Last week (Thursday 22 January), the Eurosite Secretariat travelled to Brussels for the launch of the Natura 2000 Biogeographical Networking Programme, part of the Natura 2000 Biogeographical Process. In the morning, we met the consortium of partners that we will be working with on this European Commission service contract. The Process is being supported by the European Centre for Nature Conservation-ECNC on behalf of the Commission, with involvement from the EUROPARC Federation, the European Landowner’s Organisation (ELO), CEEweb for Biodiversity, and ILE-SAS.

In the afternoon, the partners went together to the European Commission to meet with François Kremer, Natura 2000 Policy Coordinator at the European Commission’s Nature Unit, for an inception meeting.

As part of the Natura 2000 Biogeographical Networking Programme the consortium will support the European Commission in delivering Kick-off Seminars, Review Seminars and networking events. Eurosite will largely be focusing on the Atlantic biogeographical region and will be supporting the organisation of a Review Seminar in this region, as well as follow-on networking events.

If you would like to know more about how the Process works, this article in our magazine provides a helpful overview. You can also find out more on the Natura 2000 Communication Platform.