EEA/EIONET BALKAN MEETİNG ON NETWORKING ACTIVITIES ON IAS

17-18 OCTOBER 2011

BEST WESTERN PLUS City Hotel

Sofia, Bulgaria

ORGANIZEd by:

European Environment Agency (EEA)

together with

Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IBER-BAS)

University of Forestry, Sofia (UF)

UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF:

Ministry of Environment and Water, Bulgaria (MOEW)

ORGANiZing committee:

Dr Ahmet Uludag, Project Manager on IAS, European Environment Agency

Ms Teodora Trichkova, Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Assoc. Prof., Dr Rumen Tomov, University of Forestry, Sofia

Ms Camellia Dikova, Executive Environmental Agency, Ministry of Environment and Water, Bulgaria

Ms Rayna Hardalova, Ministry of Environment and Water, Bulgaria

FUNDED BY:

European Environment Agency

Invasive alien species are becoming one of the most important environmental issues due to increasing global changes produced by trade, travel and climate change. The European Union has taken steps on IAS issues such as the Commission’s Communication (COM(2006) 216 final), which stressed the need to reduce substantially the impact of invasive alien species and alien genotypes on EU biodiversity, and the Commission’s Communication “Towards an EU Strategy on Invasive Species” (COM(2008) 789 final). Part of this strategy is the development of an early warning and information system for alien species in Europe. In the new EU 2020 biodiversity stategy, published in May this year, “combating invasive alien species” is one of the six mutually supportive and inter-dependent targets.

Last year a successful workshop was held in Zagreb on 28-29 October 2010: Workshop on Invasive Alien Species in West Balkan Countries. The participants produced a report identifying IAS as biodiversity problem at regional level and confirming the necessity to tackle IAS by implementing global strategies and principles through regional cooperation. The second Workshop on Invasive Alien Plants in Mediterranean Type Regions of the World which was held in Trabzon, Turkey on 02-06 August 2010 reported the need for regional Networks in South and East Europe.

In addition, all concerned actors (such as governments, the scientific community, conservation practitioners, local NGO’s, national plant protection organizations, environment agencies and other appropriate stakeholders) from the region were encouraged to publicize and implement workshop recommendations. The EEA’s role is to facilitate the coordination of the future activities and the implementations of the workshop’s recommendations.

NOBANIS is a successful network covering mainly the countries in Northern Europe, and can be used as a model for the setting up of a network for South and East Europe.

The goal of the EEA/EIONET BALKAN MEETİNG ON NETWORKING ACTIVITIES ON IAS will be to initiate the development of South and East European Network on Invasive Alien Species. Organizational chart for network, data flow, system for beginning and future expectations will be discussed.

AGENDA

17 October 2011       

09:30-10:30                Registration and coffee

10:30-11:00                        Opening session chaired by Ahmet Uludag

Dr. Eng. Vanya Grigorova, ExEA Executive Director, EEA MB member

Assoc. Prof., Dr Anna Ganeva, Deputy Director, IBER-BAS

Introduction of all participants – tour de table

11:00- 12:30               Session 1- Background chaired by Rumen Tomov

-    EU policies on IAS (Ahmet Uludag, EEA)

-    Key aspects and requirements for an effective IAS strategy on IAS at the national and regional scale (Riccardo Scalera, IUCN)

-    West Balkan (WB) message and related activities (Ahmet Uludag, EEA)

-    NOBANIS: A successful networking on IAS (Christina Fevejle Nielsen, NOBANIS)

12:30-14:00                         Lunch

14:00-16:00                        Session 2- Country presentations (National networks, monitoring, surveillance, structures, etc.) Chaired by Ahmet Uludag

                                            Each presentation will be 10 minutes.

-    Bulgaria- Bulgarian policies related to IAS (Teodora Trichkova, IBER-BAS, Rayna Hardalova, MOEW)

-    Albania- National policies’ framework on IAS in Albania (Sajmir Bequiraj, University of Tirana)

-    Croatia- Dealing with IAS in Croatia – Monitoring and networking (Aljoša Duplić, SINP)

-    Greece- ELNAIS: Ellenic network on aquatic invasive species (Argyro Zenetos, HCMR)

-    Kosovo under UNSC Resolution 1244/99 (Rifat Morina, Ministry of Environment)

-    FYR Macedonia- National networks (Vladimir Dzabirski, University in Skopje)

-    Montenegro- Present situation and future activities related to IAS (Ivana Bulatović, EPA MNE)

-    Serbia- IAS in Serbia (Slaviša Popović, SEPA)

-    Turkey (Ahmet Uludag, EEA)

-    Bulgaria- Monitoring and indicators of IAS and National Biodiversity Monitoring System (Radoslav Stanchev, ExEA, Bulgaria)

16:00-16:30                Coffee break

16:30-18:30                        Session 3- Background 2 (Expert presentations) Chaired by Teodora Trichkova

-    Alien and invasive fish species in Balkan countries (Predrag Simonović, Universtiy of Belgrade, Serbia)

-    IAS in the Adriatic - Ionian transitional area; a case study from the Albanian coast (Sajmir Beqiraj, University of Tirana, Albania)

-    Spatial and temporal patterns  of spreading invasive weeds in Croatian fields (Edita Štefanić, J.J. Strossmayer University, Croatia)

-    IAS in forestry: Invasive alien woody species in the R. Macedonia (Bojan Simovski,  Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, FYR Macedonia)

-    Alien and invasive species in the Bulgarian flora (Vladimir Vladimirov, IBER-BAS, Bulgaria)

-    National IAS database - challenges of regional IAS database (Milica Rat, University of Novi Sad, Serbia)

19:00                          Dinner

18 October 2011

09:00-10:30                        Session 4- Need of networking Chaired by Riccardo Scalera

-    Hellenic Network on Alien Invasive species co-ordinated in Greece and its (possible) effect on regional and continental networking (Argyro Zenetos, HCMR, Greece) 15 minutes

-    Discussion: Need of networking on IAS among WB countries and their neighbors.

10:30-11:00                Coffee break

11:00-12:00                        Session 5- Background 3 (IT issues) Chaired by Riccardo Scalera

-    Technical side of networking (Mora Aronsson, NOBANIS)

-    Environmental Information Systems and Web-based Services in ExEA (Nikolay Zafirov, ExEA, NRC EIS, Bulgaria)

12:00-12:45                        Session 6- Networking proposals Chaired by Ahmet Uludag

-    Proposal: Hosting network in Bulgaria

-    IAS information portal in SE Europe (Teodora Trichkova, IBER-BAS, Alexander Kotsev, Sofia University, Rumen Tomov, University of Forestry, Stanislav Abadjiev, NMNH-BAS, Bulgaria)

12:30-14:00                Lunch

14:00-15:00                        Session 7- Networking proposal discussions Chaired by Ahmet Uludag

15:00-15:30                Coffee break

15:30-16:30                        Session 8- Organization and future activities of proposed network Chaired by Ahmet Uludag   

                        Organizational and technical issues on proposed network

16:30-17:00                        Session 9- Extending network Chaired by Ahmet Uludag

                                            Benefits and possibility of extending the network all East and South Europe

                                            Communication with other possible countries in the network

                                            Wrap up