Member area

SaveGREEN Safeguarding the functionality of transnationally important ecological corridors in the Danube basin

Final Conference materials

 

On 6 & 7 December 2022, the SaveGREEN Consortium hosted the Final Conference of the project in Vienna, Austria. The event was hosted by the Austrian Ministry of Climate Action and was also streamed online.
 

Agenda
 

To view the full agenda of the SaveGREEN Final Conference, please click here.

 
 

Day 1 - Welcome
 

 

 

 

 

 

The Conference was officially launched with a welcome speech held by Mag.a Sabine  Kühschelm, Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was followed by a welcome speech by Andreas Beckmann, Regional CEO of WWF-CEE, the SaveGREEN Lead Partner.

 
 

Keynote speeches
 

 

 

 

The first keynote speech was given virtually by Wendy Elliott, WWF International, on the topic "The global state of ecological connectivity and efforts to preserve it."

 

 

The second keynote speech was delivered virtually by Henrique M. Pereira, German Centre for  Integrative Biodiversity Research. Mr. Pereira spoke about "Translating scientific knowledge into policy - the role of ecological connectivity in the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity."

 

Przemyslaw Oginski, Nature Conservation Unit, DG Environment, EU, gave the third and last keynote speech of the first day on "Ecological connectivity in the EU Green Deal and Biodiversity Strategy 2030: expectations  towards Member States regarding implementation and coherence across borders."
 

Main results of the savegreen project
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second thematic block on day 1 was dedicated to the results of the SaveGREEN project. The lead manager of the project, Hildegard Meyer, WWF-CEE, set the stage with a recap of the past 2,5 years.

 

 

 

 

The Standardized Methodology for Assessing Functionality of Ecological Corridors & the Application Toolbox were presented by Florian Danzinger, Environment Agency Austria.

 

 

 

 

Sivlia Borlea, EPC Consulting, then presented the newly developed Capacity Building Programme and related training events.

 

 

 

 

 

SaveGREEN's work in its 8 pilot areas and the Cross Sectoral Operational Plans were presented by Radu Mot, Zarand Association.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The final presentation of Day 1 was given by Eszter Sebestyén, CEEweb for Biodiversity, who gave an overview of the project's communication activities and number of stakeholders engaged.
 

panel discussion on uptake of savegreen outputs
 


 

 

The first day of the Conference ended with a panel discussion on the uptake of SaveGREEN project results by relevant actors in the Danube-Carpathian region.

 

The panel featured:

  • Harald Egerer, Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention
  • Elke Hahn, Austrian Ministry for Climate Action
  • Lazaros Georgiadis, IENE Governance Board Member
  • Jana Čuláková, State Nature Conservancy, SK
  • Svitlana Matus, Ukraine Policy Expert
 

day 2 - Keynotes
 

 

 

 

Day 2 began with a keynote delivered by Marita Böttcher, German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, branch office Leipzig, on the topic "Planning of ecological connectivity across Europe - challenges and possible implementation."

 

 

The fifth and final keynote was given by Razvan Popa, ADEPT Foundation, who spoke about "Ecological connectivity and agriculture - opportunity or restriction?"

 

 

 
 

Spotlights of other ecological connectivity projects
 

 

 

 

The first presentation was given by Stefan Fuchs, University of Vienna, on the "DaRe to Connect" project (Interreg DTP).

 

 

 

 

 

The second presentation was held virtually by Thomas Wrbka, University of Vienna, on the "MagicLandscapes" project (Interreg Central Europe).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up was Calin Ardelean, WWF Romania, with a presentation on the "Open Borders for Wildlife in the Carpathians" project (ENI Cross-border Cooperation Programme).

 

 

 

 

The fourth presented project was "DinAlp Connect" (Interreg Adrion), which was introduced by Peter Laner, EURAC.

 

 

 

 

 

Piero Visconti, IIASA, held the last presentation of the day, in which he talked about the currently on-going "NaturaConnect" project (HORIZON Europe).

 
 

Group brainstorming exercise
 

The final agenda item of the day was a brainstorming exercise in which the participants divided into groups to discuss gaps and opportunities related to research, policy, and implementation relating to ecological connectivity

 
 

 

The Conference organisers would like to thank all speakers, presenters and attendees for their lively participation. All outputs of the SaveGREEN project will be made available in the coming days on this website in the "Library" section.

 

Thank you and see you again soon!
 
 

 

Programme co-funded by European Union funds (ERDF, IPA, ENI)