conservation.

Promoting the business case for biodiversity in Europe – Phase 2
2009-2009; Europe (with focus on Switzerland)
Mainstreaming of biodiversity concerns in business operations of selected companies and dissemination of biodiversity conservation knowledge in the business sector.

European Business and Biodiversity Platform
2009-2011; Europe
Establishment of a facility to identify biodiversity benefits for business, design sectoral work plans and identify best practices in the context of EU biodiversity targets. Aimed at a range of stakeholders and networks.

Programme Area Green Infrastructure

Joint Secretariat of the programme element ‘Establishment of the Pan-European Ecological Network’ of the Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy
Continuous; Europe
ECNC, together with the Council of Europe’s Natural Heritage and Biological Diversity Division, holds the Secretariat of the Pan-European Ecological Network (PEEN). This Secretariat facilitates the implementation of the PEEN as part of the Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy (PEBLDS).

Development of a Carpathian Ecological Network
2006-2009; Carpathian region
Design, implementation and management of an ecological network for the Carpathians.

Spatial planning and ecological networks – SPEN
2007-2009; Europe, and selected countries: Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain
Study of the interaction between the sectors dealing with spatial planning policy and those dealing with the implementation of ecological networks in Europe.

Development of a national ecological network in FYR Macedonia – MAK-NEN
2008-2011; FYR Macedonia
Development of a National Ecological Network as part of the Pan-European Ecological Network (PEEN).

Programme Area Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity Assessment

BioScore: Biodiversity impact assessment using species sensitivity scores
2006-2009; European Union
Development of a user-friendly tool to assess the biodiversity impacts of selected Community policy measures.

Supporting public involvement in building capacity for Ukrainian biodiversity monitoring
2006-2009; Ukraine
Enhancement of Ukrainian capacity in developing biodiversity monitoring by increasing public involvement. Drafting of a national biodiversity monitoring programme.

KYOTO: Knowledge Yielding Ontologies for Transition-based Organization
2008-2011; Worldwide
Construction of a system that collects distributed information that is structured differently and expressed differently in various languages, and its uniform representation. KYOTO will be applied to the environmental domain and span global information across European and non-European languages.

The European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity (ETC/BD) (2009)
2009-2009; Europe
Assistance to the ETC/BD in implementing work related to biodiversity monitoring and indicators as well as policy linkages and SEBI2010.

Monitoring report of the EU sustainable development strategy
2009-2011; Europe
Evaluation of the Eurostat-managed European indicators for sustainable development.

Programme Area Policy Support

Support to the implementation of the CBD and pan-European targets: Safeguarding Europe’s biodiversity by 2010 and beyond
Continuous; Europe
Provision of support to the elaboration and implementation of key global and European policies. Participation in various meetings, including the Countdown 2010 Advisory and Steering Committee, PEBLDS Council.

Support to the implementation of EU ‘Biodiversity 2010 and beyond’ policies
Continuous; Europe
ECNC works closely with the European Commission and its Member States in the implementation of EU biodiversity policies. ECNC participates in the EU Coordination Group for Biodiversity and Nature.

ALTER-Net: a long-term biodiversity, ecosystem and awareness research network
2004-2012; 17 European countries
This ‘Network of Excellence’ is a European long-term interdisciplinary research facility for research on the complex relationship between ecosystems, biodiversity and society. It provides research support for policy assessment and development on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in the EU, and a stable facility for information retrieval and reporting on biodiversity-related issues.

Biodiversity and the Province of Noord-Brabant
2009-2009; Province of Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands
Assistance to the Province of Noord-Brabant in its biodiversity-related activities, including promoting Countdown 2010; drafting local biodiversity plans; maintaining the Biodiversiteit in Brabant website, and publishing its newsletters; providing the secretariat of the Noord-Brabant Task Force on Biodiversity and Countdown 2010.