CEEweb Annual Meeting in Vác

Hi there! I was very excited before our Annual Meeting which took place between 3-5 November! Now when the conference is finished I can inform you about the results. About 60 participants including CEEweb members and presenters on behalf of other organizations from Europe met in charming Vác in Hungary to share ideas on the topic of Resource Use.

The first day was aimed at kicking off the Resource Cap Coalition with the involvement of interested stakeholders from all around Europe. We had a chance to listen to different presenters with wide range of experience and ideas related to the topic of the resource use and resource efficiency. After each presentation the participants were willing to ask questions and provide some useful comments. Then everyone had the opportunity to discuss the possible role, activities and obstacles of EU Resource Efficiency Flagship Initiative in smaller groups. We ended our day with dinner during which we listened to the presentations of new members. After that we had the possibility to explore Hungarian culture and try different tastes of Palinka. It was a very long and intensive day!

During the next day the members of the Working Groups discussed their activities for the next year. After these meetings we went for a long walk to explore Vác and we had a lot of fun during our excursion! The city turned out to be a nice, quiet place with a beautiful trail close to the Danube River. After the long walk we listened to the reports of the Policy Office on networking, communication and capacity building, EU and Pan-European biodiversity policies of CEEweb in 2010 and we discussed the CEEweb Working Programme for the next 2011 year. At the end of the day all participants had the pleasure to take part in cultural evening during which we tried specialities from different countries.

The third day was devoted to finalizing Work Programme for 2011 and CEEweb Annual Meeting during which the representatives of member organizations voted on new members. The day was packed with lots of discussions and comments. As a result all new applicants as well as the Working Plan for 2011 were adopted.

I would like to say that it was very interesting and timely meeting. I’ve learned a lot and I believe everybody has the same impression. Full of new information and nice memories I look forward to the next event.

Katarzyna

Please find more outcomes of the meeting here and some pics here.

Save Biodiversity Now!

Dear All,

Please check out CEEweb’s most recent press release about what we would like to be achieved in Nagoya, Japan during CBD COP10. You can read it under "Governments of the biggest biodiversity convention should act now in order to halt biodiversity loss by 2020" already in English, Hungarian, German, Polish, Serbian, Spanish, Ukrainian: http://www.ceeweb.org/viewpoint/documents/PressCorner.html And now I would like to grab also the opportunity to thank for Andriy-Taras Bashta, Katrin Gebhard, Milka Gvozdenovic, Dejan Zagorac, Monika Kotulak, Samuel Martin Sosa to make this happen.

You can follow what is happening in Nagoya at the following links:
http://www.ceeweb.org/workingareas/conventions/cbd/COP10.htm
http://www.cbd.int/cop10/
http://webcast.cop10.go.jp/

Enjoy reading and watching!
Veronika

Demonstrating sustainalble farming

Two members of CEEweb - Estonian Fund for Nature and Latvian Fund for Nature are working on a project to promote environmental-friendly farming in the project Development of Latvian-Estonian network for demonstration of enviromentally friendly farming practices.

They have chosen 10 environmental friendly farms in Latvia and 10 in Estonia to be linked in a demonstration network. Farm management plans will be prepared to advise best ways of farming in an environmental and financial sustainable ways. Farmers will have several lectures about nature values on the farms and ways to plan their finances, and also ways to tell visitors about what they are doing on their farms. Next spring farmers will have the opportunity to go to an experience exchange trip to Sweden and Latvian and Estonian farmers will visit each other. Special demonstration tools for each farm will be prepared with experts in order to depict the specific features of the agricultural lands and their owners.

During next summer everyone who is interested in this great initiatives of sustainable farming, please visit Estonia and Latvia.

Pan-European NGO preparatory meeting and CBD COP10

The Pan-European NGO CBD COP10 preparatory meeting took place 5-6 July back-to-back with a high-level biodiversity conference in Azerbaijan. CEEweb organized meetings of Pan-European NGOs to discuss a common approach and work out a a post-2010 strategic vision which emphasizes workable but firm targets to stop the loss of biodiversity. The 40 participants coming from all over the continent provided a wide range of ideas and knowledge to form a powerful consensus and recommendations.

For starting, possible joint projects for implementing nature conservation policies in the region were introduced and discussed, and as an outcome, 3 concrete proposals were worked out. After that participants focused on developing a common opinion on drivers of biodiversity loss and how to tackle them, which was presented at the High Level Conference.

This Conference was subtitled 'Biological Diversity and the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and took place after the preparatory meeting on July 7. High-level politicians and experts from Pan-European countries were invited to the meeting and discussed the topics in roundtable sessions where NGOs had the opportunity to present the above mentioned recommendations.

Please find more info on the preparatory meeting and the high-level conference here and some pics here.

Saro and Vera in Azerbaidjan

After the conference, Sarolta and I, Vera had the opportunity to spend 10 beautiful and pleasant days in this amazing country. During the first two days we were discovering the surrounding of the Conference venue. We were traveled along the way of the River of Gabala by a little village, called Laza, picnicked on the river shore, climbed up to the most famous waterfall of the area.

After breathing some fresh Caucasian air, we traveled to Baku where we had some sightseeing in the old town and had a swim in the Caspian see. Moreover, we had the chance to see how our Azeri colleagues spend their days with visiting an exhibition area of one of the Azeri nature conservation NGOs.

Spending some time in the hot summer, we packed up and went to the higher Caucasus fro one week. During these days, besides hard trekking up to the Shahdag peak at 4253 meters, we met different communities with different languages and with different customs, but all have one in common: never experienced hospitality.

Check out our pictures having taken during this amazing trip.

Natura 2000 workgroup meeting

We have showed no sign here on the blog but we are back now! CEEweb had quite a busy month regarding events in July, I'd like to start with reporting the Natura 2000 workgroup meeting in Bled, Slovenia. We spent three days in the beginning of July there. There were about 20 participants including CEEweb members and presenters on behalf of other organizations. We spent the first day on the topic of compensation measures under the Habitats Directive. It was a very thoughtful and edifying session as we could hear a wide range of experiences and opinions starting from the European Commission to case studies all over Western and CE Europe. Then in a short session we discussed the activity of the Working Group for next year which will soon be circulated for adding ideas.
The second day, we got an insight on the post-2010 biodiversity strategies in relation to the CEEweb general policy, after which we tried to work out some recommendations that will also be circulated. At the end of the day we received some updates on the development of Natura 2000 issues from the participating countries. Of course, all these sessions were loaded with very useful comments and conversations. We all learned a lot, I believe.
The third day, we got out from the conference room and took a site visit to the fabulous Triglav National Park. We visited a trail at the Pokljuka peat bog area, and then we headed for the Bohinj lake valley, that we first checked from above from a belvedere and then, from closer, we went for a walk at the lakeside.
I'd like to hereby thank for all the presenters and participants for the input and contribution as well as the local organizers who helped to realise this workshop.
For more info on the outcomes, please check our website.

Relaxing field trip

Hi All,

Yesterday Ildiko and me took part in an excursion to the closest Natural Park to Madrid. This park is surrounding the river called Duraton, which has created that enormous valley on the left picture. In this valley approximately 600 pairs of griffon vultures are nesting. Luckily, we had the opportunity to take a closer look on them.
This national park also contains some really picturesque villages, reminding back to the medieval ages. But these settlemenst are not only inhabited by humans, but other creatures such as the white storks too. :)

Wishing all of you a relaxing weekend,
Veronika