Suchergebnisse

The post-communist countries of Central-Eastern Europe (CEE) when implementing agricultural and conservation policies, face other challenges than Western European countries: (1) specifc institutional design for each, developed on the remnants of totalitarian system causing difculties for transposing directives; (2) different integration of Natura 2000 network into national protected area governance resulting in slow elaboration of the management plans; (3) farming landscapes were better preserved than in Western Europe, but lacking the continuity of extensive farming so large areas of conservation; and (4) formal protection of sites, lacking in many cases fnancial support. Tis paper summarizes: the historical background of the last century that changed the farming landscapes of the CEE countries and the challenges in the management of protected areas in an unsteady socio-economic and political context. Te results are focusing on the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. Two main conclusions are proposed. First, socialism and capitalism slowly abolished family farming, causing people to become disconnected from the landscape – a key element in conservation oriented grassland management. Second, the gaps of knowledge on different aspects of policy implementation sabotage the results of conservation initiatives.

The 'Europe 2020 Strategy' was issued in 2010 by the European Commission. This document constitutes a growth scheme for the decade 2010-2020 that aims to help the European Union to emerge from the current crisis through the so-called smart, sustainable and inclusive dimensions of growth. In this context, the basic aim of the SIESTA ("Spatial Indicators for a 'Europe 2020 Strategy' Territorial Analysis") Project has been to illustrate the territorial dimension of the 'Europe 2020 Strategy'. In other words, to show how this document acts territorially, particularly at the regional scale, but, when possible, also at the urban level. The SIESTA Project has been funded by ESPON ("European Observation Network for Territorial Development and Cohesion"), a European Commission Programme whose mission is to support policy development in relation to the aim of territorial cohesion and a harmonious development of the European territory. This book includes most of the main findings and conclusions obtained through research of the SIESTA Project. The contents were presented and discussed as keynote addresses or communications at the SIESTA Final Conference held in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, on 4-5 April 2013.

AbstractShanghai is the largest economic city in China. Its rapid emergence as a post‐industrial metropolis is causing fundamental shifts in the city's economy. The development trends of Chinese economy need Shanghai to become a global metropolis. This study presents Shanghai's development direction to 2020, shows some key issues facing Shanghai to become a global metropolis, and puts forward some policy recommendations in order to overcome these issues.

Gerovasileiou, Vasilis/0000-0002-9143-7480; Vitale, Dyana/0000-0002-2172-3940; montesanto, federica/0000-0001-6328-7596 ; WOS:000589690900012 ; This article includes 23 new records of alien and cryptogenic species in the Mediterranean Sea, belonging to 4 Phyla (Chordata, Echinodermata, Arthropoda and Mollusca), distributed from the Alboran to the Levantine Sea. Records are reported from eight countries listed from West to East as follows: Algeria: new records of the Atlantic blue crab Callinectes sapidus; Spain: further spread and establishment of the sea slug Lamprohaminoea ovalis in continental shores; Tunisia: first record of the Atlantic Blue Crab Callinectes sapidus in the Gulf of Gabes; Italy: a new occurrence of the pufferfish Lagocephalus sceleratus in Northern Ionian waters; first record of Cephalopholis taeniops in the Ionian Sea; first record of the redlip blenny, Ophioblennius atlanticus in the Ionian Sea; Slovenia: first record of the isopod Paranthura japonica in Slovenia; Greece: first record of the molluscs Eunaticina papilla, Plocamopherus ocellatus and the fish Cheilodipterus novemstriatus; first record of the ascidian Ecteinascidia turbinata in Kriti; the long-spined sea urchin Diadema setosum in the Ionian Sea; Turkey: first record of the sea spider Ammothea hilgendorfi; the stomatopod Cloridina cf. ichneumon; the fishes Pempheris rhomboidea from the Sea of Marmara and Paranthias furcifer from the Aegean Sea; Lebanon: new records of the fishes Arothron hispidus, Rachycentron canadum, Heniochus intermedius and Acanthurus monroviae; first record of Acanthostracion polygonius. The records of Cloridina cf. ichneumon from southern Turkey and the fish Acanthostracion polygonius from Lebanon, both being the first Mediterranean records, are noteworthy. ; European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme [730984]; Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation [HFRI-FM17-1597]; Ege University Scientific Research Projects CouncilEge University [2011 SUF/020]; Kamal Shair CRSL research fund at the American University of Beirut [24584/103599] ; N. Abdelali and S. Grimes wish to express their sincere gratitude to Mahjoubi Ramy, aquaculture technician at Aquadora farm, from Bonaine, who provided them with the photos of the specimen reported and handed it over to them, and to Haseine Youcef Yasser, fisherman who captured the specimen. M. Pontes and F. Crocetta are grateful to Daniel Munoz Rodriguez (Madrid, Spain) for sharing the observation data and photos of Lamprohaminoea ovalis. R. El Zrelli and L. Rabaoui would like to thank all local fishermen who provided information about the Atlantic Blue Crab, Callinectes sapidus, in the Gulf of Gabes (south-eastern Tunisia). C. Licchelli and F. Denitto would like to thank Vincenzo Bruno, the local fisherman who shared data and information about their record. Andrea Spinelli and Dyana Vitale are grateful to Mr. Concetto Felice who filmed the C. taeniops specimen studied. F. Tiralongo and E. Azzurro are grateful to Giorgio Cavallaro (G.R.O. Sub Catania) for providing them with photos documenting the presence of Ophioblennius atlanticus in the Ionian Sea. A. Fortic and B. Mavric would like to thank Lovrenc Lipej and Domen Trkov for their help and support with the determination of specimens. F. Montesanto and F. Mastrototaro were supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under grant agreement No 730984, ASSEMBLE Plus project and thank G. Chatzigeorgiou and P. Kasapidis for the assistance provided. Michail Ragkousis, Alexandros Tsatiris, Markos Digenis, Vasilis Gerovasileiou and Stelios Katsanevakis were supported by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (H.F.R.I.) under the "First Call for H.F.R.I. Research Projects to support Faculty members and Researchers and the procurement of high-cost research equipment grant" (Project ALAS -`ALiens in the Aegean-a Sea under siege'; Project Number: HFRI-FM17-1597). C. Kocak's work was supported by the Ege University Scientific Research Projects Council, Project Number 2011 SUF/020. C. Kocak would also like to thank Prof. Dr. Atakan Sukatar (Ege University, Faculty of Science, Izmir) for his help in identifying the algal species and Naciye Alan for her helpful assistance in the fieldwork. S. Yapici and F.Yalgin would like to thank Orhan Yilmaz for providing video and information on their specimen. M. Bariche and S. Mavruk would like to express their gratitude to the citizen scientists Messrs Wahib Nini, Ramzi Allenby Gargour, Ali Haydar, Mostafa Saeed, Georges Taza, and Mohamad Ali Ibrahim for regularly reporting their observations and findings. Their study was partly supported by the Kamal Shair CRSL research fund (24584/103599) at the American University of Beirut. G. Bitar and A. Badreddine wish to thank Dr. Ricardo Aguilar for his help on the identification of their specimen, the professional fisher Amin Mezher for providing them with photos and a video recording of the species, and the director of the "Lebanese fishermen" Facebook page Mr. Georges Taza for his cooperation.

Abstract.Analysing selected European Commission and Council documents, this article identifies the changes and enduring features of the EU social policy discourse and investigates their potential determinants. It divides this discourse into three periods: the first is associated with the "Lisbon Strategy", the second with the reforms that followed (2005–09) and the third with "Europe 2020". The most recent period has witnessed a radical marginalization and tokenization of social policy as compared with macroeconomic and financial concerns. At the same time, EU institutions have increasingly encroached upon national jurisdiction over social policy. These changes seem to be explained by reshuffling among important actors.

While 2020 –dubbed the "Super Year for Nature –has seen the world battling an unforeseen global pandemic, this article comes back on the Convention of Biological Diversity and its regime, studies the aim of the negotiations of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and the relevance of this framework for the planet, considering that the protection of biological diversity impacts all aspects of human life, including the full enjoying of human rights and protection against future pandemics.

Tese de mestrado, Políticas Europeias, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras, 2009 ; The scope of this thesis is to study the evolution of the EU's Africa policy in a timeframe of seven years between 2000 and 2007 - from the first to the second EUAfrica Summit. The study aims to identify dominant EU motives and forces in shaping a Joint Strategic Partnership between the two continents and its importance for the EU's positioning in the world. On the one hand, the study will investigate documents relating to the EU-Africa dialogue, and considered key to determine which interests, actors, and discourse have been dominant; on the other hand, it will investigate documents linked to parallel EU strategies over the same period likewise considered key to the evolution of the EU's Africa policy. The thesis is that EU Africa policies must be seen in a wider political context in which the EU aims to project itself in the world as a significant international actor with the power to actively influence world politics through a more integrated approach by integrating, mainstreaming and coordinating external policies and instruments including strategies leading to a greater visibility in the world. The study concludes that Africa represents an important field of interest for the EU. Motives and interests are mixed and include political, economic, military, security, social, environmental and moral aspects. Africa's geographical proximity, its historical relations with EU Member States and low political sensitivity as a region compared to for example the Middle East are important factors that have allowed for a high degree of Member State consensus on coordinating different policy instruments as a means to establish a coherent and effective foreign policy through initiatives ranging from development aid, over humanitarian assistance to military action with initiatives covering conflict prevention, conflict management and peacekeeping missions. ; O objectivo desta dissertação é estudar a evolução da política da UE para a ...

Die europäischen Staats- und Regierungschefs haben am 17. Juni 2010 die neue Wachstumsstrategie "Europa 2020" verabschiedet, mit der die Europäer ihr gemeinsames Ziel eines intelligenten, nachhaltigen und integrativen wirtschaftlichen Wachstums mit einem hohen Beschäftigungs- und Produktivitätsniveau und mit sozialer Kohäsion verbinden wollen. Mit dieser Strategie glaubt die EU nun über ein Zehn-Jahres-Programm für eine engere wirtschaftspolitische Koordinierung zu verfügen und die richtige Antwort auf die existenziellen Bewährungsproben der globalen Wirtschaftskrise und der europäischen Verschuldungskrise gefunden zu haben. Allerdings sollte die Strategie noch weiter konkretisiert, mit erreichbaren Zwischenzielen und leicht zu erledigenden Einzelschritten versehen werden, damit die Mitgliedstaaten sie erfolgreich umsetzen können. Insbesondere muss die Identifikation der Mitgliedstaaten mit den gemeinsam beschlossenen Zielen, die ownership, erhöht werden

The European Commission has recently adopted its EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, which sets out an ambitious plan for reversing biodiversity loss, and preserving and restoring protected ecosystems. A central binding target is focused on enlarging the EU network of legally protected areas (Natura 2000, the largest global network of the world), and on maintaining or improving the conservation status of all vulnerable habitats and species included in them. Biological invasions are currently a major threat to Natura 2000, so fulfilling the objectives of the EU Biodiversity Strategy calls for stepping up the implementation and enforcement of the relevant legislation on the matter, which has been thoroughly revised over the last decade. We discuss here the regulatory aspects of legislation on invasive alien species (IAS) that need to be optimised to address the challenge posed by biological invasions to the Natura 2000 network in the light of the new EU Biodiversity Strategy. We highlight that, while the EU has designed a solid regulatory framework to tackle the threat of biological invasions, its successful implementation will mainly rely upon appropriate national enforcement and allocation of economic and human resources. Despite previous warnings, the creation of dedicated EU funding mechanisms to support a comprehensive implementation of the legislation still remains a priority. Due to the yet small number of IAS regulated at the EU level, prevention and management of IAS will largely depend on national and local administration efforts, and on regional coordination and cooperation across neighbouring countries. Therefore, a wellintegrated system responsible for biosecurity, pests and invasive alien organisms at the EU level would be better accomplished through a centralized, independent EU agency of new creation. Likewise, the establishment of a similar lead agency at the MS level, with special focus on IAS management in Natura 2000, is recommended to navigate the existing complex regulatory framework ; Peer reviewed

The Bangladesh Sundarbans region is a difficult place to live and the region will become increasingly inhospitable over time. Sea level rise, cyclonic storms, and embankment failures are constant hazards and the biodiversity of the mangrove forest is being reduced. In addition, increased waterlogging and soil and water salinization pose serious threats to agriculture, a livelihood option for a majority of residents. Research was undertaken to answer the following question: what strategy could the Government of Bangladesh consider in order to enhance the security of inhabitants of the Bangladesh "Sundarbans Impact Zone (SIZ)" and conserve the biodiversity of the Sundarbans mangrove forest? The proposed strategy, which was based on data and analyses from a team of social and natural scientists and engineers, includes two central elements: incentives to encourage migration out of the SIZ successfully and measures to reduce dangers from natural hazards for inhabitants who choose to remain. In addition, the strategy includes measures to conserve biodiversity and actions to strengthen government agencies operating in the Sundarbans so that other elements of the strategy can be implemented effectively.