WORKING GROUPS

ABC working group

Nature-friendly farming has a pivotal role in solving the biodiversity and climate crisis. That’s why the Agriculture, Biodiversity and Climate (ABC) working group brings together farmers with conservation practitioners and researchers. To support and enhance nature-friendly farming, the ABC group looks, with an open mind, for pragmatic and practical measures, tools and models with proven results confirmed by scientific monitoring.

EES working group

The value of ecosystem services is being increasingly talked about. People, businesses and countries take all kinds of ecosystem-related ‘products’ for granted: medicines, clean air and water, CO2 storage, wind- and solar energy, and so on. But in Europe, funds in the form of subsidies are decreasing or disappearing. To protect work in nature conservation, new ways of funding must be found. Eurosite’s Economics and Ecosystem Services (EES) working group helps members take action on these issues and make ecosystem services work for them.

EMPEG working group

Since our establishment in 1989, Eurosite has guided its members in preparing high-quality management plans for their sites. As part of this work, Eurosite has prepared several versions of Guidance on Management Planning, with the latest one dating back to 2005.

At the beginning of 2018, Eurosite established the Eurosite Management Planning Expert Group (EMPEG) to produce an updated version of the Eurosite Management Planning Guidance Toolkit. The EMPEG working group gathers the newest conservation knowledge and promotes its use to increase the competencies and skills of site managers.

ERSSG working group

The use of remote sensing techniques and spatial analysis tools are among the fastest-growing fields in nature conservation planning and management. Access to accessible, high-quality spatial data is improving by the day. Moreover, the availability of low-price and easy-to-use mapping equipment and open-source software makes it possible to implement new technologies in biodiversity conservation on every level, including for managers of high-value nature conservation areas. The Eurosite Remote Sensing Support Group (ERSSG) focuses on developing innovative, open tools supporting open access to biodiversity spatial data.

WCC working group

At the request of Eurosite members in 2014, Eurosite established this working group intending to increase the exchange of knowledge on ecosystem-based approaches, adapting to and mitigating global climate change, and adapting wetlands to global climate change. The Eurosite Wetlands and Climate Change (WCC) working group shares information on international initiatives on wetlands and climate change.
The group follows and reacts to policy and practice developments about wetlands and climate change and their effects on the Natura 2000 network and advocates the best possible approaches.

PRMG working group

Building on the Interreg NWE-funded project Care-Peat, the transnational Eurosite Peatland Restoration and Management Group (PRMG) was established within Eurosite in 2019. The primary purpose of this group is to engage nature conservation organisations and projects involved in this field of work in NWE and broader. In the first instance, this group will be a platform to share the results of the Care-Peat. In addition, the role of the group is to share knowledge, experiences and the development of new (transnational) projects around peatland restoration and management in the long term beyond the Care-Peat Project, which ends in 2023.