| Issue # 6 - 20-04-2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 EDITORIALThe National Coastal Networks raised in 13 European countries form a major pillar on which the Coordination Action ENCORA is built. These networks exchange information through their coordination offices and so provide a means for communication among coastal professionals throughout Europe. This eNews issue highlights activities initiated by the national networks during the first year after the start of ENCORA. Many coastal scientists, practitioners and policy advisors have joined the national coastal networks to take advantage of the services proposed by the coordination offices to extend their personal networks. Already over 1200 coastal professionals have joined the national networks and are registered in the ENCORA Contact Database. If you have not yet joined ENCORA you may do so by going to www.ENCORA.eu or by simply sending a message to info@encora.eu. As a member you will receive regular information on opportunities to establish contacts with colleagues in your own country and in the whole of Europe, and you may call on your national office to find cooperation partners for sharing knowledge and experience on issues you are dealing with.  International news is in this issue
  Belgium: BENCOREwww.bencore.be  Since the establishment of BeNCoRe more than 50 institutes across Belgium agreed on becoming partner of the Belgian Network for Coastal Research which aims at initiating and facilitating knowledge sharing and cooperation between Belgian institutes involved in coastal and marine science, policy and practice. Most important bottlenecks that will be addressed are fragmentation of the coastal communities, communication between science, practice and policy within and between the different regions and lack of multidisciplinary approaches. Networking activities of BeNCoRe are facilitated through a National Coordination Office and are managed by the BeNCoRe Bureau with representatives from both regions from the scientific community and policy. Ten ‘Network Ambassadors’ provide their expertise and fulfill the role of key contact points for any specific issues related to topics such as Coastal Engineering and Observation Techniques, the Natural System, Integrated Coastal Zone Management and Marine and Coastal Spatial Planning. The creation of an attractive, fully dynamical web-directory, which is on a regular basis updated with contact information and expertise of the partners and contains a news section, a forum a calendar and a password protected area, is one of the most important dissemination tools of the network. Amongst others, all information about the recently launched BeNCoRE grant procedure can be found on this website. BeNCoRe partners wishing to attend ICZM and Coastal Research related events and ENCORA activities organised across Europe might now apply for short or long term travel grants.  Denmark: DANCOREwww.dancore.dk  DANCORE (the Danish Network for Coastal Research) was founded in February 2006 in connection with the start of the ENCORA project and an official kick-off meeting was held on 18-19 May 2006. After one year DANCORE now has 130 individual members from 50 different companies and institutions, representing planners, researchers and consultants involved in coastal zone management. During the first year of the project, DANCORE has put quite some effort into establishing its office, creating and maintaining a well-functioning website, producing dissemination material such as posters and a leaflet, recruiting members etc. Information regarding ENCORA/DANCORE has been disseminated at various national coastal related events. A shoreline management course was organised on 31 October-3 November 2006 with participants from the U.K, France, Trinidad and Denmark. Furthermore, DANCORE has, together with SENCORE, organised a meet & greet day which will take place in Malmö and Copenhagen on 2-3 May 2007. Netherlands: ENCORANLwww.nck-web.org  For 15 years the NCK has served as the primary network for Coastal Scientists and Scientific institutions. The NCK has successfully provided not only a platform for cooperation and coordination between the institutes and for knowledge dissemination between professionals, but also many invaluable contacts between colleagues on a more informal level. The organization of several theme days is well-founded, and the so-called NCK-days are well known nationally and internationally as Young Professional-tuned meetings, that cannot be missed. ENCORA is following that example, connecting the coastal community on a European scale and beyond, not only by bringing together scientists, but also practitioners and policy makers. Naturally, the NCK was envisioned to become part of the ENCORA network, but because there was a strong wish from the NCK to stay "as is", an extended network has been founded to meet the ENCORA needs: EncoraNL. Nowadays the network encompasses some 100 coastal scientists, coastal practitioners and policy makers divided over ENCORA’s 10 themes. EncoraNL has developed and maintained a website (www.encora.nl) in operation since the summer of 2006. The site contains potential working positions, personals ads, e-news and announcements for “coastal” conferences. On-line facilities also include registrations for ENCORA and EncoraNL, search requests, etc. France: RFRCwww.rfrc.fr  Initially centred on coastal engineering, the RFRC managed during the year 2006 to widen in direction of new themes and in particular the social and economical sciences. The objectives of the year were focussed on the realization of multidisciplinary works and actions addressing policymakers and local stakeholders. The members of the national network proposed to initially carry out a glossary explaining ICZM terms as well as a guide indexing reference works, both in French. The purpose of these two actions were as much to support interdisciplinary work as to take part in the dissemination of knowledge tostudents and practitioners. These actions were launched at the end of year 2006. In addition, the RFRC organized various events in cooperation with other projects at national or European levels. These events which brought together scientists as well as practitioners and local authorities, supported exchange of experience and made it possible to progress in the comprehension of ICZM concepts. Spain: HISPACOSTAhispacosta.org/  The Hispacosta web-page is in place since June 2006 offering daily news related to coastal issues taken from general media sources both nationally and internationally. The number of visitors has continually increased to a total of around 2600 visits in the last 2 months (Feb-Mar 07). A monthly bulletin, completely in Spanish, with news on the most relevant events is being sent out to more than 1000 professionals working in the coastal zone management field. Many members are already using these Hispacosta e-spaces to announce their events (workshops, seminars and job positions). In addition, through the Contact Search Mechanism, Hispacosta is assisting them in getting involved in different initiatives with other ENCORA members to apply for FP7 funding. At the national level, Hispacosta contacted the National Environmental Agency to offer itself as a platform to discuss important issues with the coastal community such as the relations between the Water Directive and the Spanish National ICZM Strategy resulting from the EU 2002 Recommendation. Through this type of meetings, Hispacosta intends to generate a discussion forum which would ultimately turn into a National Coastal Board/Commission (there is already a National Water Board) - a separate body which would be able to openly discuss coast related issues on a regular basis. Likewise, Hispacosta has also participated in the launch of other regional networks (Canacosta, Canary Islands) with the aim of using them as an example to promote the creation of similar networks. Ireland: I-CoNETiconet.ucc.ie/index.htm  The Irish Coastal Network (I-CoNet) was established to promote good practice in coastal management by bringing together practitioners, policy makers, researchers and the general public with an interest in the sustainable development of Ireland’s coast. Since it’s inception in 2006, I-CoNet has contributed to awareness raising, dissemination and capacity building in relation to coastal management in Ireland. The diverse range of network participants, from a variety of backgrounds – planning, conservation, tourism, fisheries, engineering - receive monthly updates on ongoing projects, publications, events and requests for collaboration / advice via the I-CoNet electronic bulletin. Overseeing the activities of the network is the I-CoNet steering committee, a multi-stakeholder group comprising representatives from all organisations with a strategic role in coastal management in Ireland. Thus, I-CoNet is central to facilitating a more integrated approach to coastal management at institutional and administrative levels. Significant achievements within the first 12 months include: securing support for the organisation of Ireland’s first national coastal conference; endorsement for progressing the delivery of the National Stocktake from Ireland in response to the EU Recommendation on ICZM; development of a dedicated website; and, the growth of the network to over 650 participants. UK: COZONEcozone.org.uk/  The established COZONE website was modified and given the ENCORA ‘stamp’; it has been regularly populated with useful information relating to coastal science. Project leaflets were produced and distributed at appropriate events and institutes. COZONE featured in local newsletters, such as ‘upFront’, the newsletter of the University of Plymouth, and ‘Mainstay’ the newsletter of the Marine Institute, Plymouth. Knowledge sharing: During the first year of ENCORA we have sent approximately 80 emails to the COZONE members detailing carefully selected competition and research opportunities, job vacancies, conference announcements, summer school announcement and calls for abstracts. Networking and Collaboration opportunities: The UK office provided financial support for the travel and subsistence of UK participants to the highly successful theme meeting in Valencia. We also supported PhD student from Southampton University, UK, to attend a four-week technical visit to Delft, the Netherlands. Germany: GCN - EUCCwww.encora-gcn.de  The alliance with EUCC-Germany was one of the major achievements for the German Coastal Network (GCN) within the first year of Encora. Founded in 2002, EUCC-Germany is a non-governmental association that aims to integrate coastal sciences and practice, very similar to the aim of Encora. Joint efforts and concentrated forces of both networks strengthen the impact of activities in the field of ICZM in Germany. EUCC-Germany is well established in the German Coastal Community. By using their instruments (Newsletter and Website) to distribute information about ongoing Encora activities, we reach by far more people in the German coastal community than the number of registered Encora members. EUCC-Germany is running an active network involving experts from different fields such as spatial planning, research, nature protection, coastal engineering and other disciplines related to the coast. GCN benefits from this multi-disciplinary background, and from EUCC-Germany’s strong skills in web-based services such as databases and E-learning. GCN has established an operational website, and disseminated information on Encora services and activities during meetings, and in addition by individual visits at regional authorities to better integrate practitioners and policy makers into the German Encora network. Due to these activities, the network grew from 11 to 58 members within the second half of the first year of Encora. The German Encora Office has approved an individual exchange of a young professional from the Baltic Research Institute in Warnemuende (IOW) staying at EUCC in Leiden (NL) to run a three-months project on the dissemination of geographic information in the North Sea by simplifying the public access to geographical data. Poland: INETwww.ibwpan.gda.pl/inet/  Supported by ENCORAPL, the Institute of Hydro-Engineering of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IBW PAN) held a field campaign on nearshore hydrodynamics together with experts from Bulgaria, Russia and Vietnam. In return, experts from IBW PAN visited the Kaliningrad Region in Russia and a similar experiment will be held in 2007 in Shkorpilovtsi, Bulgaria. Moreover, experience gained by the Vietnamese expert will be utilized for launching of a coastal research station in Vietnam, hence ENCORA will contribute to dissemination of knowledge in third world countries. The Faculty of Management and Economics of Gdańsk University of Technology provided hosting services for the ENCORA workshop during the LITTORAL 2006 conference. The workshop was a success, since it attracted about 15% of all LITTORAL 2006 participants. The tirst YPEP visits were arranged and there are very positive feedbacks from the participants. This ENCORA service is deemed very important by our Network members. Two meetings (17.01.2007, 25.01.2007) were organized by most Polish network members (MIR, IBW PAN, IO PAN, IM, PGI, UG, USzcz) and other institutions on the establishment of a Baltic Cluster, which will bring together marine institutions and stakeholders to form a lobby group on broadly understood marine research and development, including ICZM as an important component. Italy: RICwww.ric.unibo.it  The Italian national network, RIC, was founded in 2004 and from the beginning of 2006 is part of ENCORA. About 90 individuals, from different disciplines of coastal zones, and 13 member-institutes (science, practice and policy) form the network. During the first year of ENCORA, the Italian network has developed and maintained a website (www.ric.unibo.it) that proved to be a valuable tool able to facilitate coordination and cooperation between network participants and to present and create broader dissemination about the network activities both at national and European levels. Documents related to ENCORA activities, national and international events on coastal zone topics, Newsletters and, recently, the ENCORA and RIC registration procedure can be found on the national web site. The Italian Coordinator in collaboration with National Ambassadors is also promoting RIC through e-mails, a leaflet and a poster illustrating the networking activities. The Italian network has organized two national meetings restricted to the Steering Committee for network management (activities evaluation, yearly program discussion and approval), and a meeting centred on the presentation of the scientific activity of all members in order to promote the process of knowledge and experience exchange. Greece: HENCOREwww.hencore.gr  Founded in 2003, the Hellenic Network on Coastal Research (HENCORE) has had a continuous development since the beginning of the ENCORA project reaching up to 28 formal member-institutes and nearly 100 individuals from different coastal disciplines (spatial planning, engineering, biology, economy etc). During the first year of ENCORA, the Hellenic network had a strong presence in national coastal related events with presentations, exhibition desks hosted and contribution to proceedings and has organized a round table about ICZM in Greece with representatives from policy and practice organizations. The Greek network has established communication channels with policy organizations and NGOs and has played a leading role in efforts for creating a similar coastal network in Cyprus. HENCORE has developed and maintained a formal website, operational since September 2005, and has initiated a search request through the Contact Search Mechanism of ENCORA about mapping of coastal flooding risk which resulted in participating in the EU Expert Group of the EXCIMAP initiative. The Network has also contributed to the creation of dissemination material with leaflets and CDs. Sweden: SENCOREwww.sencore.se/  SENCORE was founded in 2004, as a direct result of the ENCORA project. Almost immediately after the inauguration in April 2004 meeting, there was a strong response with 46 people representing 30 institutions signing up as members. Over the following 12 months the membership numbers have increased to a total of 71 individuals representing 50 institutions. Among these, all of the 10 ENCORA Themes are well represented, although with a somewhat weaker representation in Themes 2 and 10. Of the members, about 55% of them are ‘practitioners’, 30% ‘researchers’, and 15% ‘policy makers’. SENCORE has arranged several meetings during the first year of ENCORA together with other Swedish organisations, combining the promotion of SENCORE/ENCORA with presentation of problems and activities of existing members. In this way, the network has become quite visible. SENCORE has a permanent website www.sencore.se where relevant information is kept and continuously updated. The SENCORE NCO has also established a more continuous contact with the organization ErosionsskadeCentrum in which all the technical directors of the coastal municipalities of south Sweden are members. The NCO is present on their regular meetings. Also, SENCORE will arrange a Meet-and-Greet event together with DANCORE. The ambition is to bring the Swedish and Danish coastal communities closer together. Portugal: POCOAST /webpages.fe.up.pt/ihrh/pocoast/ | | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Colophon The ENCORA objective is to facilitate and create new opportunities for sharing knowledge and experience on coastal issues in Europe. This electronic newsletter will inform you frequently about the activities and achievements of the network. Every issue will contain a section with news about your national network or ICZM related topics in your country. This electronic newsletter may be forwarded freely to others working in the ICZM fields. If you would like to receive the ENCORA Newsletter directly, please contact your national coordinator or subscribe to www.encora.org. News-items for publication can be send to encore@rikz.rws.minvenw.nl. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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