| Issue # 13 - November 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 PARIS CONFERENCE ON EUROPEAN ACTION PLANS APPROACHINGThe Paris conference on Coastal Action Plans will take place already in a few weeks. Many renowned coastal experts have pre-registered and by the end of September the 180 available places were fully booked. By the end of October participants have received a final confirmation. What are at present major shortcomings in knowledge and practices that hamper the implementation of sustainable development of our coastal zones? The objective of the conference is to identify these shortcomings and to formulate the basis for research plans leading to the necessary breakthroughs. The Aberdeen Declaration is an excellent starting point and at Paris we want to take a next step. We do not aim at an exhaustive list, but at pinpointing a limited number of the most crucial issues. The results of the conference contribute to focusing national and trans-national research efforts in Europe, to implement the Maritime Policy and help the European Commission to elaborate future calls of the 7th Framework Programme. The theme leaders call upon all participants to present their ideas in thematic internet forums or email discussions during the weeks preceding the conference. This is of utter importance to make effective use of the limited time in Paris. It is for the first time that such a broad range of coastal experts gathers to define top priorities of a European research agenda. The ENCORA team is looking forward to welcoming all the participants at this challenging event.  National news in this issue
 International news is in this issue
  EU MARITIME POLICYFollowing the Green Paper consultation phase, closed last July, the Maritime Task Force has recently issued a Maritime Policy document and an accompanying Action Plan. The Commission strongly emphasises the need for an integrated European approach of maritime issues: “The Maritime Policy will change the way we make policy and [take] decision[s] - at every level compartmentalised policy development and decision-making are no longer adequate. Interactions must be understood and taken into account; common tools developed; synergies identified and exploited; and conflicts avoided or resolved.” The aims of the networking initiative of ENCORA are fully in line with this objective. Therefore the coordinator has contacted the Maritime Task Force to offer the assistance of ENCORA in implementing the Maritime Policy Action Plan. ENCORA can help furthering proposed actions in the following ways: - Collective learning: facilitate the establishment of networks of best practices (ENCORA contact search in the national coastal networks); - Maritime Spatial Planning and ICZM: workshops on maritime spatial planning, overview and analysis of present national practices, guidelines for integrated maritime policies (ENCORA themes 2 and 3); - European Marine and Maritime research: development of European Coastal and Marine Action Plans (Paris Conference, December 2007), facilitate the establishment of European marine science partnership for a concerted dialogue between the scientific community, the industry and policy makers (ENCORA contact search); - Surveillance Activities: state of the art knowledge and practices of innovative monitoring techniques (ENCORA theme 9) - Adaptation to Climate Change: state of the art knowledge of coastal morphologic response to Climate Change and related practices, innovative coastal protection measures, risk assessment and the impact on coastal and marine habitats (ENCORA themes 5, 6 and 8); - Improving Socio-Economic Data for maritime sectors and maritime regions: state of the art knowledge related to multifunctionality issues, valuation and socio-economic assessment methods (ENCORA theme 1); - Protection of the High Seas: development of a protocol for marine biodiversity (ENCORA theme 7); - European Atlas of the Sea: Coastal and Marine professional wikipedia, curricula for education, training and capacity building in ICZM (ENCORA theme 10); - Increased cooperation in managing the Mediterranean and Black Seas: interactions between the national coastal networks in Russia, Ukraine, the North African regional coastal network and the national networks of the EU riparian nations.  First call FP7Over 600 project proposals have been submitted to the first call of FP7. The available budget allows for funding of only a small number of proposals, i.e. about 10%. Among the selected proposals are a few large coastal and marine-related projects: - EPOCA (European Project on OCean Acidification), led by CNRS, France; - MICORE (Morphological Impacts and COastal Risks induced by Extreme storm events), led by Consorzio Ferrara Ricerche; - MEECE (Marine Ecosystem Evaluation in a Changing Environment), led by Plymouth Marine Lab, UK. ENCORA is ready to offer assistance to these projects in finding partners already working on similar topics, who are willing to cooperate on a cost-sharing basis. ENCORA also offers services for the dissemination of project results, such as the Coastal and Marine professional wikipedia, Coastal Wiki, and the document archive system, Coastweb. The proposal MARINE WIKI, aiming at an extension of the Coastal Wiki with marine-related topics (beyond the coastal zone), has not been selected for funding. ENCORA has contacted the Commission to discuss other options for cooperation, to sustain the role of the Coastal Wiki as dissemination tool of EU-funded research for coastal and marine professionals and the public. Second call FP7 The second call of FP7 will be published in the course of November. It will include a few coastal zone topics, in particular research related to spatially managed areas and to the implementation of the ecosystem approach. ENCORA proposes, as for the 1st call, to facilitate the establishment of strong consortia. Therefore institutes interested to lead a consortium or to participate in a consortium will be invited to express their interest in particular topics. The interest list will be distributed in the national coastal networks and will then be open for consultation on the ENCORA Coastal Portal. Coastal Wiki Streamlining project ongoingThe Coastal Portal and Coastal Wiki have already proven to be a successful platform for dissemination of knowledge. The supply of articles has exceeded the expectations and led to a demand for an increased level of quality control regarding coherence, completeness, structure, readability, fitness for use, and accessibility. Additionally, there are recommendations for improving the Coastal Portal resulting from the evaluation conducted earlier this year by CoastNet. RIKZ has provided additional budget for these “streamlining” activities. The Streamlining project is currently being executed by the following partners: Delft Hydraulics (project leader), University of Plymouth, Marine Biological Association UK / Marine Life Information Network, Flanders Marine Institute, Coastnet, The Coastal Union (EUCC), and several independent experts. A detailed set of guidelines has been made for evaluating and improving all articles, including links between articles and links to external references. Attention will also be given to improving and expanding the glossary. Additionally, all articles will be categorised according to a new subject/keyword list to improve accessibility and identify information gaps. The Streamlining team is now working on all these activities, also in coordination with the Theme leaders. Most of the work will be completed by the Paris Theme Workshop, 5-7 December and a will be presented at that time. YOUNG PROFESSIONALS EXCHANGE PROGRAMMEGeraldina Signa from RIC-ENCORA (ITALY) participated in the YPEP Seminar on Coastal Zone Management held in Denmark (11-13 September 2007). Here are her impressions: “My participation in this YPEP seminar on coastal zone management in Esbjerg was a brief but intense experience. Main activities, lectures and excursions were focused on the geomorphologic features and coastal erosion of the area and the more general effects of climate change on the coastal areas. I’m studying the possible effects of the climate change and sea level rise, considering the geographical and meteorological situation of Sicily and the actual scarce knowledge of our transitional areas. Though this seminar was a bit far from my marine biological and ecological background, it was useful for me to observe these environmental aspects from a different point of view. Furthermore the seminar will help me to better understand the ecological situations of the areas.” Ioannis Avgeris, a young researcher from the Aristotle University (Greece) attended the YPEP short course on Shore Protection Strategies from 17 to 21 of September 2007 at Marina di Massa, Italy. Here are his impressions: “The course offered integrated lectures that were presented by a multidisciplinary group of experts and field trips along the Tuscany coastline. Through the lectures I had the opportunity to improve significantly my theoretical knowledge in the field of coastal defense methods including soft and innovative techniques that are applicable to the Mediterranean coasts. Furthermore, the field trips were a useful practical experience that demonstrated the complicated nature of the coastal environment and the adverse environmental impact of many coastal structures. The expertise I have gained is valuable for my research activities, which focus on the engineering design of coastal protection schemes. I certainly encourage young scientists to attend similar events that provide the chance for knowledge sharing and team work.” Raftopoulou Eleni, PhD student at School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece) writes a thesis on coastal environmental pollution, in particular protection strategies of degraded environments. She participated in the ENCORA Workshop in Sylt on 29-31 October 2007, which was an interesting and unforgettable experience: "The presentations and discussions mainly focused on environmental degradation due to the climate changes. I learned a lot of things about the procedures that could be followed in order to bridge the gap between science, practice and policy for the coastal protection and restoration. I believe that some of the strategies, which have been recommended, can be applied to the protection of the Greek degraded coastal environments. For the above reasons, I would like to thank the YPEP program for the financial supporting and it will be my pleasure to participate in and contribute to the future ENCORA meetings." |  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National news is in this issue
ENCORA-konference om EU Action Plans på kystområdet Der er nu 189 tilmeldte til ENCORA-konferencen om EU Action Plans på kystområdet den 5.-7. december 2007 i Paris. Danmark er repræsenteret ved følgende 6 personer: - Anne Husum Marboe, Roskilde Universitetscenter (Tema 1) - Alyne Delaney, IFM (Tema 2) - Jørgen Fredsøe, DTU (Tema 5) - Ida Brøker, DHI (Tema 5) - Josianne Støttrup, DIFRES (Tema 6) - Karen Edelvang, DHI (Tema 6) Disse vil viderebringe de idéer og visioner for dansk kystforskning, som DANCORE's medlemmer i løbet af de sidste par måneder har meldt ind. En del af jer, der er meldt til specifikke temaer, vil muligvis modtage opfordringer fra temalederne om idéer og ønsker. I er alle meget velkomne til at gå i dialog med temalederne - kopier meget gerne DANCORE-kontoret på office@dancore.dk på jeres indmeldinger, så vil de danske deltagere have bedre mulighed for at følge op. Referat af kystseminar for "Young Professionals"I forbindelse med ENCORA´s ”Young Professional Exchange Program” (YPEP) afholdtes der den 11.-13. september 2007 et vellykket kystseminar for unge forskere og medarbejdere indenfor kystzoneforvaltning. Det overordnede tema for YPEP-seminaret var: "Klimaændringernes betydning for kyster og estuarier". Vandmiljø 2007 konferenceIDA Miljø afholdt Vandmiljø 2007 konference den 6. & 7. november 2007 i Ingeniørforeningen på Kalvebod Brygge. Programmet omhandlede følgende emner: - Drikkevand - Regn- og spildevand - Vand & natur - Vandforvaltning & økonomi - Nye teknologier - Globalt vand Af relevans for DANCORE var oplæg inden for Tema 3 om "Effekter og konsekvenser af klimaændringer for vand og natur", hvor der bl.a. blev præsenteret resultater fra det nationale forskningsprojekt CONWOY. ENCORA blev kort præsenteret i forbindelse med oplæg om mulighederne i FP7. Afslutningsdebatten diskuterede problemerne med ændret overvågningspraksis i de danske farvande. Seminar on "Long Waves forced by Weather Systems"By Prof. Peter Nielsen, Brisbane "Long Waves forced by Weather Systems" Friday 23 November 11.00 am, DTU, MEK building 403, room 017 ABSTRACT The transient behaviour of storm surges and other forced long waves is analysed through analytical solution to the small amplitude 1D case. The growing long wave is modelled as the superposition of the asymptotic, steady forced solution and a pair of free waves which cancel it at time zero and subsequently move away from it, while decaying. This approach leads to useful new qualitative insights. First of all, it is clear that the timescale for the growth of a surge is i e, its length divided by the speed difference between the forcing and the free waves. Secondly, the landfall scenarios with fast versus slow moving low pressure systems are similar although the steady asymptotic responses are opposite. That is, even though the steady response to a fast () weather system is an ocean surface depression, the landfall scenario after a finite time is similar to that of a slow system, namely, a surface depression followed by a positive surge. For a gradually intensifying low pressure system, the final forced wave still has the shape of the forcing, but the free waves end up with very different shapes which are generally flatter. The analytical solution also gives an understanding of the free-wave-pattern which remains after the forcing has disappeared. Finally, our superposition approach to the growth process gives an understanding of the overshoot for multi-peaked or periodic surges. This phenomenon arises from the positive interference between the forced wave and free waves which have moved L/2 relative after initially interfering negatively. Friction free surges grow initially as t2 and maximum growth occurs at the points of maximum curvature of the forcing. Climate Driving of Marine Ecosystem Changes…Training for Young Marine Scientists21-24 April 2008, Brest, France Read more COASTLAB082nd International Conference on the Application of Physical Modelling to Port and Coastal Protection 2-5 July 2008, Bari, Italy Announcement and call for abstract Nordic Water 2008The XXV Nordic Hydrological Conference - Northern Hydrology and its Global Role 11-13 August 2008, Reykjavik, Iceland 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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