| Type | European foundation |
|---|---|
| Industry | Conservation; Sustainable use |
| Founded | October 1993, Tilburg, the Netherlands |
| Headquarters | Reitseplein 3, 5037 AA Tilburg, the Netherlands |
| Key people | Sir Brian Unwin, KCB Rob Wolters |
| Employees | 21, comprising 9 nationalities (2010) |
| Website | www.ecnc.org |
ECNC-European Centre for Nature Conservation is an independent European biodiversity expertise centre for sustainable development, based on a foundation structure. ECNC’s stated mission is a beautiful Europe based on a rich biodiversity, healthy ecosystems and sustainable development. The organization promotes an integrated approach for both land and sea and stimulates interaction between science, society and policy.
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In 1993 the European Centre for Nature Conservation was officially launched at the conference ‘Conserving Europe’s Natural Heritage – towards a European Ecological Network’ held in Maastricht, the Netherlands. 267 Participants from 31 European States and 26 international organizations discussed the decline in Europe's biological and landscape diversity, primarily loss and fragmentation of habitats and deterioration of environmental quality, exacerbated by climate change.
HRH Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands opened the conference and the State Secretary for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality of the Netherlands, Mr. J. Dzsingisz Gabor, formally announced ECNC’s establishment: “For European cooperation, the exchange of information and expertise is crucial. There are still many gaps to be bridged in connecting the different fragments of information and expertise. There are many networks to be built or strengthened in Europe. In order to meet this requirement, a private foundation and an international network of well-established institutes have taken the initiative to set up the European Centre for Nature Conservation (ECNC) in Tilburg, the Netherlands.” [1]
ECNC projects are clustered in six thematic programmes, which:
ECNC led the drafting group for the Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy (PEBLDS). The PEBLDS (1994) is the European response to support the implementation of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. The Strategy was proposed in the afore mentioned Maastricht Declaration Conserving Europe's Natural Heritage and focuses on stopping and reversing the degradation of biological and landscape diversity values in Europe.[2]
The Pan-European Ecological Network (PEEN) is one of the prime objectives of the PEBLDS and is a major means for implementing the aim of the Strategy for the conservation and management of ecosystems, habitats, species and landscapes in a perspective of sustainable development.[3]
The PEEN is an internationally agreed approach, built upon the ecological network concept. The underlying philosophy of the establishment of the PEEN is to promote synergy between the existing nature policies, land use planning and rural and urban development.[4]
ECNC has a political mandate to coordinate the establishment of the PEEN, and runs the joint secretariat of its Expert Committee together with the Council of Europe. The Secretariat creates synergy between the PEEN and the other initiatives promoting the ecological network concept (including the global ecological network), in the context of the PEBLDS and the European Commission programme.[5]
Since 2008, ECNC has been involved in an integration process with a number of organizations, working under the name ‘ECNC Group’. The purpose of the grouping is to facilitate and better develop the economic activities of the members by a pooling of resources, activities or skills. This will produce better results than the members acting alone.[6]
The ECNC Group consists of two units: 'Biodiversity and Nature' (ECNC) and 'Coastal and Marine' (EUCC). The members of the ECNC Group are ECNC, the Coastal & Marine Union (EUCC) and Centro Mediterráneo EUCC. EuroNatur, the NatureBureau and EECONET Action Fund are observers of the ECNC Group.
In 2009 ECNC and EUCC signed a Memorandum of Cooperation; a joint Board, Management Team and Scientific Council were formed. The Large Herbivore Foundation joined the ECNC Group as from July 2010, and continues under its new name as the Large Herbivore Network, under the umbrella of the ECNC Group.
ECNC is a non-profit foundation, and consists of four bodies which closely interact. The Board provides leadership and legitimacy to ECNC’s operations. The Scientific Council is composed of scientific experts who monitor and give advice on the quality of ECNC’s activities. The Network of currently 51 partners in 27 European countries is an important pool of expertise. The partners, consisting of university departments, expert centres and government agencies, sign a Memorandum of Cooperation to help achieve the ECNC mission. The Secretariat is the coordinating body of ECNC, and consists of an international team of 21 people.
ECNC’s headquarters are located in Tilburg, the Netherlands. The organization has a regional office for Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia, based in Zagreb, Croatia, which receives support from the Croatian Ministry of Culture.