News http://www.alter-net.info News from ALTER-Net and elsewhere daily 1 2011-03-07T10:58:26Z Opp: PhD course - European Landscapes in Transition: the Interplay between Local and Global Drivers http://www.alter-net.info/jobs-opps/opportunities/opp-phd-course-european-landscapes-in-transition-the-interplay-between-local-and-global-drivers Added 07-06-2013. Closing date: 17-06-2013 IALE-Europe is organizing a second advanced PhD course, after the very successful 2012 course in Évora. This year, the course will take place in conjunction with the IALE 2013 European Congress in Manchester in September (see www.iale2013.eu). The overall theme of the PhD course is “European Landscapes in Transition: the Interplay between Local and Global Drivers”.

After the first announcement, students from Poland, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland have applied, but fortunately, there are still some places vacant.

More information can be found on the website of IALE-Europe www.iale-europe.eu.

The course will start 7 September in Manchester and will continue after the congress until 16 September, in the Peak District. The participants are required to attend both the entire course and the European Congress.

Theme of the course

This PhD course will address the past and future of changing landscapes in Europe and will explore the novel approaches required for landscape research in order to understand the transitions taking place, and their multiple drivers and impacts.

The course is centred in the landscapes which traditionally have been classified as rural and have at present multiple characteristics, as the fragmented peri‐urban fringes, the productivist agricultural areas, vibrant residential communities or the most marginal rural peripheries. Particular attention is given to the interaction between rural and urban landscapes.

Landscape will be considered from a spatial perspective especially the relationship between agriculture and other functions and other uses of the landscape, as well as the values resulting from these multiple uses. The discussions will develop the understanding of the changes taking place based on merging conceptual backgrounds from different perspectives. It will consider the interaction between changes from local to global scales and the resulting multiple transition pathways occurring at the landscape scale.

For full details of the course (format, programme, speakers, etc.) please see the IALE website.

Dates:

7-16 September 2013

Venue:

Manchester and the Peak District, UK

Deadlines:

  • 17 June - Submitting application form and abstracts of the papers
  • 18 June -  Information on selection of abstracts and acceptance
  • 15 July - Registration and payment (details will be communicated with the information of acceptance for the course)
  • 31 July - submitting of the full paper

 

Contact details for more information:

]]> No publisher Andy Sier Training course ALTER-Net involvement training 2013-06-07T08:25:00Z News Item Job: Head of IPBES Secretariat, Bonn, Germany http://www.alter-net.info/jobs-opps/jobs-vacancies/job-head-ipbes-secretariat Added: 06-06-2013. Closing date: 29-06-2013 The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the United Nations systems designated entity for addressing environmental issues at the global and regional level. Its mandate is to coordinate the development of environmental policy consensus by keeping the global environment under review and bringing emerging issues to the attention of governments and the international community for action.  UNEP’s Division of Environmental Policy Implementation (DEPI) works with international and national partners, providing technical assistance and advisory services for the implementation of environmental policy, and strengthening the environmental management capacity of developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

Established in April 2012, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has a membership of over 100 Governments (see www.IPBES.net), and seeks to respond to the needs of governments and other stakeholders to assess the state of knowledge, identify knowledge gaps, support policy, and build capacity to strengthen the science-policy interface on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Members of the Platform have agreed that the secretariat of the Platform will be established in Bonn, Germany, and hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). UNEP therefore seeks a dynamic leader to oversee the work of the secretariat in providing support to the Platform.

This is a project post available for one year. The closing date for applications is 29 June.

Other positions in the IPBES Secretariat will be advertised by IPBES shortly (note: if interested, be sure to check the IPBES website, in case we miss putting them on ALTER-Net).

]]> No publisher Andy Sier science-policy interface vacancy job 2013-06-06T08:43:38Z News Item Introducing the BES Plants-Soils-Ecosystems special interest group http://www.alter-net.info/news/bes-pse-group Plants-Soils-Ecosystems (PSE) is a special interest group of the British Ecological Society. However, you don’t have to be a BES member to join. PSE is a group for people interested in plant-soil interactions, with a focus on biogeochemical cycling, community dynamics, and ecosystem functioning. It maintains an e-mail list to which you can subscribe. It produces a bulletin and also has a Facebook page and Twitter account.

Sign up to the PSE email list by sending an email with the format below to listserv@jiscmail.ac.uk. Subject: BLANK; Message: SUBSCRIBE PLANT-SOIL-ECO Firstname Lastname

You can also follow the group on Twitter (@BESPlantSoilEco), or on Facebook.

  • PSE web pages (where you can also find links to other BES special interest groups).
]]> No publisher Andy Sier 2013-06-05T13:40:00Z News Item 3 Postdocs & 1 PhD studentship: Sustainable Poverty Alleviation from Coastal Ecosystem Services project http://www.alter-net.info/jobs-opps/jobs-vacancies/3-postdocs-1-phd-spaces-project Added: 05-06-2013. Closing dates: vary (earliest is 23-06-2013) The SPACES project is recruiting three Associate Research Fellows (postdocs) and one PhD student. SPACES (Sustainable Poverty Alleviation from Coastal Ecosystem Services) is an ESPA-funded project. The project is a transdisciplinary collaboration between Stockholm Resilience Centre, Exeter University and 30 other international partners. Project information can be found here.

The posts require a commitment to work across disciplines and to undertake primary fieldwork in Kenya and Mozambique using methodologies such as:

  • coral reef ecological surveys
  • large scale household survey on access to ecosystem services and wellbeing indicators
  • qualitative research on subjective wellbeing
  • analysis of natural resource governance
  • participatory social-ecological modelling
  • participatory scenario development and analysis

 

Please see the links below for further details.

Suitable candidates are encouraged to apply for both the SRC and Exeter positions if appropriate. Please contact Dr Tim Daw or the relevant supervisor if you have any questions.

Postdoc on Ecosystem services and human wellbeing

Postdoc on Ecosystem services and human wellbeing

Post doc on Coral reef dynamics

PhD position on cultural valuation of ecosystem services

]]> No publisher Andy Sier studentship phd vacancy job postdoc 2013-06-05T10:45:00Z News Item Leaking ammonia leading to biodiversity loss and health risks, new themed volume of papers reveals http://www.alter-net.info/news/ammonia-impacts-special-issue Leaking ammonia from fertilisers and higher ammonia emissions caused by a warmer climate are among the issues highlighted in a new volume of scientific papers published this week. The collection of papers provides a summary of current understanding of the global nitrogen cycle and likely changes through the 21st century. Professor David Fowler and Professor Mark Sutton of ALTER-Net partner, the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, are among the scientific editors of the volume, which is published as a themed issue of the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. Staff from other ALTER-Net partners (PBL, Alterra and VU University) also contributed to the special issue.

]]> No publisher Andy Sier publication science ALTER-Net involvement research paper papers 2013-06-04T09:07:46Z News Item Highlights of the 7th Trondheim Biodiversity Conference http://www.alter-net.info/news/highlights-of-the-7th-trondheim-biodiversity-conference Daily highlights and pictures from the recent biodiversity conference in Trondheim, Norway, are now available Since the first Trondheim Conference held in 1993, the world population has grown by 25 %, the total GDP by 75 % and world trade has tripled. Despite positive achievements, loss of biodiversity along with global warming is undermining human wellbeing, especially that of the poor and vulnerable. The Trondheim Conference in 2013 explored how to cut development pathways towards a sustainable society by aligning policy, business, economy and ecology across borders, scales and systems. The conference was attended by invited delegates from around the world. Daily summaries and photos can be found here. Speakers' presentations are also available.

]]> No publisher Andy Sier conference Norway 2013-06-04T08:45:36Z News Item Opp: Call for abstracts - Global Land Project meeting, 2014, Berlin http://www.alter-net.info/jobs-opps/opportunities/opp-call-for-abstracts-global-land-project-meeting-2014-berlin Added: 03 June 2013. Closing date: 30 June 2013 There is a call for abstracts for the 2nd Global Land Project Open Science Meeting, 19 - 21 March 2014, Berlin. The deadline for submission is 30 June 2013. See the GLP OSM website for details.

]]> No publisher Andy Sier Germany call for papers call for posters 2013-06-03T09:25:26Z News Item Opp: taxonomy training (plus 4 grants available) http://www.alter-net.info/jobs-opps/opp-taxonomy-training Added: 20-05-2013. Closing date: 24-06-2013

The Distributed European School of Taxonomy is offering a two-week training course on BASICS OF TAXONOMY: DESCRIBING, ILLUSTRATING AND COMMUNICATING BIODIVERSITY. The course is ideal for early career and future taxonomists who want to learn more about DELTA, digital drawing, scientific illustration, writing and communication, and Scratchpads.

Registration deadline is approaching: 24 June 2013

  • Course dates: 14-25 October 2013
  • Course venue: Sven Lovén Centre for Marine Sciences, Kristineberg, Sweden
  • Target audience: MSc students, PhD students, early career researchers; from any nationality
  • Registration fee: 1200 Euro (includes course attendance, course material, accommodation and meals)

 

DEST is offering four grants of 500 Euro to attend this course. For eligibility criteria and application procedure, see the link below.

For detailed information and registration, please see: http://www.taxonomytraining.eu/content/basics-taxonomy-describing-illustrating-and-communicating-biodiversity.

]]> No publisher Andy Sier Sweden Training course 2013-05-20T13:41:15Z News Item ALTER-Net a key player at EPBRS meeting, Dublin http://www.alter-net.info/news/alter-net-at-epbrs-meeting-dublin The recommendations from last month's ALTER-Net conference in Belgium formed the key basis of discussions at this week's EPBRS meeting in Ireland. Staff from several of ALTER-Net's partners attended the meeting in Dublin, Ireland, of the European Platform for Biodiversity Research Strategy (EPBRS). On Monday 15 May the chair of the ALTER-Net Council, Eeva Furman (SYKE), presented a summary of the main outcomes from our recent conference in Ghent, Belgium. The conference addressed science underpinning the EU 2020 biodiversity strategy and was organised jointly with the EC. The theme of the EPBRS meeting in Dublin was attaining the biodiversity strategy's targets, and our conference recommendations were used as the key basis for the discussions on the EPBRS meeting outcomes.

During the Thursday session on 'a scientifically sound EU-wide evaluation of the status of all species and habitats covered by EU nature legislaton' Maurice Hoffmann (INBO) further elaborated on the ALTER-Net conference recommendations on EU Target 1 (Conserving and restoring nature). We were pleased to contribute to these research strategy recommendations and to recognize several, if not most, of our recommendations in the draft research recommendations of the Dublin conference.

ALTER-Net wants to support the EU in realizing the biodiversity targets by providing scientific knowledge and by helping to find solutions and evidence-based actions. Our members collectively form a major pool of European expertise in biodiversity and ecosystems research, covering a wide variety of disciplines. Already we are recognized as providing a vital knowledge hub for the emerging biodiversity Network of Knowledge. The EPBRS is an important forum for collaboration and agreeing priorities, and ALTER-Net is keen to play an active role in the process.

 

Maurice, EPBRS meeting, Dublin, May 2013 Eeva @ EPBRS, Dublin, May 2013 Maurice in audience, EPBRS meeting, Dublin, May 2013

Photos: A. Watt © CEH

]]> No publisher Andy Sier 2013-05-17T13:40:00Z News Item Job: Several vacancies at the James Hutton Institute, UK http://www.alter-net.info/jobs-opps/jobs-vacancies/job-several-vacancies-at-the-james-hutton-institute-uk Added: 16 May 2013. Closing date: varies (earliest is 24 May) The James Hutton Institute (Scotland, UK) currently has several vacant posts, including:

  • Several Research Assistant posts
  • Field and glasshouse assistants
  • Ecosystem Modeller
  • Graphic Designer

 

See: http://www.hutton.ac.uk/careers for details.

]]> No publisher Andy Sier vacancy job 2013-05-16T13:32:32Z News Item 22 May: International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB) http://www.alter-net.info/news/international-biodiversity-day-2013 The theme for this year's IDB is Water & Biodiversity  

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has designated 22 May each year International Day for Biological Diversity, and the theme this year is biodiversity and water. More information and links to activities happening around the world can be found here: http://www.cbd.int/idb/2013/.

]]> No publisher Andy Sier 2013-05-03T12:35:00Z News Item ALTER-Net Summer School: Closing date extended http://www.alter-net.info/news/summer-school-extension The closing date for applications to this year's ALTER-Net summer school on biodiversity and ecosystem services has been extended to 31 May. The ALTER-Net Summer School is a fantastic opportunity to develop your knowledge and critical thinking concerning biodiversity and ecosystems science in the wonderful surroundings of Peyresq, southern France. Please see here for details of the Summer School, including information on eligibility, costs and how to apply.

Don't miss out - Apply now!

 

Peyresq Verdon Summer School students

]]> No publisher Andy Sier 2013-05-03T11:04:15Z News Item ALTER-Net conference: Full recommendations now available http://www.alter-net.info/news/conference-full-recommendations The recent ALTER-Net conference 'Science underpinning the EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy' resulted in 100 recommendations concerning how science can help the EU to reach its 2020 biodiversity targets.  

We anticipate that these recommendations from the conference will further facilitate science-policy interaction on the EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy, and motivate scientists to make implementation and realization of the EU's policy goals the subject of their research. The recommendations will be presented at the EPBRS meeting in Dublin next month.

Six headline recommendations were chosen, one per target. They are:

EU-target 1: Natura 2000 success depends primarily on ecosystem health, together with genetic health of its species and populations, rather than on present-day distribution patterns of specific species and habitats; in the end, ecosystem health and genetic population health are important for human well-being in general.

EU-target 2: Mapping ecosystems and valuing their services is seen as important for improving the knowledge base about nature and social-ecological systems, but to avoid true merchandising of biodiversity, the use of monetary valuation and economic instruments should be limited to areas and situations where the monetary information is necessary for triggering conservation behaviour.

EU-target 3: Knowing which problems need standard approaches and which need targeted policy instruments is vital for the development and application of effective biodiversity conservation on managed lands. To advance sustainable agriculture and forestry, engaging the sector actors should be supplemented with standard best practices to solve well-understood general problems as well as innovative and diversified solutions to solve specific and geographically-limited problems. Research should support also the monitoring and evaluation of these different types of problems and solutions.

EU-target 4: Science is the engine to generate adaptive management tools to optimise sustainable fisheries; rather than management based on a single species (among which the present-day minimum size approach for harvesting), ecosystem-based fisheries management should be generally implemented.

EU-target 5: Policy should aim at the broad impact of Invasive Alien Species and their interaction with native biodiversity, health and food production rather than on the sole fact of being alien as criterion for combating details: the first short-term challenge is to develop legal and economic instruments, which are currently being worked on by the policy-makers. The second challenge is to fill in the legal instruments with help of combined scientific efforts when it comes to integrating and linking different databases, web portals and other data collections.

EU-target 6: The price of food, fibre and water should encompass both the production and maintenance cost of the ecosystem.

 

More information

  • Recommendations from the conference.
  • The ALTER-Net conference was co-organised with the European Commission and took place in Ghent, Belgium from 15-18 April 2013. The local organiser was ALTER-Net partner member INBO. The conference was attended by over 200 scientists, policy-makers (including representatives from the EC's Directorate-General for Environment) and others.
  • Information about the EU Biodiversity Targets can be found here.
]]> No publisher Andy Sier 2013-05-01T13:25:00Z News Item European policy makers are for the first time actively involved in the science underpinning their biodiversity policy http://www.alter-net.info/news/conf-2013-recommendations Ghent, April 18th | From Monday 15th to Thursday 18th April, over 200 scientists from 66 European research institutes and more than 25 countries, together with European policy makers, have been developing scientifically sound, evidence-based recommendations on how to implement and realize the 2020 European Biodiversity Strategy. This conference was organized by the European biodiversity research network ALTER-Net, together with the European Commission. Twitter small logo #ALTERNetConf

From over 50 recommendations, 6 final and principal ones were distilled – one for each European target. They were deemed by conference participants to be the most urgent and important requirements to enable Europe to meet its biodiversity targets for 2020 and beyond.

European Commission representatives agreed upon using the conference’s recommendations throughout the European policy development process.

The 6 recommendations are:

  1. EU-target 1: Ecosystem health is the key to Natura 2000 (the EU’s network of protected areas), together with genetic health of its species; both are extremely important for human health
  2. EU-target 2: Mapping ecosystems and valuing their services is seen as beneficial in most cases, but there remains great concern about economic valuation and merchandising of biodiversity
  3. EU-target 3: Knowing which problems need standard approaches and which need targeted approaches is vital to be able to apply effective regulation and innovative, diversified solutions
  4. EU-target 4: Science is the engine to generate adaptive management tools to optimise sustainable and ecosystem-based fisheries rather than management based on a single species approach
  5. EU-target 5: Policy should aim at the broad impact of Invasive Alien Species and their interaction with native biodiversity, health and food production, rather than on details: the first challenge is to develop legal and economic instruments
  6. EU-target 6: The price of food, fibre and water should encompass both the production and maintenance cost of the ecosystem.

 

What’s ALTER-Net?

ALTER-Net brings together 26 leading scientific institutes from 18 European countries. They share the goal of integrating their research capability to assess changes in biodiversity, analyse the effect of those changes on ecosystem services and inform the public and policy makers on the issues at a European scale. Originally funded by the European Union’s Framework VI program to stimulate a collaborative approach, ALTER-Net is now operating independently.

Being an independent science-policy interface network working on biodiversity and ecosystem (services) issues, ALTER-Net wants to positively help the EU in realizing their biodiversity targets by providing its scientific knowledge, e.g. by pointing out possible weaknesses, opportunities and necessities, and by helping to find solutions and evidence-based actions.

Notes to the editor:

  • Contact: Koen van Muylem (local press contact person) , INBO, Belgium (Koen.VANMUYLEM@INBO.BE)
  • Conference web pages
  • ALTER-Net is using social media as well. Please follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook or join our LinkedIn Group to find out more about us and stay updated. Links are at the top of our website.

 

The EU's biodiversity objectives:

  1. Conserving and restoring nature
  2. Maintaining and enhancing ecosystems and their services
  3. Ensuring the sustainability of agriculture, forestry and fisheries
  4. Combating invasive alien species
  5. Addressing the global biodiversity crisis
  6. Contributions of other environmental policies and initiatives (not dealt with during the conference)

Find the EU Biodiversity Strategy here...

 

]]> No publisher Andy Sier 2013-04-19T08:10:00Z News Item ALTER-Net conference discusses the implementation of the European Biodiversity Strategy: how to move ahead? http://www.alter-net.info/news/conference-2013-starts Ghent, April 15th | This week over 200 scientists from 66 European research institutes and more than 25 countries, together with European policy makers gather to search for scientifically sound, evidence-based recommendations on how to implement and realize the 2020 European Biodiversity Strategy. Organized by the European biodiversity research network ALTER-Net together with the European Commission, they “retreat” for four days in the Augustinian Monastery in Ghent (Belgium). Twitter small logo #ALTERNetConf

Outcomes

The conference recommendations will be presented to EU policy makers and form a starting point for the EPBRS meeting (European Platform on Biodiversity Research Strategy), organized under the Irish EU Presidency in May in Dublin.

Why an EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy?

Admitting the overall failure of the previous European strategy to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2010, the EU adopted a new strategy in 2011 with a 2050 vision and a 2020 headline target. The 2020 target was defined as: “Halting the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem services in the EU by 2020, and restoring them in so far as feasible, while stepping up the EU contribution to averting global biodiversity loss”.

The EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy includes six mutually supportive and interdependent targets that respond to the objectives of the 2020 headline target:

  1. Conserving and restoring nature
  2. Maintaining and enhancing ecosystems and their services
  3. Ensuring the sustainability of agriculture, forestry and fisheries
  4. Combating invasive alien species
  5. Addressing the global biodiversity crisis
  6. Contributions of other environmental policies and initiatives

 

Programme

During workshops, groups of scientists and policy makers will discuss these targets, and present their recommendations on the implementation and realization of targets during the final plenary session on Thursday afternoon.

On Monday, the 15th, the conference also presents a première of the film “Le Peuple des Océans” by Jacques Perrin, known from his previous nature documentaries “Microcosmos” and “Winged Migration”; it is meant as an illustration of how documentary film making can add to the societal involvement in biodiversity and ecosystem issues.

For additional information on preliminary statements, side events on other on-going European initiatives, and other ALTER-Net activities, see http://www.alter-net.info/outputs/conf-2013

What’s ALTER-Net?

ALTER-Net brings together 26 leading scientific institutes from 18 European countries. They share the goal of integrating their research capability to assess changes in biodiversity, analyse the effect of those changes on ecosystem services and inform the public and policy makers on the issues at a European scale. Originally funded by the European Union’s Framework VI program to stimulate a collaborative approach, ALTER-Net is now operating independently.

Being an independent science-policy interface network working on biodiversity and ecosystem (services) issues, ALTER-Net wants to positively help the EU in realizing their biodiversity targets by providing its scientific knowledge, e.g. by pointing out possible weaknesses, opportunities and necessities, and by helping to find solutions and evidence-based actions.

Notes to the editor:

  • Contact: Koen van Muylem (local press contact person) , INBO, Belgium (Koen.VANMUYLEM@INBO.BE)
  • Conference web pages
  • ALTER-Net is using social media as well. Please follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook or join our LinkedIn Group to find out more about us and stay updated. Links are at the top of our website.
]]> No publisher Andy Sier 2013-04-16T07:10:00Z News Item