Sustainable quarrying in perspective of biodiversity

05-06 May, Gotland, Sweden

HeidelbergCement is organising a two-day conference on sustainable quarrying in perspective of biodiversity. New restoration concepts will be presented regarding a sustainable protection of the IUCN red listed Pasque Flower (Pulsatilla patens) in Gotland.

The conference scope will also include a discussion on coexistence of lime/process industry with general nature protection needs and ambitions for Natura 2000 areas.

Download the provisional programme and registration form.

WATACLIC launch conference

13 May, Rome, Italy

The LIFE+ Information & Communication project, “WATACLIC – Water Against Climate Change” (LIFE08 INF/IT/000308), is hosting a one-day workshop aimed at key stakeholders concerned with water management. The event, “A green economy for water management, innovative techniques and administrative tools for implementing the Water Framework Directive”, marks the launch of the project’s three-year information/ communication campaign to promote more sustainable water management in Italy’s urban areas.

There will be a morning technical session with three thematic workshops for discussion and feedback from participants concerning: water saving strategies for the urban planning and construction sectors; water tariff policies and an awareness-raising campaign to lower water consumption; and water and energy saving potential in water supply systems.

The afternoon session will be an open discussion forum on the financial issues related to water management. Several representatives from the public administrations, water utilities, environmental NGOs etc, will be invited.

For more information, please visit the project website.

Download the programme.

TRUST Workshop on climate change and its impact on groundwater in northeast Italy

13 May, Treviso, Italy

The Italian project TRUST (Tools for Regional-scale based assessment of groUndwater Storage improvement in adaptation to climaTe change) is holding a workshop on 13 May entitled ‘Climate changes and groundwater in the upper Veneto and Friuli plains’. The workshop, which will begin and end at the Fondazione Benetton, Treviso (and include several excursions to the project’s sites), will focus on key aspects of the project including an analysis of the tools it devised; presentations on the protection of aquifers; and an introduction to WEBGIS, an online platform for integrated environmental management.

TRUST was proposed by a consortium of three Italian beneficiaries: Alto Adriatico River Basin Authority (RBA), which is responsible for planning the integrated management of water resources in river basins; SGI Studio Galli Ingegneria, a water engineering consultancy specialised in river basin hydrogeology, and the Centro Euro-Mediterraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici, a research institution involved in the study of climatic change through the use of global circulation and regional models. The project is co-financed by the Italian Ministry for Environment and Land and Sea.

For a full programme of the event visit the project’s website.

Agro-energy for sustainable development

25 May, Reggio Emilia, Italy

The LIFE funded project, “Seq-Cure: Integrated systems to enhance sequestration of carbon, producing energy crops by using organic residues” (LIFE06 ENV/IT/000266), invites participants to attend its final conference, “Agro-energy for sustainable development”, which will be held on 25 May 2010 in Reggio Emilia (Italy).

Seq-Cure is a three-year project coordinated by CRPA (Centro ricerche produzioni animali s.p.a.), with a number of partners in the Emilia-Romagna region (northern Italy). The project studied issues involved in energy production from biomass, focusing on aspects relating to agronomy, energy conversion and environmental impact.

The final conference thus represents an opportunity to present the results obtained and to assess, toge¬ther with experts from other countries, the current situation in relation to agro-energy in both Italy and Europe.

For more information on how to participate, please visit the event page.

Download the programme.

LIFE+ Committee meeting

31 May, Brussels, Belgium

The LIFE Committee is meeting in Brussels on 31 May to deliberate the results of the 2009 call for proposals

LIFE Nature and Biodiversity – preparing the future

31 May- 01 June, Brussels, Belgium

As the Commission is beginning to think beyond LIFE+ it will be seeking stakeholders' views on what has worked well in the LIFE Nature programme and what should be changed, trying to have an open and productive discussion. LIFE+ Biodiversity is a new strand, and has meant a learning process for everyone concerned. With the help of participants, the Commission will be seeking to clarify what the needs, the gaps and the constraints are in this field, as well as what our expectations are regarding possible LIFE+ Biodiversity projects.

This is your opportunity to put your views across and help us shape the future nature conservation instrument

The conference ‘LIFE Nature and Biodiversity – preparing the future’ organised by the LIFE Unit of the DG Environment will take place in Brussels on 31 May and 1 June 2010- just before the EU Green week 2010, whose overarching theme is Biodiversity.

Read more information and register on this page.

The conference has been recorded and is available as video stream:

• First day: video
• Second day: video