Dear <<First Name>>,

ALTER-Net conference: call for proposals

Nature and society: synergies, conflicts, trade-offs
2-5 May 2017
Ghent, Belgium

ALTER-Net is pleased to announce it's 3rd international conference, which once again will take place in the beautiful Belgian city of Ghent, from 2-5 May 2017.

Synergies, conflicts and trade-offs in the relationship between nature and society are key processes in socio-ecological systems. While conflicts are regarded as challenging and difficult trade-offs between ecosystem services are often necessary, the search for synergies and win-win solutions are essential steps in finding lasting solutions to major socio-environmental issues.

Through critical views from a range of disciplines, the conference aims to develop a deeper understanding of conflicts in human-nature relationships, and to explore the possibility that such conflicts may – through their resolution – actually lead to more sustainable solutions.

Through a mix of plenary sessions and interactive ‘living lab’ type workshop sessions, representatives from a wide range of disciplines (including those who may not be considered the ‘usual players’ in environmental debates) will collaborate towards developing a practical guide to nature-related synergies, conflicts and trade-offs, focusing on positive outcomes for nature and society.

Call for proposals - talks, sessions and posters

For this conference, researchers, decision-makers and practitioners from all disciplines and fields are invited to submit abstracts for presentations and posters related to synergies, conflicts, and trade-offs at the nature-society interface. The conference is also accepting proposals for two additional sessions related to conference themes.

The closing date for proposals is 20th January 2017.

ALTER-Net team publishes paper on nature-based solutions

A 17-strong team of colleagues from 12 ALTER-Net partner organisations has written a paper on nature-based solutions. The paper, which is published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, considers the implications for science, policy and practice of the recently introduced concept of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), with a focus on the European context.

The team analysed NBS in relation to similar concepts, and, in the paper, they reflect on its relationship to sustainability as an overarching framework. From this, they derive a set of questions to be addressed and propose a general framework for how these might be addressed in NBS projects by funders, researchers, policy-makers and practitioners.

Full reference: Carsten Nesshöver, Timo Assmuth, Katherine N. Irvine, Graciela M. Rusch, Kerry A. Waylen, Ben Delbaere, Dagmar Haase, Lawrence Jones-Walters, Hans Keune, Eszter Kovacs, Kinga Krauze, Mart Külvik, Freddy Rey, Jiska van Dijk, Odd Inge Vistad, Mark E. Wilkinson, Heidi Wittmer, The science, policy and practice of nature-based solutions: An interdisciplinary perspective, Science of The Total Environment, Available online 2 December 2016, ISSN 0048-9697
DoI: j.scitotenv.2016.11.106

Read more...

Learning and the transformative potential of citizen science - results of ALTER-Net's first 'high impact action' published

The first AHIA project was led by ALTER-Net partner ESSRG and was called Public participation in science and policy: development of a science-society interface in relation to biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Citizen science is a relatively new way of knowledge co-creation, where professional scientists and enthusiastic citizens collaboratively search for answers. While it certainly presents challenges, it also provides a great opportunity for both parties to engage science and nature together, and ultimately, can result in transformative societal changes.

The research is reported in the journal Conservation Biology (Bela, G., Peltola, T., Young, J. C., Balázs, B., Arpin, I., Pataki, G., Hauck, J., Kelemen, E., Kopperoinen, L., Van Herzele, A., Keune, H., Hecker, S., Suškevičs, M., Roy, H. E., Itkonen, P., Külvik, M., László, M., Basnou, C., Pino, J. and Bonn, A. (2016), Learning and the transformative potential of citizen science. Conservation Biology, 30: 990–999. doi:10.1111/cobi.12762).

ALTER-Net conference: call for proposals

Nature and society: synergies, conflicts, trade-offs

2-5 May 2017

Ghent, Belgium

Call for proposals - talks, sessions and posters

ALTER-Net team publishes paper on nature-based solutions

Learning and the transformative potential of citizen science - results of ALTER-Net's first 'high impact action' published

And finally...