| Issue # 14 - December 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 National news in this issue
 International news is in this issue
  European Action Plan for strengthening the knowledge base of sustainable coastal and marine managementAt the ENCORA Paris Conference of 5-7 December 2007, 180 invited experts from many European countries worked together on a Coastal and Marine Action Plan. This Action Plan addresses major shortcomings in knowledge and technology that presently hamper the implementation of sustainable coastal and marine management. The participants defined great challenges for the European scientific community based on an analysis of 10 thematic fields, starting from the research directions set forth in the Aberdeen Declaration. The Action Plan provides a reference base for future coastal and marine research investments in Europe. It contributes to focusing these research efforts as asked for in the Blue Book on European Maritime Policy. It will also be considered by the European Commission when defining priorities for future FP7 calls. The ENCORA members, more than 1500 coastal and marine professionals throughout Europe, are encouraged to promote the implementation of the Action Plan through the programmes of their research groups and institutes and through national programmes and international cooperation initiatives. In this way they will contribute to realising the final objective of the Paris Conference, which is to strengthen cohesion and synergy among national and international research programmes and to create new opportunities for trans-national cooperation in coastal and marine research. A major recommendation of the conference was the development of a European network of coastal and marine observatories, for the joint development and common implementation of schemes and protocols for sustained observation, to increase our understanding of coastal and marine processes; this network should also promote the concerted development of innovative tools to produce adequate and coherent information for sustainable resource management, spatial planning and public participation, at appropriate temporal and spatial scales. Other important recommendations refer to: · the need for better understanding and for reliable forecasts over different planning horizons of the impacts of climate change and the development of innovative methods and strategies for adaptive management; · the establishment of Capacity Building Resource Centres for strengthening institutional capacities to implement ICZM and the development of adequate marine planning tools; · better understanding and more effective tools to prevent and combat pollution and to optimise and harmonise existing regulations. Finalisation and implementation of the Action Plans After the conference the results of the theme workshops will be elaborated into a document explaining more in detail the underlying considerations and actions for implementation. The Action Plans describe in concrete terms: · how the proposed actions contribute to solving current or imminent issues, which are critical for sustainable coastal and marine management; · what is the major anticipated breakthrough; · how this breakthrough can be achieved. The first draft Action Plan will serve as input for discussions on the priorities of the 7th Framework Programme. In March 2008 a more elaborate version will be submitted for review to the ENCORA community and other European coastal and marine stakeholders. The Final Action Plan will be available in May 2008. It will be sent to coastal and marine organisations all around Europe and be presented at international conferences by the ENCORA members and others. For further details read: Summary of the ENCORA European Action Plan Key-note presentations given at the conference Theme presentations of the work-shop results Conference pictures  Officers Meeting in Paris looked aheadPrevious to the Paris Conference, the ENCORA Officers held a meeting to evaluate activities and achievements of the past year and define those of 2008.. Especially the Coastal Wiki, workshops, YPEP and the newsletter evolved to a successful level in 2007.while the forum and contact search need more attention to attain the same level of acceptance as the other ENCORA services. We have to make clearer that the more we contribute to them, the more we will benefit whenever we need support or want to share ideas! Challenging was the discussion on how to continue with ENCORA after February 2009 when the network will have to offer its services without the funding of the European Commission. For both the national and thematic networks and the ENCORA services several options have been identified and will be further discussed during the coming months. For example, shared objectives of ENCORA and EUCC point at a promising opportunity. During the next meeting in Copenhagen from 6-8 February, the Steering Committee will take some important decisions on this matter. Wadden Sea best practices exchanged between Denmark, Germany and the NetherlandsEncoraNL and Encora Germany had together taken up the organization of a three-day international workshop from 29th – 31st October 2007 aiming to bridge the gap between decision making, science and practice. The workshop on ‘The Wadden Sea Environments’ in Klappholttal on the German island of Sylt welcomed a total of 33 participants from the three Wadden nations Denmark, Germany, and The Netherlands of which 8 were policymakers, 10 scientists, 8 practitioners, and 7 young professionals (1 from Greece, 5 from Germany, 1 from The Netherlands). The topics of the workshop were related to coastal protection and restoration measures in the Wadden Sea environment with a focus on the planning perspective (20-30 years) against the expected long term development (100 years) in the context of climate change and its consequences. In particular, the talks and discussions dealt with issues such as the sediment budget in the Wadden Sea (e.g. the question whether the Wadden area will keep up or not with the rising sea level), alternatives for coastal protection measures (such as retreat, accommodation, and combined measures), adaptation measures and strategies against sea level rise and increasing storm surges (such as opening wash-overs, and flooding embankments). National aspects of implementing ICZM in the three participating Wadden countries and the question how to involve the public in measures to counteract the consequences of climate change were discussed. Apart from the increased networking experience among representatives of science, practice and policy, the workshop resulted in a draft document proposed to be included in the European Action Plan. The final recommendations as outcome of the workshop will be handed over to the representatives of organizations that are responsible for Wadden Sea management in all Wadden countries. Everybody who is interested in the outcome of the workshop is welcome to contact the workshop organizers for receiving more information. For the full report check: Full report on Sylt Wadden meeting .jpg) Danish YPEP Seminar on climate change and its consequences for ICZMFrom 11 to 13 September 2007, DANCORE (the Danish Network for Coastal Research) hosted a 3-day YPEP seminar at the Skallingen Laboratory situated on the west coast of Denmark. An international group of young professionals from Russia, Germany, Italy, and Denmark with a background in coastal science was welcomed. The seminar intended to provide updated information on climate change and its consequences in relation to Coastal Zone Management. The afternoon was dedicated to a field excursion led by Aart Kroon from the Institute of Geography and Geology, University of Copenhagen. It was a fascinating tour of the Danish West Coast and the Wadden Sea with examples of sediment transport and tidal process response in coastal lines. The feedback of the participants confirmed that there is a pressing need for more practical approaches and for other opportunities to discuss the many issues.  ENCORA event appreciated by a young professionalGeorgia Mavromati, a PhD student from Panteion University (Greece) participated in the ENCORA conference in Paris. Here are her impressions: “My Participation in this conference on “European Action Plans” offered me the opportunity to exchange ideas and knowledge with a multidisciplinary group of experts. I was member of theme 6 that mainly focused on eco-morphology and coastal habitats. Through the workshop, key issues of future research plans were presented in detail and analyzed. I believe that the incorporation of conference results into European Commission research programmes will enhance scientific progress, leading to innovative strategies. For the above reasons, I would like to thank the YPEP program, which gave me the financial support to participate in the conference, and I would be glad to contribute to Coastal Wiki that seems a credible mechanism for dissemination of knowledge.” ERC awards its first prestigious grants to top researchersToday sees the creation of two agencies to manage research projects funded by the European Union budget. The "European Research Council Executive Agency" will support the implementation of the Ideas Programme of the 7th Research Framework Programme (FP7), which supports frontier research. It will manage about €7 billion. The "Research Executive Agency" will administer the Marie Curie fellowships schemes, research for the benefit of SMEs and parts of the Space and Security research themes. It will manage research funding of €6.5b and provide evaluation and support services to all other parts of FP7. The creation of these two agencies was put forward in the legal document setting up FP7 and the plans have recently been approved by the Member States and the European Parliament. These agencies are just one strand of wide-ranging actions within FP7 to improve the efficiency of research management, thereby supporting the aims of the European Research Area and providing the best possible service to scientists. More at the webpage of the EU The European Research Council (ERC) already announced the outcome of its first competition for Starting Independent Investigators. About 300 up-and-coming research leaders, between two and nine years after their doctorate, will receive grants. The first Starting Grants will be signed in February next year. The successful candidates represent over 30 nationalities and are based in some 170 host institutions in 21 different countries. Today's announcement concludes a successful first year of operation of the ERC, which will expand considerably its research funding programme in 2008, including the introduction of the Advanced Grant, for experienced researchers. More at the webpage of the EU Partner search second call FP7Two weeks ago the European Commission published the 2nd call of the 7th Framework programme . Several topics of this call address coastal and marine issues of interest for the ENCORA community. For the 1st FP7 call ENCORA has created an interest list, to facilitate the establishment of consortia. We have received several requests to create a similar list for the 2nd call of FP7. If you want to lead a consortium for submitting a proposal on a specific topic, or if you want to participate, you may indicate your interest by sending a form to inof@encora.eu. Your interest will be inserted in the FP7-2 interest list that can be consulted on the ENCORA portal. The list is intended to help ENCORA members finding suitable partners for strong and well-balanced project consortia. It is the responsibility of the members who have expressed an interest to establish contacts with other members on the list and to create consortia. ENCORA will take no such initiatives on behalf of the listed members. The expression of interest in a particular topic does not imply a commitment to contact other members who have expressed a similar interest or to accept these other members in a consortium. Download the interest form from the ENCORA portal ENCORA launches new websiteMonday, 17 December 2007: ENCORA is proud to launch the New Coastal Portal. A recent evaluation of the Coastal Portal showed several points for improvement. Most of these findings have been implemented in the new integrated ENCORA Content Mangement System. After more than a year of experience with the coastal portal it was the right moment to improve its presentation for more convenience of its users. Based on the evaluation report performed by CoastNet, VLIZ implemented a Content Managment System (CMS) containing both the ENCORA static website functionalities and the Coastal Portal functionalities (Coastal Wiki, Contact database, Forum and thematic linked mailing list, ICZM Websearch). We expect to help the ENCORA members and users of ENCORA services even more than before and will continue to improve our services. If you have an opinion on the website, please do not hesitate to let us know by e-mail: info@encora.eu |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National news is in this issue
ENCORA-konference i Paris Den 5.-7. december var 180 personer fra de 13 kystnetværker samlet i Paris til udarbejdelse af idéer til "European Actions Plans", dvs. idéer til de kommende indkaldelser til EU's 7. rammeprogram. DANCORE var repræsenteret ved mødet af: Alyne Delaney, Anne Marboe, Jørgen Fredsøe, Karen Edelvang og Ida Brøker. Efter en lang dags diskussion kom hvert tema op med hver deres 2 vigtigste emnerområder. Tema-lederne havde derefter til opgave at sammenfatte emnerne i et kort skrift, der er fremsendt til EU. Corepoint/Coastnet Conference on Strategic Environmental Assessment28 February 2008, London, UK Read more 1st PoCoast Seminar on Coastal ResearchMay 2008, Porto, Portugal Call for papers International Symposium on the Effects of Climate Change on the World's Oceans19-23 May 2008, Gijón, Spain Read more US/EU-Baltic Symposium "Ocean Observations, Ecosystem-Based Management & Forecasting27-29 May 2008, Tallinn, Estonia Read more Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) Tools Network Update (www.ebmtools.org) November-December 2007Read 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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