CONFERENCE
VENUE: Dorpat Conference Centre
(DCC),
http://www.dorpat.ee/
Address: Turu 2, TASKU, Tartu, 51013
(entrance by car from Soola street, on foot from Turu street)
PROGRAMME (01.11.2012)
DAY 1 (November
14, Wednesday)
SESSION A: Biodiversity
and High Nature Value Farming - a state of play
Session explores
approaches for defining and understanding farmland biodiversity (BD) in
the
Baltic Sea Region (BSR) |
| Time
|
Location
|
Presentation
/ Activity |
| 08:00
- 09:00
|
DCC |
Registration
4th floor of the adjoining Tasku Centre,
in front of lobby |
| 09:00
- 09:15
|
DCC, HALL
BAER |
Welcome
Helir-Valdor Seeder, the Minister, Estonian Ministry of Agriculture |
09:15
- 09:35
(15+5 min) |
DCC, HALL
BAER |
What is a farmland
biodiversity? An
academic point of
view
Irina Herzon, University of
Helsinki, Finland
Scientific definition and interpretation of
farmland biodiversity to set the framework for the conference |
09:35
- 09:50
(10+5 min) |
DCC, HALL
BAER |
What is a farmland
biodiversity? A
farmer´s point of
view
Aarne Ots, A Farmer, Sürgavere
Agricultural Co-operative, Estonia
Nature-friendly farmer and agronomist introduces
his views on biodiversity and what kind of steps he has taken in his
farm to
increase biodiversity potential and why biodiversity is useful for him |
| 09:50
- 10:00
|
DCC, HALL
BAER |
Reflection of
presentations |
10:00
- 10:25
(20+5 min) |
DCC, HALL
BAER |
Farmland biodiversity
in BSR and
intervening factors
Pille Koorberg, Agricultural
Research Centre (ARC), Estonia
The general situation with farmland biodiversity in
the Baltic Sea Region, main trends and signs of threats |
10:25
- 10:50
(20+5 min) |
DCC, HALL
BAER |
On-going and future
Rural
Development Programmes under the CAP: a challenge or an opportunity for
high
nature value farming and biodiversity protection
Trees Robijns, BirdLife
Europe
Which aspects from the CAP are the most important
driving forces for BD protection? How different measures in RD should
interact and what opportunities there are for improvement in the new
policy?
The state of play of the CAP reform, opportunities and challenges of
CAP
2013+
Supporting materials:
Towards the 2014-2020 Rural Development Programmes, Part 1, The programming framework of EU funds
Towards the 2014-2020 Rural Development Programmes, Part 2, Rural development measures
Allen B, Keenleyside C and Menadue H (2012) Fit for the environment:
principles and environmental priorities for the 2014 - 2020 Rural
Development Programmes. Report produced for the RSPB. Institute
for European Environmental Policy, London. |
| Time
|
Location
|
Presentation
/ Activity |
| 10:50
- 11:00
|
DCC, HALL
BAER |
Reflection of
presentations |
11:00
- 11:20
(20 min) |
Lobby
in front of hall
BAER |
Coffee
break |
11:20
-11:45
(20+5 min) |
DCC, HALL
BAER |
View on the
relationship between
farming and biodiversity. A case study of Sweden
David Ståhlberg, Swedish
Board of Agriculture, Sweden
What are the biodiversity functions in farming and
what has been done in Sweden to support them? |
11:45
- 12:10
(20+5 min) |
DCC, HALL
BAER |
Farming and
biodiversity - where
are borders for the high nature values? A case study of
Estonia
Iiri Raa, ARC, Estonia
"High nature values" versus "nature values"? What
and who is defining thresholds? What are the values to be preserved,
how to
identify and measure them? Does the secret for future farmland
biodiversity
lie in the large scale landscape heterogeneity or in small-scale
specialized
protection actions? Challenges for the identification of HNV farmland
and its
values a practical example from Estonia |
| 12:10
- 12:30
|
DCC, HALL
BAER |
Reflection of
presentations |
12:30
- 13:15
(45 min) |
Lobby
in front of hall
BAER |
Lunch
|
SESSION
B: How to
monitor, calculate and interpret farmland biodiversity (BD) - is five
better
than six?
This session explores the functions of monitoring
of farmland BD and its role in assessment of policies. Main questions
which
this session is trying to find answers:
· Why do we need and how can we use BD monitoring in policy making?
How much we can rely on and use assumptions and “common sense” without measuring the actual situation? Use and usefulness of “universal” farmland BD indicators
· How to set targets for farmland BD in the policies and measure achievements?
Targets at EU, regional and national level? Where goes the line between the “species richness” and “species poverty”? How to find best composition of species for high BD? How to quantify which level of farmland BD is high enough to preserve biodiversity and ensure ecosystem services in the region?
· Influence
of diverse farmland landscapes in the region - different
species have different
needs - how to decide which landscape features/species should be
preferred
and measures selected to meet these controversial requirements of the
species/habitats? (e.g. what is better - open landscape or mosaic
landscape?)
How to find the balance in setting the preservation targets?
· Interpretation
of the monitoring results in the light of agricultural management - can
we
find causes for changes in the monitored taxa? How to
differentiate landscape
and agriculture derived impacts? How to explain changes if one
indicator
shows positive and the other negative trend? Which and how many
intervening
factors (e.g. landscape indices, land use data, weather conditions, and
predators) should be considered while analysing farmland BD indicators?
The
trade-off of including too many factors in (model) analysis
· What
is the specific role of farmland biodiversity in providing ecosystem
services
and public goods in Baltic Sea Region? |
| Time
|
Location
|
Presentation
/ Activity |
| 13:15
- 13:20
|
DCC, HALL
BAER |
Introduction to
Session B |
13:20
- 13:40
(15+5 min) |
DCC, HALL
BAER |
Are birds the best
indicators for
farmland?
Juha Tiainen, Finnish Game and
Fisheries Research Institute, Finland
How to monitor farmland birds for the policy impact
purposes? How to set targets? What needs to be considered to find
causes for
changes in the monitored taxa? How results depend on the monitoring
objects
and the quality of the monitoring? What is expected from the AE
monitoring
and what do AE monitoring results actually represent and demonstrate?
How can
trends in farmland birds be related to changes in other taxa? |
13:40
- 14:00
(15+5 min) |
DCC, HALL
BAER |
Bumblebees as
farmland
biodiversity indicators in Estonia
Eneli Viik, ARC, Estonia
Bumblebee monitoring in the frame of AE evaluation
and challenges of interpreting results in policy and multiple
intervening factors
context. Why bumblebees as the farmland biodiversity indicators? How to
set
targets? What kind of farming actions may influence this taxa -
leguminous
crops in the crop-rotation, use of pesticides, etc. |
14:00
- 14:20
(15+5 min) |
DCC, HALL
BAER |
Plant communities of
high nature
value grasslands
Anders Jacobson, Swedish Species
Information Centre, Sweden
Value of the grassland plant communities.
Reflecting the values - how to use plants as indicators? How to make
decision
- is it valuable at all? How to set targets? Should identification of
high
nature value grassland plant communities be calibrated between Member
States?
Should approach to restoration and management be calibrated between
Member
States? Do we need best practice guidelines or should rely on knowledge
of
the farmer and local level officials? |
14:20
- 14:35
(15 min) |
Lobby
in front of hall
BAER |
Coffee
break |
14:35-16:00
(~1,5h) |
DCC, HALL
BAER, HALL
PARROT |
A participatory
discussion
technique will be used to address 3 key questions:
· Question
1: Why do we need farmland biodiversity monitoring to support our policy making in the Baltic Sea Region?
· Question
2: How can we set targets for our farmland biodiversity policy objectives in the Baltic Sea Region?
· Question
3: How can we improve the quality of farmland biodiversity monitoring and data accessibility in the Baltic Sea Region? |
16:00
- 16:20
(15+5 min) |
DCC, HALL
BAER |
Landscape indices and
farmland
biodiversity
Juliana Dänhardt, Lund University, Sweden
Which landscape characteristics should be
considered in (agricultural) policy assessments? Which landscape
indices to
choose and how, what do they present, pros- and cons. How to set
targets? |
| Time
|
Location
|
Presentation
/ Activity |
16:20
- 16:40
(15+5 min) |
DCC, HALL
BAER |
Role of functional
agro-biodiversity (FAB) in preserving nature values
Felix Wäckers, Lancaster University/ Biobest, UK/Belgium
Introduction of FAB concept as an example of an
action which is beneficial both for a farmer and for biodiversity and
is not
a supported policy measure. Experiences on fine-tuned multifunctional
vegetation
strip (insects and vegetation interactions, blooming conveyer according
to
the insects spreading). |
| 19:00
- 20:15 |
Hotel
Dorpat |
Small
guided tour in town
Gathering at the reception of hotel Dorpat |
| 20:30
- 22:30 |
History
Museum |
Reception
University of Tartu, History Museum, address: Lossi 25, Tartu |
DAY
2 (November 15,
Thursday)
SESSION C: Common
Objectives and Measures to Solve Common Problems?
This session will begin
exploration of the potential for a common approach amongst the EU
Member
States in the BSR for optimising the use of future RDP measures
(2014-2020)
to protect farmland biodiversity in the region. A participatory
approach will
be used to encourage the sharing of experiences between practitioners
and
policy-makers from around the BSR |
| Time
|
Location
|
Presentation
/ Activity |
| 09:00
- 09:10
|
DCC, HALL
BAER |
Introduction of the
day |
09:10
- 11:15
(~2 h) |
DCC, HALL
BAER, HALL
PARROT, lobby |
POSTER SESSION - Posters
Practical measures implemented
(e.g. under CAP/RDP) to preserve farmland biodiversity
A participatory discussion
technique will be used to address 3 key opening questions:
· What are the common
farmland biodiversity issues in the BSR?
· Is it desirable and /
or feasible to co-ordinate future policy measures in the BSR Member
States to
more effectively protect farmland biodiversity in the region? How to
improve
this cooperation?
· What common measures
could be important for including in all RDPs of the BSR? |
11:15
- 11:30
(15 min) |
Lobby
in front of hall
BAER |
Coffee
Break |
|
SESSION
D: Moving
towards future - applicable solutions for common farmland biodiversity
issues? |
| 11:30
- 13:00
(~1,5 h) |
DCC, HALL
BAER, HALL
PARROT |
Open Discussion
Session
Participants will be invited to set their own
agenda for the next 3 hours of the programme (excluding lunch) until
15:15 by
selecting
key issues ('hot topics') of specific interest / concern to them. Space
and
time will be provided for participants to engage deeply, creatively and
flexibly in discussion of these issues. The facilitator will begin the
session by providing an overview of the process |
13:00
- 13:45
(45 min) |
Lobby
in front of hall
BAER |
Lunch
|
13:45
- 15:35
(~1,5 h) |
DCC, HALL
BAER, HALL
PARROT |
Open Discussion
Session
(continues) |
15:35
- 16:15
(~40 min) |
DCC, HALL
BAER |
Results of Open
Discussion
Sessions and general reflections of the conference
Feedback from the conveners of the open discussion
groups |
| 16:15
- 16:30
|
DCC, HALL
BAER |
Closing the conference
Pille Koorberg , ARC, Estonia |
|