Links

• Invitation Letter
• Excursion April 24 (page available soon)

The Organising Partners

The Ulster Wildlife Trust is a nature conservation charity which works to achieve an environment rich in wildlife and valued by all. The National Trust looks after special places, for ever, for everyone, throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland and is s Europe`s biggest conservation organization. The Rural European Platform is an independent pan-European platform for farmers, landowners, nature conservationists, policy-makers and scientists. It is a platform to exchange ideas on rural development in Europe, providing examples that convince and policies that work.

 Arlindo Cunha (r), Pat Boaden (l)

Harry Sinclair

Richard Crowe

Rob Maessen

Chris Rövekamp

 

Cooperation between farmers and nature conservation in Europe

 

Organised by the Ulster Wildlife Trust and The National Trust in cooperation with the Rural European Platform
Belfast, April 23-24, 2009

 

Position Paper
Farmers and Nature in Areas with Natural and Other Handicaps

A new deal between farmers and society in Europe

This is a position paper on farming and the provision of ecosystem services in the so called Less Favoured Areas (including other areas where land management practices are restricted due to their importance for nature, landscape and historic environment conservation, etc.) based on the Belfast meeting on “Co-operation between farming and nature conservation in Europe” organized by the Ulster Wildlife Trust, the National Trust, and the Rural European Platform held  in Belfast on the 23rd to the 24th of April, 2009.

Download position paper

Programme and Presentations

Chair: Pat Boaden (Ulster Wildlife Trust), Co-Chair: Rob Maessen (Noord Brabant Province)

Pat Boaden, Ulster Wildlife Trust	Welcome
Arlindo Cunha, Catholic University of Porto	Globalisation and the Common Agricultural Policy
Harry Sinclair, Ulster Farmers' Union	Farming - Delivering for the Northern Ireland Environment
Richard Crowe, Dep. of Agriculture and Rural Development	Agri-environment Schemes NI - Challenges for the Future
Rob Maessen, on behalf of Geert Wilms, Agriculture Innovation Bureau Noord Brabant	Results of the Cooperation between Dairy Farmers and Nature Organisations in Brabant Province, the Netherlands Related article by Van Eekeren et al. "Letting Nature Help a Hand" DVD Boeren en Biodiversiteit
Chris Rövekamp, Province of Gelderland, the Netherlands	Implementation of Natura 2000 and Farming in Gelderland, the Netherlands
Wim Geraedts, Geldersch Landschap Trust, the Netherlands	Geldersch Landschap: linking farming and nature conservation
Julian Hoskin, Natural England	A perspective from Natural England on nature conservation and farming
Wiktor Kotowski, Wetlands conservation centre, Poland	Agri-environment Measures in Poland
Tadeusz Sidor, Biebrza National Park, Poland	The Biebrza National Park, Agri-environmental Payments and Cooperation with Farmers and NGOs
Ann Norderhaug, Bioforsk, Norway	Farming-Nature Cooperation in Norway
facilitated by Reinier de Man, independent consultant, The Netherlands	Concluding Discussion
Herbert Diemont	next steps leading to publishing a REP position paper