As the conclusion of Work Packages 2 and 3 of GEM-CON-BIO, CTM and IUCN organised a two-day workshop at the Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm to discuss the findings of the report on ecosystem management and governance in Europe and the development of the analytical framework that steered the case studies in 2007.

This workshop provided the first opportunity to bring together all the partners of the project with key external experts to discuss the emerging analytical approach being developed within the project. The workshop was arranged over 2 days, addressing governance and ecosystem management in an integrated fashion.

You may download the workshop report here:
Stockholm Workshop Report
   [PDF, 157KB]

As part of work package 4 of the GEM-CON-BIO project, Cenesta organized a Third Country Workshop to present the results of each of the third country case studies, jointly analyse their results and draw recommendations. The workshop took place in the Kure Mountains of Turkey (country host of one of the Third Country Case studies) in the first week of October 2007.

The workshop focused on the crucial topic of community governance of biodiversity and associated ecosystem functions and cultural values, spanning co-managed protected areas, co-managed landscapes and Community Conserved Areas (CCAs). It brought together the Cenesta project coordinators, the researchers of the five Cenesta case studies, and two representatives of CIFOR. A number of external experts on community governance of biodiversity were also present, some of which offered results from another research project on Community Conserved Areas coordinated by Cenesta and TGER/TILCEPA. All in all, thirty conservation and development professionals came together and reviewed the results of the nine studies supported by the GEM-CON-BIO project in Third Countries and other research, identified challenges facing community governance of natural resources, drew lessons learned and developed policy recommendations at several levels, including for EU Development Policy.

The workshop report summarises key discussion points from the workshop – including threats to CCAs; CCAs and rights; CCA evaluation; institutions for effective governance and management of CCAs; formal recognition of CCAs; and appropriate forms of support to CCAs. The report then describes the overall strategic mechanisms and steps identified by the workshop to promote Community Conserved Areas and their associated biodiversity conservation and livelihood benefits.

You may download the report here:
Third Countries Workshop Report
   [PDF, 514KB]

A Workshop on "Using Wild Resources across Europe: Values and Governance" was held in Vienna from 13 to 15 September 2007. Organised by the European Sustainable Use Specialist Group of IUCN/SSC (ESUSG) the workshop was designed to receive the first results from a case study called UNWIRE (Using Wild Resources Nationally across Europe) managed by ESUSG and Anatrack as part of GEM-CON-BIO.

The results from the case study show that millions of EU citizens are spending billions of euros annually on wildlife-related activities, that governance can be positive but needs improvement and that much useful data are not being collected, especially on fungi and the use of plants. The workshop recommended promoting a much fuller and more systematic Pan-European survey via the EU environmental and statistical agencies.

Thanks are due to the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management who supported the workshop financially and to local hosts, the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology of Vienna Veterinary University, who provided superb organisational support.

Download the workshop report here:
Vienna Workshop Report
   [PDF, 65KB]