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The LIFE project IPNOA (LIFE11 ENV/IT/000302) is hosting a workshop at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa that will provide insight into the work of the project that is investigating management strategies for the containment of greenhouse gases emissions in extensive and varied crop management systems and in particular containment of nitrous oxide (N2O).
The main goal of the project is to help decrease N2O emissions from agricultural activities by 20% in Tuscany, by the end of the project in 2016. The project is developing an improved and more practical approach to on-site determination of N2O emission by means of accumulation chambers equipped with continuous N2O analysers.
The event will hear about the performance of two prototypes the project developed to measure N2O emissions from soil in order to improve on present monitoring techniques; the best agro-ecosystem management practices to reduce agriculture emissions in Tuscany; and a scenario analysis at the regional scale to identify the measures being used as financial incentives for N2O mitigation from agriculture and forestry.
The workshop will be held in Italian language and it is addressed to local and national authorities, farmers, farmer organisations and researcher on greenhouse gas mitigation.
For more about the workshop and about LIFE IPNOA see the project website.
As part of its dissemination activities, the LIFE project COLRECEPS (LIFE 12 ENV/ES/000754) is holding an event in Valladolid, Spain on 10 April 2016, aimed at raising awareness among children of the importance of recycling polystyrene.
Polystyrene is one of the most widely used plastics but is not currently biodegradable, This means that the accumulation of waste expanded polystyrene (EPS) in landfills is fast becoming a serious environmental issue.
The COLRECEPS project’s objective is to deliver a solution to this problem that can reduce by 50% the amount of EPS in landfills. It is currently building an EPS recycling plant that will generate beads to be used as secondary raw material in the production of items such as food storage containers and toys.
The aim of the event is to raise awareness that polystyrene, thanks to COLRECEPS, can have many lives and is not necessarily destined to be landfilled. During the event, technical information will be provided on the project while Valladolid’s schoolchildren will be invited to paint and colour polystyrene pieces which will then be used to create a sculpture and a mural.
The invitation to participate in the event has been disseminated across schools, community and sport centres as well as public libraries. More about the work of LIFE COLRECEPS, including news about the above-mentioned event is available from the project website.
The second workshop of the LIFE-Stymfalia project (LIFE12 NAT/GR/000275) is to examine business opportunities in Natura 2000 sites under the present 2014-2020 programme period. The environment museum of Stymphalia will host the event, which takes place on 11 April 2016.
Whereas, the first LIFE-Stymfalia workshop was local in scope, the second is national. The results of the workshop will be incorporated into specific project actions and will inform the organisation of an international conference in 2017.
The workshop will address competent local organisations, representatives of business groups, ministry representatives as well as representatives from the management bodies of protected areas.
Approximately 150 participants from related state authorities, the business sector, NGOs, management agencies of protected areas, academic institutions, as well as local residents and farmers are expected to participate in the event.
The LIFE-Stymfalia project is establishing a sustainable management and financing system for an important but degraded wetland ecosystem, namely, Lake Stymfalia. The four-year initiative, which has now reached its halfway point, is making good progress – read all about it in this recent LIFE news.
The workshop aims to: showcase the ways in which both the public and private sectors can contribute to the sustainable management of protected areas; and enhance the communications between the various stakeholders. There will be two panel sessions highlighting the opportunities to invest in the fields of social entrepreneurship, alternative tourism, organic farming and renewable energy. The invited speakers – including representatives of the European Commission and the European Social Fund – cover various fields of expertise will share their experience and highlight the potential of Natura 2000 sites.
For more information about the LIFE-Stymfalia workshop see the programme.
The LIFE AIRUSE project (LIFE11 ENV/ES/000584) is organising its final conference on how to improve air quality in southern European cities. The two-day international event takes places on 18-19 April 2016 in Barcelona.
The AIRUSE team will present their conclusions on airborne particulate matter (PM) source apportionment and PM mitigation trials, while experts from several EU countries will share their experiences regarding the effectiveness of air quality measures in Lisbon, London, Madrid, Stockholm, Paris and Catalonia. More details are available from the event programme.
Attendance is free-of-charge, but prior registration is required. Interested parties should contact cristina.vasconcelos@idaea.csic.es indicating their name, surname, institution and mail address for more information.
Air pollution caused by PM is a major environmental and human health problem. The overall goal of the LIFE AIRUSE project is to develop, demonstrate and adapt cost-effective and appropriate measures to ensure better air quality in urban areas. It aims to identify the most effective mitigation measures to reduce PM levels to acceptable limits and thus contribute to current and future EU targets around air quality.
Southern European and Mediterranean countries in particular suffer from a combination of diverse emission sources, including industry, traffic and dust intrusions - with a climate characterised by arid conditions, as well as high radiation and photochemical conversion rates that significantly enhance particle levels in the air.
More about the work of LIFE AIRUSE, including news about the above-mentioned event is available from the project and conference websites.
Duna-Ipoly National Park Directorate and WWF Hungary are organising a European workshop on the eradication and control of invasive alien plant species in protected areas and Natura 2000 sites from 19 - 21 April 2016.
The event, being held within the framework of the LIFE project HUTURJAN (LIFE10 NAT/HU/000020), is aimed at professionals working in the field of nature conservation across Europe. Its goal is to support nature conservation and protected area management bodies with the challenge of dealing with Invasive Alien Species (IAS), which are a major threat to Europe’s biodiversity. The workshop will be an excellent platform for collecting information and exchange of experience in this field.
The HUTURJAN project is improving the conservation status of priority habitats and of the Hungarian meadow viper (Vipera ursinii rakosinesis) in the south of the Natura 2000 site Turjánvidék. The Turjánvidék site covers almost 1000 ha and is one of the most extensive and continuously humid sand habitat systems in the Middle-Hungarian Region. Activities include eradicating invasive species from sand steppes and alder-ash forests; increasing the groundwater level of the alder-ash gallery forest habitats; and managing and extending the potential habitat of the Hungarian meadow viper.
The conference organisers’ call for papers runs until 1 February 2016. More information about the workshop and a registration form can be found on the HUTURJAN project website.
The LIFE project GreenYourMove (LIFE14ENV/GR/00611) is holding a first workshop on environmental co-modal journey planning to take place on 20 April 2016 in Athens, Greece.
The idea behind the GreenYourMove project is to create a platform and application helping people travel in the most environmentally-friendly way possible. The team is developing a multi-modal transport planner (comprising routing and ticketing systems) involving the different types of urban public transport (buses, underground trains, trams, trolleys and trains). The communter is offered a number of alternative routes to get to his/her destination, combining more than one transport mode if necessary. Emissions are calculated for the different scenarios and the user is encouraged to choose the environmentally friendliest one in a bid to minimise GHG emissions in Europe.
The workshop is aimed at Greek transport operators so as to discuss the development of the co-modal journey planning platform. While the project team will disseminate the results of the projects to the operators, the workshop will also be the opportunity to gather feedback and new transport data. The team also hopes the event will help improve the web-platform and smartphone applications which are currently under development.
Similar workshops are taking place in Volos on 18 April 2016 and Thessaloniki on 22 April 2016. More details on the workshop and on how to register are available from the project website.
The final conference of the LIFE project Leopoldia (LIFE11 NAT/IT/000232) will be held on 29-30 April 2016, at the Palazzo Ducale in Gela, in Sicily (Italy). The conference, on coastal landscape regeneration, is being organised by the department of agriculture, food and environment of the University of Catania, in collaboration with the project partners Lipu (Italian League for Bird Protection) and the regional department of territorial and rural development.
On the first day of the conference, the Leopoldia project team will present the results of their actions and showcase the tools they have developed. On the second day, the session on the Gulf of Gela will address the protection of the archaeological heritage and natural beauty of the gulf area. The conference will conclude with a round-table discussion, to define future strategies for protecting the dune system and Leopoldia gussonei populations.
The Leopoldia project has worked to protect and re-establish sand dune habitats in the Gulf of Gela, in particular to safeguard Leopoldia gussonei. This plant species is endemic to Sicily, where it is confined to dune habitats, is severely endangered and listed as a priority for conservation in the Habitats Directive. The project has recreated dune habitats, protected habitats from damaging human activities, and supported the development of low environmental impact agriculture. Further information can be found on the project’s website.
For further information about the conference, contact the project via email (info@leopoldia.eu) or telephone: +39 366 4520644.