Urgency, Innovation & Collaboration for our lakes, Lochs and wetlands

Over the last 14 years or so UKILN has been a network, we have largely concentrated on sharing best practice in lake protection and restoration between all those who work directly with lakes in some capacity or have them as part of their work-place responsibility.

In recent years however and particularly as we came out of the Covid restrictions, there has been a stark awareness of just how important lakes and lochs are to us: not only their ecological and water quality, but also the value they are for individuals and communities well- being.  This now becomes an increasingly important perspective for us to explore through our annual conference.

In 2023, we are particularly fortunate to team up with the “Seven Lochs Partnership” who have, for some time, not only recognised just what lakes give communities and individuals but also that the optimal approach for their protection can come from the communities themselves living close to their shores.

The very Partnership itself demonstrates how different organisations can work together on a common agenda to create a better environment, contribute to community well-being and use nature based approaches to tackle the future challenges posed such as climate change: in effect, establishing the resilience that will be needed for the whole area of the Seven Lochs Wetland Park to thrive.

It’s not surprising therefore that in distilling down the conference programme to establish this year’s title, we have arrived at that seems more to do with social science, rather than our conventional technical and  scientific agenda.   “Urgency, innovation and collaboration” These are the cornerstones of modern and successful partnerships and Seven Lochs certainly provides lots of evidence on how that can be realised.  Over the 2 days we will show-case specific projects and initiatives implemented but perhaps more importantly, offer a framework which could be adopted / adapted for similar scenarios where we look to social and environmental challenges being seen as joint plans.

The conference follows our tried and tested formula of one day of presentation and a further day out in the field, seeing first- hand the fantastic work this Partnership and associated communities / volunteers have accomplished.

In addition to hearing from key players  from the Seven Lochs partnership area, we will draw from other lake Partnerships with experience about similar challenges being addressed across mainland Europe, coordinated by the Germany based Global Nature Fund.

The conference, as ever, aims to be eclectic in scope and inspirational in content.

We very much look forward to seeing you in October at Strathclyde University and on site around the Seven Lochs Wetland Park

Regards

John Pinder    —-  Chair UKILN         

Scott Ferguson  —- Seven Lochs Project Coordinator

This 3-day conference brings together European stakeholders, managers and policy makers to discuss their visions on restoring and protecting peatlands. The event focuses on innovative techniques, business models and policy options developed over 4 years of work by the Interreg projects CANAPE and Carbon Connects.

Day 1 13/10/2021 9.30 – 17.30 CET

• Ecosystem restoration – protecting today’s environment
• Utilising rewetted and restored Peatlands

Day 2 14/10/2021 9.30 – 16.30 CET

• Business models – creating business opportunities
• Policy for a better future

Day 3 15/10/2021 TBC

• Field Trip!

For a more detailed agenda, please follow this link (opens in new window). 

During this symposium we invite stakeholders from various backgrounds and expertise to share their knowledge and insights through parallel working sessions to give participants the chance to follow and join interactive expert discussions on topics of their interest.

We are excited to offer this symposium in a hybrid format; welcoming participants for the main sessions in both a virtual room and at Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences in Leeuwarden (Netherlands).

Due to COVID-19 measures, we are bound to a maximum number of participants in the room.

Reserve your (online/in-person) seat.

All information on the conference and latest updates can be found on the conference website.

Programme – LIFE Blue Lakes Capacity Building Workshop

14:00 – Moderation and Welcoming

Udo Gattenlöhner, Global Nature Fund

Plastic waste and plastic litter – A general problem

Nina van Zinnicq Bergmann, International Waste Platform

No Microplastics – Just Waves. The mission of the LIFE Blue Lakes Project

Bettina Schmidt, Global Nature Fund

The Lake Paper – Solution approaches for Communities in Italy and Germany

Fabrizio Soddu, Legambiente

Interactive Session 1 –  Breakout Rooms

14:50 – Break

15:00 – Why do we need a Standard Monitoring Protocol for microplastic pollution in lakes?

Maria Sighicelli, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) and Valentina Della Bella, Environmental Protection Agency of Umbria (ARPA UMBRIA)

Do we know occurrence, removal and fate of microplastics in municipal drinking and wastewater treatment plants?

Francesco Fatone, Polytechnical University Marche

Participatory process to involve companies of the outdoor, tyre and cosmectic industry

Dimitri Vedel, Lake Constance Foundation

Improving the existing legal framework at European level through the development of a Lake White Paper

Leonardo Gatta, Central Apennines River Basin District Authority (ABDAC)

Interactive Session 2 –  Breakout Rooms

Closing session. Conclusion and outlook

16:00 – End of event

Registration

The participation in the event is free of charge. A registration is necessary. Please register for the event under the link below. You will receive the dial-in information by e-mail after registration.

https://www.globalnature.org/en/home/events/life-blue-lakes-capacity-building-workshop

The EPA National Water Event 2021 Online Conference is taking place on the morning of the 16 and 17 of June.

The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Water: integrating policy and practice’ with many expert speakers lined up to share their knowledge on how to protect & improve water quality in Ireland.

There will be 4 sessions at the conference:

• 16 June 09:30-10:50       Session 1: Setting the scene
• 16 June 11:20-13:00       Session 2: Opportunities for multiple benefits
• 17 June 09:15-10:40       Session 3: Looking forward – integration in practice, pressures and solutions
• 17 June 11:10-13:00       Session 4: Learning from communities

The full programme will be available in the coming days; for anyone wishing to attend the conference you can register for free at https://ti.to/waterconference/2021