On 7 October 2010, the Mammal Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Białowieża organised a seminar „Preparing conservation plans of Natura 2000 areas and involving local communities into the nature conservation activities”. It was the first seminar from the planned 16 meetings of the Podlasie Forum for Exchange of Knowledge on the Environment (PREFEKT).

Around 100 participants of the seminar represented various institutions directly or indirectly connected with preparation of conservation plans of Natura 2000 areas, including: Ministry of the Environment, General and Regional Directorates for Environmental Protection, General and Regional Directorates of the State Forests Holding, National and Landscape Parks, regional authorities (governmental and self-governmental), local authorities (communes and poviats), NGOs, universities and consulting companies. During the seminar, speakers from Poland and from abroad presented 6 themes connected with the Natura 2000 conservation plans and local participation in their preparation (programme of the seminar). During the next few years, many such plans will have to prepared both in Poland and in the Podlasie region. The seminar facilitated exchange of knowledge and experience in this respect.

With regard to theoretical issues, the experts presented a structure, methodology, and rules of nature conservation planning, as well as a model, tools, and objectives of public participation in that process. The examples of Natura 2000 sites “Open grassland in Haćki” and “Barycz River Valley” provided practical solutions, identified constraints and problems connected with the planning process. Foreign experts presented European perspective on the debated issues. Mr. Mike Alexander from the UK based Conservation Management System Consortium introduced the “precautionary principle”, crucial for nature conservation planning (seminar presentations). The discussions after the talks initiated knowledge and experience exchange under the PREFEKT Forum. We hope that these discussions will be continued within the Internet discussion forum on the project’s web pate www.forumpodlaskie.pl (under construction).

The seminar was concluded with the recommendations concerning more effective organisation and management of the Natura 2000 nature conservation planning process and public participation in it. The major recommendations include: integration of nature conservation and regional development, formulating nature conservation activities so that they can be implemented into space use documents, and making nature conservation plans available to public from the beginning of the process of their elaboration.

In the after-seminar assessment forms, the participants highlighted the need to organise similar meetings in the future to facilitate discussion concerning sustainable development and nature conservation. The next seminar, planned for 26 November 2010 will address dealing with problems connected with the development of transport infrastructure on the naturally viable areas of the Podlasie Region (prelimanary programme). The PREFEKT Forum’s web page www.forumpodlaskie.pl will feature all relevant information about the realised and planned meetings, seminar materials, discussion forum, etc. We encourage you to send us your comments, opinions, and suggestions at bioconsus@zbs.bialowieza.pl.

Attachments:

• Seminar programme 7 October 2010
• Preliminary programme of the seminar on 26 November 2010 “Sustainable development of transport infrastructure in North-East Poland”

Presentations:

• Dan Wołkowycki (3,7 MB)
• Bianca Nijhof (10,1 MB)
• Dorota Ławreszuk (0,5 MB)
• Dorota Chmielowiec-Tyszko (5,5 MB)
• Krzysztof Schmidt (2,3 MB)
• Mike Alexander and Tom Hellawell (30,5 MB)
• Paweł Pawlaczyk (7,6 MB)

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