Steering committee meetings 2015 – summaries

Published the 01/12/2015 #IENE

In order to make the work of the Steering committee (SC) more transparent to all members, the SC has decided to regularly publish short summaries of their meetings here on the website.

Below you will find the summaries of all their meetings during 2015. Future summaries will be posted continuously.

IENE members are always free to contact the SC with requests, proposals, questions or issues for discussion.

IENE SC meetings 2015 – summaries

January 21, 2015

The meeting focused mainly on a potential LIFE-project application of IENE. The Myanmar/Thailand project group informed about the final planning of the workshops about green transport infrastructure. The title of the IENE 2016 conference was discussed. Marita informed about the preparations of a German workshop in March about defragmentation in Europe. IENE has got 8 new members since the last SC meeting (from Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Ireland, Sweden and USA).

March 10, 2015

The meeting was mainly about the planning of the IENE 2016 conference. The SC decided on the conference title and Yannick presented some progresses. The SC also discussed the potential LIFE-project application of IENE and decided to not apply. The long term funding of the IENE secretariat was discussed. The Myanmar/Thailand project group reported about the result of their workshops. A possible IENE workshop in Italy was discussed together with Filippo Favilli. IENE has got 6 new members since the last SC meeting (from France, Germany, Italy, Pakistan, Switzerland and Thailand).

April 17, 2015

The website of IENE was discussed during the meeting: for example the Myanmar/Thailand project will be presented and a new page in memory of Miklós Puky will be developed. An invitation to nominate projects and persons for the IENE Awards of 2015 will be sent out to the members. IENE has got 4 new members since the last SC meeting (from France, India, Sweden and United Kingdom).

May 5, 2015

During the meeting Marita reported from the German workshop on defragmentation in Europe, and the final result will be compiled into a map and presented at the website in late autumn 2015. The question if IENE could initiate and find funding for the development of guidelines for green infrastructure in raising economies was discussed. IENE hasn’t got any new members since the last SC meeting.

June 1-4, 2015

Physical meeting in Vilm, Germany. The meeting focused on the first draft of the IENE Declaration 2016. Also the guidelines for organisation of IENE conferences and workshops was accepted by SC and will be made public on the website. Yannick gave a report of the planning of the IENE 2016 conference. The budget of the IENE secretariat for 2015-2016 was discussed, and the SC decided to focus more on increased communication with and between members and more transparency of the work within the SC. The winner of the IENE Awards was selected. The SC decided to propose to GA an adjustment in the Memorandum of Understanding to include the possibilities of international (out of Europe) cooperation, exchange of knowledge and organisation of IENE conferences and workshops. IENE has got 2 new members since the last SC meeting (from Nigeria and Thailand).

July 7, 2015

The meeting contained discussions about the IENE website and possible developments, like some road ecology information for beginners, links to relevant publications and a photo gallery of good and bad examples of mitigation measures. The secretariat informed that the website has been updated with an online submission form for nominations to the IENE Awards. The first draft of the 2016 Declaration was discussed and Yannick informed that the website of the IENE 2016 conference is launched. IENE has got 2 new members since the last SC meeting (from the Netherlands and Sweden).

September 2-4

Physical meeting in Paris, France. The meeting mainly focused on the IENE 2016 conference and the planning of its program and organisation. The 2016 Declaration was also discussed. Anders reported that the funding of the IENE secretariat for the next 3 years has been secured from the Swedish Transport Administration. The long term funding of the secretariat was also discussed, such as via research projects initiated and assisted by the secretariat. The SC started to work on a publication about IENE and its sphere of influence. The SC decided to try to involve the members in the future development of the IENE website and other communication actions. IENE has got 3 new members since the last SC meeting (from Romania and Spain).

October 6, 2015

A mission of the IENE SC is to develop opportunities for road ecology wherever it appears. The SC has together with representatives of ANET recently started a discussion with WWF about how IENE and ANET could help WWF with including road ecology in their work. The SC has also started to investigate the possibilities of joint scientific publication with other conferences on road ecology. IENE has got 1 new member since the last SC meeting (from Czech Republic).

November 3, 2015

The meeting contained discussions about the working groups and timeline of the next IENE declaration and its following scientific background paper. The possible joint publication of conference papers with other conferences on road ecology was also discussed and Andreas presented a proposal of a topic on Road ecology from a scientific journal. Yannick reported that funding has been secured for a proposed website of conference proceedings (with a structure that will make it easy to include also material from all previous and future IENE conferences and workshops). The project group of International guidelines for sustainable linear infrastructure in raising economies has submitted an abstract to the IUCN 2016 congress in Hawai’i and is now searching for project funding. IENE has now got 331 members (no new members since the last SC meeting).

December 1, 2015

The meeting contained updates on recent activities, such as planning of the IENE 2016 conference, the IENE declaration 2016, promotion material of IENE and budget of the secretariat. IENE has got 3 new members since the last SC meeting (from Ivory Coast, Czech Republic and Slovakia).