European Wilderness Society

Meetings in Brussels

After a great trip to Brussels yesterday, we started our consultation process different meetings. Our first meeting was with Head of Natura 2000 Unit of the DG Environment Stefan Leiner and Ctibor Kocman desk officer for Wilderness. We discussed three topics starting with the ongoing Natura 2000 Fitness check, its objectives, the procedure and the timetable. On that topic we discussed the challenges and opportunities of Wilderness in Natura 2000 sites and the position of the DG Environment using the NSG Königsbrcker Heide as an example where the European Wilderness Quality Standard and Ausit System was tested for the German protected areas. We proposed  the local  authorities in accordance with the Eac Nature Conservation Directives to change the management practice of the complete area from intervention to non-intervention managent.

Second topic was the Pan-European Green Corridor Network as a nature-based solution to the Green Infrastructure Initiative, its linkages to existing objectives of the different DG Environment Departments.

Last but not least, we received praise for ior communication strategy and discussed briefly Little Sydney.

After a very productive meeting in our new office we met the personal assistants of the Member of European Parliament Jörg Leichtfried and Karl-Heinz Florenz (Germany). Both exhibited a strong interest in the Natura 2000 Fitness Check and the linkage of Wilderness Quality Standards in Europe. Also discussed were nature conservation implementation issues on the country level.

On Friday we will meet Andras Demeter in charge of large carnivores at the EC DG Einvironment, Angelo Salsi in charge of LIFE + and Dieter Anseeuw from Vives University.

2 thoughts on “Meetings in Brussels

  • Yes, of course. Thanks for appreciation! I guess N2000 is an indispensable tool for nature protection in EU. However, like every human things, it could be improved. A list of doubts and question about N2000 would take too much space here!

  • I think your work about Natura2000 is very important!
    Actually many habitats and species are managed for maintaining the “status quo”, a non-sense in ecology. Ecosystems are dynamics and they change continuously. Keep them artificially at one determined status is like have a collection of habitats and species. This is perhaps good for medium-term biodiversity conservation. In this way, species and habitats lose their roles in ecosystem, many natural processes are stopped and therefore ecosystems lose functionality. Consequently landscapes and people lose (for using a popular term) “ecosystem services”.
    I am aware that in Europe many habitats and species are very vulnerable and scattered in anthropogenic landscapes, so probably in these cases a long-term management for survival is necessary. However, in many other cases a more dynamic vision and management is possible. Dynamics mosaics of ecosystems could be healthier and more resilient. Species could play better their roles, and ecosystems could have more functionality. Not least, also biological evolution could benefit.

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