S.E.H. Conservation Committee Blog

The 29th Standing Committee of the Bern Convention will take place exceptionnaly in Bern this year, to celebrate the 30th year of the convention. The Committee will be held from November 23 to November 26 2009. The cases concerning herpetofauna in the draft agenda are as follow:

*Opened files concerning herpetofauna

- Bulgaria: Project to build a motorway through the Kresna Gorge

- Cyprus: Akamas Peninsula

*Complaints on stand-by

- France: conservation of Bufo viridis in Alsace

- France: impacts on Testudo hermanni of the building of a waste managment plant in Cabasse (Var) and of a housing estate project in Ramatuelle (Var)

- Sweden: conservation of Bufo calamita on the island of Smögen

*Follow-up of selected recommandations from previous meetings concerning herpetofauna

- France: conservation of Testudo hermanni in the “Plaine des Maures” and “Massif des Maures” (Var)

- Turkey: conservation of marine turtles on Kazanli beach

According to the draft agenda, these topics should be discussed on Tuesday November 24. The SEH will be represented through its Conservation Committee. Benedikt Schmidt, from Switzerland, will attend the meeting and talk on behalf of the SEH. In order to have enough knowledge about the cases and take the floor to discuss them the best way possible, it’s possible to leave us comments by using the “send feedback” option under this post or by contacting us using the contact page of the blog or of the SEH-CC website.

Link to the Bern Convention

You can see the draft agenda in English here

First announcement and call for proposals & abstracts

2010 IENE International Conference on Ecology and Transportation:  Improving Connections in a Changing Environment

The Infra Eco Network Europe invites you to attend the IENE International Conference on Ecology and Transportation September 27 - October 1, 2010. The conference will take place in Hungary in the lakeside town Velence, 45 km from the Hungarian capital Budapest.

The general theme of conference is "Improving connections in a changing environment". Some major topics will be:

- Policy and planning
- Railways versus roads
- Monitoring and follow up
- Mitigating the impact
- Habitat and landscape effects
- Landscape fragmentation

IENE invites landscape architects, engineers, ecologists and social scientists, planners and stake holders, authorities as well as private companies and NGOs to participate in dialogue and discussion, share experiences and new research, questions and ideas likewise. Student participation and presentations are highly encouraged.

Proposals for additional sessions and workshops are welcomed until 30 October 2009. Abstracts for oral or poster presentations are welcomed until January 17th 2010.

More useful information concerning the conference is provided on the IENE conference website http://www.cbm.slu.se/iene/conf2010/conf2010.php

We thank you for disseminating this information to your local, national and international contacts.

For the IENE secreteriat,

Anna Maria Wremp
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Information officer Swedish Biodiversity Centre
Communicator IENE (Infra Eco Network Europe)
BäcklÜsavägen 10
Box 7007, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
+46 18 67 13 94
+46 70 390 71 03
anna-maria.wremp@cbm.slu.se
www.cbm.slu.se
www.iene.info</a>
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The annual meeting of the RAVON will be held on November 21th at the University of Nijmegen (Nijmegen, The Netherlands).

The entrance to the meeting is free. The meeting will consist of some lectures (in Dutch) and the program of the day can be find at this page. At the meeting it will be possible to also find stands with books on herps, to receive information about different societies and to buy field equipments (e.g., nets etc.).

Additional information can be obtained by contacting the RAVON office at this email address.

During the meeting the new Atlas of the amphibians and reptiles of the Netherlands will be presented and on sale for the first time. The Atlas consists of 480 pages with color photos, maps and drawings. It also includes a CD with the calls of all the Dutch frogs and toads. The book is in Dutch, with a summary in English.The cost of the Atlas is 49.95 euros.

The complete title of the Atlas is: Creemers, RCM & van Delft, JJCW (RAVON) (Eds), 2009.  De amfibieën en reptielen van Nederland. – Nederlandse Fauna 9. Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum Naturalis, European Invertebrate Survey – Nederland, Leiden.

A Workshop regarding Habitat Banking in the EU was held in Brussels (11/9/2009). You can read some notes about this workshop from the SEH CC representative in our News page.

The “SEH Grant in Herpetology” will again support, in 2010, a project orientated to conservation of the amphibians and reptiles of Europe and the Mediterranean basin, focussed on either a species or habitat, with a grant of up to EUR 2000. The SEH Conservation Committee and the SEH Council will decide upon project applications, and priority will be given to those addressing species conservation priorities identified by the Committee and the Council. The decision will take into consideration:

1. Conservation oriented (has the goal of the project influence of the protection of an area /region, influent for the government to protect a region.)

2. proposed costs with time table , expenses for the project- material, other costs (petrol) and not mainly for food and articles for life.

3.scientific background.

4. SEH fund is much needed; project is not mainly financed by institution etc.

The recipient of the funds needs not be an SEH member, but the applicant must be a SEH member before the deadline date. Applications from young researchers are particularly encouraged. The deadline for applications is 31 October 2009, and they should be sent to Petros Lymperakis (e-mail: lyberis@nhmc.uoc.gr) as PDF Files. Applications should include:

- A short curriculum vitae of the prospective candidate.

- An outline of the project, including a time table, the goals that are intended to be achieved and the means for reaching these goals.

- A financial plan, including a statement on other financial support for the project.

Please send all this in only one document.

A decision on the applications will be taken before the end of the year 2009. The grant will be provided on the understanding that the funds are used exclusively for the purpose that they are provided for, and that a report will be submitted to the SEH Council immediately after the project has been completed.