European Centre for Nature Conservation

European Centre for Nature Conservation (ECNC) 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.

History

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, 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]

Areas of work

ECNC projects are clustered in six thematic programmes, which:

• highlight the relationship between nature and people;
• address the business side of biodiversity;
• focus on green infrastructure, ecological connectivity of nature and land uses;
• monitor changes in biodiversity and ecosystem services;
• combine international and European policies with regional and local approaches;
• cover the natural processes and the role that species play at the landscape scale.

ECNC and ecological connectivity

ECNC led the drafting group for the Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy (PEBLDS). The PEBLDS (1994) was 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) was one of the prime objectives of the PEBLDS and 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 had a political mandate to coordinate the establishment of the PEEN, and used to run the joint secretariat of its Expert Committee together with the Council of Europe. The Secretariat was creating synergy between the PEEN and other initiatives promoting the ecological network concept (including the global ecological network), in the context of the PEBLDS and the European Commission programme.^[5]

Whilst the term Green Infrastructure (also referred to as GI) has in the past been used to describe natural, connected habitats within urban areas, with the launch of the EU 2020 European biodiversity headline target and 2050 vision,^[6] it has been taken forward by the European Commission as a much broader and much more complex concept which is emerging as a new and potentially influential policy instrument. GI is viewed as being one of the main tools to tackle threats to biodiversity resulting from habitat fragmentation, land-use change and loss of habitats.^[7]

ECNC promotes the implementation of GI and its various components across Europe. To do this ECNC continuously explores best practices and actual delivery mechanisms, as part of working multifunctional landscapes, in which GI is a key element.^[8]

To contribute to spreading the word about GI among the key stakeholders, both policymakers and practitioners, and provide them with guidance on how to implement it, ECNC in cooperation with CEEweb for Biodiversity, published the brochure 'Enriching our society through natural solutions: Why and how to make Green Infrastructure projects a sustainable answer for ecological, social and economic problems?' The brochure provides information on the policy context, a definition, some examples, and help in thinking in terms of ‘natural solutions’ and GI projects.^[9]

ECNC Group

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.^[10]

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.

Healthy Seas is the first initiative set up by the ECNC Group in cooperation with two companies; Aquafil and Star Sock.

Organizational structure

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 17 people.

ECNC’s headquarters are located in Tilburg, Netherlands. The organization has a regional office in Kleve, Germany, used for training courses, small scale seminars and meetings.

References

1. ↑ Conserving Europe’s Natural Heritage: Towards a European Ecological Network, G. Bennett, ed. 1994
2. ↑ http://www.peblds.org/
3. ↑ Background document for the fifth Ministerial Conference 'Environment for Europe', Statement on the Pan-European Ecological Network, submitted by the Council of Europe, the European Centre for Nature Conservation and the United Nations Environmental Programme, Kiev, Ukraine, 21–23 May 2003
4. ↑ http://www.eeconet.org/eeconet/
5. ↑ http://www.ecnc.org/peen-secretariat/
6. ↑ European Commission, Our life insurance, our natural capital: an EU biodiversity strategy to 2020. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. COM(2011) 244 final, 2011.
7. ↑ http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/ecosystems/index_en.htm
8. ↑ http://www.ecnc.org/projects/green-infrastructure/
9. ↑ http://www.ecnc.org/news300114/
10. ↑ http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/internal_market/businesses/company_law/l26015_en.htm