This target session includes oral presentations about EU target 3 and, after the break, a workshop in which small groups can formulate recommendations concerning these statements.

Thursday morning session in room Augustinus of Augustinian Monastery Academiestraat 1, Ghent, Belgium at 9-13 on 18 April 2013

Chair: Eeva Primmer

EC representative: Claudia Olazabal

 Rationale

European biodiversity importantly depends on the green infrastructure that includes managed ecosystems. Areas managed for agriculture and forestry support the delimited protected areas and are also integrated into the NATURA 2000 network. Many species and ecosystem functions are actually reliant on the forest and agriculture habitats that also produce our nutrition, material for construction and packaging as well as energy. For this reason, integrating biodiversity conservation into natural resource management is essential.

The governance systems geared towards management and sustainable production face high expectations to participate in halting biodiversity loss and taking on new conservation measures. Turning the ambitious biodiversity conservation goals into practice requires integration of conservation and management as well as engagement of natural resource managing actors. The expectation is that applying a mix of policy instruments, ranging from regulations and planning to incentives and extension will generate the required changes and eventually have an effect on the status of biodiversity. Advancing these policy instruments and attempting to influence sector governance, the decision-makers needs the state of the art understanding of the theoretical and practical preconditions for the different governance arrangements. Our session will provide windows to the pressing question on how biodiversity can be governed in areas managed for natural resource production conclude with a panel discussion or workshop on how the Target 3 can be advanced.

Please feel welcome to join and contribute!