| Issue # 17 - March 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 EU POLICIES AND THE ACTION PLANBy the end of 2007, shortly after the publication of the EU Maritime Policy (the Blue Book), the European parliament adopted the Marine Strategy Directive. These two EU policy initiatives illustrate the renewed European interest for the sea and for maritime affairs, after a period of degradation of the marine environment and decline of maritime industries. Both complementary policies aim at harmonising and optimising existing national/regional sea-related policies and exploitation practices. Implementation actions include stock-taking, regulation, target setting, surveying, reporting, cooperation, awareness raising and sharing of data and practical experience. These actions promise a more sustainable and efficient use of marine resources. The coastal and marine environment is becoming more and more heavily used, leading to conflicts between different interests that cannot be always be solved by general policies. One may think of conflicts such as: - Hard protection structures or harbour development vs. loss of beaches or coastal wetlands; - Sand/gravel mining (e.g. for coastal nourishment) vs. risk of habitat destruction; - Offshore wind farms vs. wildlife disturbance; - Navigation channel deepening vs. risk of habitat loss; - Reducing eutrophication vs. loss of carrying capacity for certain species; - Reducing salt intrusion vs. loss of biotopes; - Fish farming (avoiding overfishing) vs. water quality and biodiversity risks; - Antifouling vs. ecosystem health; - Tourism vs. disturbance of habitats. Even conflicts between different policy principles are sometimes unavoidable. Solving such conflicts asks for a sound appraisal of sustainability, risks and interests and for devising tailor-made solutions. Therefore a profound understanding is needed of relevant processes and interactions, taking into account the different social, economic and natural dimensions and related spatial and temporal dimensions. Major weaknesses in present knowledge and understanding are identified in the European Action Plan, for which the foundation was laid at the Paris Conference of 5-7 December 2007. The proposed research actions contribute to better tackle issues such as illustrated in the above examples. The Action Plan therefore is an essential supplement to the new coastal and marine EU policies. A first draft Action Plan with a detailed elaboration of the theme workshop results will be available soon and sent around for broad consultation (by mailings and through the Portal). The final Action Plan will serve for guiding research investments at the European level. It will also provide a common focus for cooperation among research programmes at national and institute levels across Europe.  National news in this issue
 International news is in this issue
  What’s new in the YOUNG PROFESSIONALS EXCHANGE PROGRAMME In 2007 the National Networks organised 11 events offering young coastal experts nice opportunities to exchange experience and to strengthen their personal international networks. Travel subsidies for attending these events were granted to 110 young coastal and marine professionals. In several issues of Enews, participants reported their impressions, which were generally very enthusiastic. The Young Professional Exchange Programme (YPEP) clearly fulfils a highly valued function. In 2008, there are again on the YPEP menu a list of events of special interest to young professionals: - the NCK days which are also meet and greet days of the ENCORA-NL network, organised by the new coastal institute Deltares in Delft (27/28 March); - the Spring School on Water Management Issues in Coastal Areas by the French network at Marennes d’Oleron (31 March-4 April); -the 2nd annual I-CoNet conference mailto:c.omahony@ucc.ie on “Planning Challenges and Opportunities for Ireland’s Coast” co-organised with the “Northern Ireland Coastal and Marine Forum” at Derry, Ireland (10-11 April); - Second CoastLab Course by the Portuguese network PoCoast in Porto (9-11 April); - the 1st PoCoast Seminar on Coastal Research, also organised by PoCoast in Porto (26-28 May); - the 2nd BENCORE Conference on Geographic Information Systems in Coastal and Marine Research and Management, by the Belgian network in Leuven (30 May); - Short Course and Workshop on Applied Coastal Research by the Italian network in Lecce (20-24 June); - Seminar on the Black Sea & the Sea of Azov Coastal Zone by the Ukrainian network in July; - Seminar on Coastal Zone Dynamics of Tideless Seas by the Russian network in Kaliningrad (1-4 July); - Seminar on Coastal Science and Global Change by the Spanish network in July. Young coastal professionals are particularly welcome at these events. The conditions for obtaining travel grants and application forms are on the Coastal Portal  SPICOSA PROJECT DECIDED TO MAKE BETTER USE OF COASTAL WIKIENCORA has started to promote the Coastal Wiki as an information management and dissemination tool among related projects. SPICOSA is among the first ones that have decided to go for it. The FP6 project SPICOSA aims to develop a self-evolving, holistic research approach and to support tools for the assessment of policy options for sustainable management through a balanced consideration of the ecological, social and economic aspects of coastal zone systems. It involves the cooperation of 54 institutions across coastal Europe and is producing vast amounts of models, handbooks, reports, surveys etc that need to be developed in a collaborative fashion and should be made available to the coastal community. The potential role of the Coastal Wiki is obvious. At the Scientific Steering Committee in Paris on 6 and 7 March, it was decided to make much better use of the Wiki and to pave the way for closer cooperation between ENCORA and SPICOSA. Other Coastal Portal functions are also considered for use by SPICOSA. Watch out for SPICOSA traces on the ENCORA website! |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National news is in this issue
Workshop i Polen den 2.-5. juni 2008 Fra den 2.-5. juni 2008 afholder det polske netværk, sammen med DANCORE og vores svenske og tyske ENCORA-partnere en workshop. Workshoppen, som har titlen "ICZM in a Climate Change Perspective - Important Issues for the Baltic Sea", vil finde sted i Lubiatowo i Polen, og følgende emner vil blive diskuteret: 1. Consequences of climate change on shoreline management/beach protection on a national scale. 2. Climate change/beach loss as a decision making criterion in coastal communities. 3. Awareness of local authorities related to the consequences of growing erosion threats. 4. Consequences of climate change on water quality and biodiversity change. Der vil være 4 foredrag under hvert emne, ét fra hvert af de deltagende lande. Workshoppen organiseres af det polske netværk og afholdes i Lubiatowo. Programmet omfatter også en ekskursion til Leba Natural Park, hvor der er vandrende klitter. Der vil være ca. 50 deltagere ialt fra de 4 lande. Det endelige program er p.t. under udarbejdelse og vil blive udsendt snarest. Workshoppen vil desuden fungere som et forum for diskussion af samarbejdsmuligheder til ansøgninger til FP7. DANCORE uddeler 1 YPEP grant i forbindelse med workshoppen. Interesserede kan henvende sig til DANCORE-kontoret på office@dancore.dk Eco Park Øresund Man arbejder i Øresundsregionen med et forslag om at gøre området til en del af den kulturelle verdensarv. Tanken er at skabe en paraplyorganisation, der skal dække over et stort netværk med bred interesse. Man satser på at arbejde med 3 hovedtemaer: Littoral 2008 and ENCORA Final EventLittoral 2008 - 9th International Congress A changing coast: challenge the Environmental Policies 25-28 November 2008, Venice, Italy Deadline for abstracts: 28 April 2008 Read more / Leaflet ENCORA Final Event In connection with Littoral 2008, ENCORA will organise its Final Event to mark the finalisation of the 3-year EU project. More information will follow shortly. Events for Young Professionals 2008 (YPEP) Young coastal professionals are particularly welcome at the below events. The conditions for obtaining travel grants and application forms can be found on the Coastal Portal. KYSTogFISK Conference on 17-18 June 2008Hybrid Management Systems and their Impact on the Industry and the Local Communities 17-18 June 2008, Roskilde, Denmark Deadline for abstracts: 1 May 2008 Read more CoastNet Conference: Coastal Access – a step too far, or a far-sighted step? 19 June 2008, Durham Heritage Coast, UK Read more International Conference (school-seminar) on the Dynamics of Coastal Zone of Non-tidal Seas30 June-4 July 2008, Baltiysk, Russia Deadline for registration: 30 April 2008 Read more IMBER Summer School Training for Young Marine Scientists11-16 August 2008, Ankara, Turkey Deadline for applications: 15 May 2008 Read more 2009 ASLO Aquatic Sciences Meeting 25-31 January 2009, Nice, France Read more Nordic Marine Academy Opportunities 2008NMA offers opportunities for scientists and research students from (currently more than 40) member institutions in the Nordic and Baltic countries. Read more Job VacanciesIT Developer/GIS Dept. of Atmospheric Environment, National Environmental Research Institute under the University of Aarhus, Roskilde, Denmark Deadline for applications: 20 April 2008 Read more Biogeochemistry 5-year Research Position as of 1 September 2008 Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal Deadline for candidature: 2 May 2008 Read more Environmental Change Dynamics 5-year Research Position as of 1 September 2008 Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal Deadline for candidature: 2 May 2008 Read more
|  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 fiels. 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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