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Natural Climate Buffers (NCBs) are designated areas in which space is given to natural processes to contribute to the climate change adaptation and mitigation NBCs are also aimed at enhancing the specific biodiversity of each site. The idea for the designation and implementation of NBCs was developed in the Netherlands but has the potential to be applied throughout Europe.Eurosite, the organization that brings together European natural site managers, has adopted and promoted the concept across Europe. This article explains six different types of NBCs: ecosystems engineering, carbon sinks, living coasts, green air conditioning, room for nature and water management, natural sponges. The paper will also explain how the NCB concept relates to theconcepts of Natural Water Retention Measures as promoted by the European Union and Nature-Based Solutions introduced by the IUCN.

Cooperation between the water sector and forest sector at national and at regional level is a prerequisite for tackling the challenges of integrated water resources management and sustainable rural development. The current lack of cooperation between the forest sector and the water sector in the South Eastern European Region is hampering sustainable development and approximation to the European Union. The following study presents information about why cooperation is needed, assesses the current status of cooperation, identifies the impediments to enhance cooperation and presents a proposal for the establishment of a functional network or Commission to improve the cooperation between the two sectors in the region.

The report provides information based on which the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Cairo can detail its strategy for broadening the cooperation between Egypt and the Netherlands in the area of water management and agriculture. The mounting problems in the field of water resources management combined with the ambitious plans of the Egyptian government to develop the agricultural sector offer a wide variety of opportunities for the Dutch private sector and research institutes. However, seizing the opportunities will require strategic and careful planning of using the programmes and facilities available to promote Dutch–Egyptian cooperation. Strategic decisions on where to focus on and how to make optimal use of the programmes and facilities available have are still to be made by the embassy.

This is the final report of the BBI/Matra project 2006/015 “Protection and Management of the Bug as an Ecological Corridor in the Pan European Ecological Network” and is based on “status reports” written for each of the three riparian countries. The purpose of the project was to investigate the options for developing and managing a transboundary ecological network along the Western Bug River and for designating a tri-lateral Ramsar Site as a constituent part of this ecological network. Status reports written for each of the three countries presented options for the establishment of a transboundary ecological network which were discussed during an international seminar held in Lublin (Poland) in November 2008. The Joint Statement that was produced as an output of this seminar bears proof of the support of all participants for the design, designation and management of the ecological network along the Bug River. However, the project also revealed how difficult it is to establish effective cooperation across the border of the European Union. The knotty visa procedures for persons from the three countries and from Belarus and Poland in particular stand in the way of smooth and effective cooperation. Also political differences between the countries hamper the smooth cooperation needed to tune activities related to the protection and management of the Bug River and its landscape and biodiversity. There is however both a basis and a need to proceed with the cooperation that exists on various levels.

This executive summary describes the methodology for assessing the favourable conservation status of N2000 habitats and species on site level in Bulgaria and gives guidelines for its application. The methodology was developed in the frame of the BBI/Matra project 2006/014 “Favourable Conservation Status of Natura 2000 Habitat types and Species in Bulgaria”. The project was generously supported by the Dutch government under the BBI/Matra programme, which is a combination of two international policy programs of the Dutch government. The objectives and financial resources of the BBI/Matra Programme fall within the remit of the Matra Social Transformation Program of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and under the International Policy Program on Biodiversity of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality.

This document aims to provide a base for a coordinated and coherent development of sustainable tourism along the Sava River based on the rich landscape and biodiversity and the valuable cultural historic features along Sava River. The recommendations presented here are a reflection of the growing rate of tourism initiatives along the Sava river in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Slovenia. The document was elaborated in the frame of the Life 3rd countries Project “Protection of Biodiversity of the Sava River Basin Floodplains” as part of the activities of the Land Use Groups.

This report presents the results of the activities the land use working group performed in the frame of the Life 3rd countries project: “Protection of Biodiversity of the Sava River Basin Floodplains” (LIFE06 TCY INT 246) as mentioned under task C of the project proposal. The following deliverables of Task C are included in this report: - Assessment of traditional and ongoing land use activities and their relevance for maintaining the landscape and biodiversity ( chapter 5, 6 and 7) - Analysis of market conditions and product chains. ( chapter 8) - Action plan for restoring, maintenance and management of floodplain areas including guidelines for land use practices ( chapter 10) - Concepts for innovative land-use practices ( chapter 9) - Recommendations for setting up a support/incentives scheme for continuing traditional land uses ( chapter 9) The analysis of the land uses is relevant because in combination with the information about the distribution of habitats and species it provides an essential bases for the identification of threats and the design of the required restoration and management measures to secure favourable conservation status of the habitats and species. Given the time needed to make a full inventory of the land uses of all 49 project sites along the Sava River it was decided to focus on those sites that were indicated as most valuable for biodiversity. The sites are selected in close communication with the biodiversity working group because and selected because of the need to improve the protection status and to design management and restoration plans for these sites.

The Conference of Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention meeting in 2002 in Valencia adopted Resolution VIII calling for guidelines to enhance the interaction between agriculture, wetlands and water resources management. Resolution VIII.34 requests among others to establish a framework for identifying, documenting and disseminating good agriculture-related practice and to use that framework for the possible development of wetland type specific management guidelines to: - enhance the positive role that sustainable agricultural practices may have vis-à-vis the conservation and wise use of wetlands; - minimize the adverse impacts of agricultural practices on wetland conservation and sustainable use goals; and - include examples based on wetland-type specific needs and priorities that take into account the variety of agricultural systems. As a first step towards the development of these guidelines a scoping document on agriculture-wetland interactions was produced and published. This scoping document explores the nature of wetland-agriculture interactions through the application of the drivers, impacts, pressures, state changes, impacts and responses (DPSIR) framework. The main conclusions of the scoping document are: · Ecosystem services tend to be skewed towards provisioning services at the expense of regulating, supporting and cultural services. · Main drivers operating towards the over-exploitation of ecosystem services are natural resource dynamics, market demands and government policies. · To design response strategies aimed at balancing ecosystem services the DPSIR analyses need to be conducted in detail for each site and case. The scoping document further concludes that site specific guidance is needed to address the loss of ecosystem services through over-exploitation of provisioning services. In view of this the scoping document proposes the following response strategies: · Reduce pressures from agriculture and negative state changes and impacts by diversifying provisioning services. · Diversify demands on wetlands so that different ecosystem services can generate income especially through Payment for Environmental Services (PES). · Manage basin level land use to facilitate the maintaining of ecosystem services. · Make agricultural services more sensitive to ecosystems and their requirements. · Redirect the drivers of change to meet specific needs in ways that do not create negative state changes. · Any combination of these strategies.

Within the Guiding Agriculture Wetland Interaction (GAWI) project the Driver!Pressure!State! Impact!Response (DPSIR) approach has been adopted to describe and analyse agriculture!wetland interactions. The DPSIR approach provides a consistent framework to analyse the complex causal chain among drivers, pressures, state and impacts, and facilitates the targeted identification of response strategies aimed at improving the sustainability of wetlands.

The Carpathian Biodiversity Information System (CBIS) and the proposal for an ecological network for the eastern part of the Carpathians are the two main outcomes of the project funded by the BBI Matra program of the Dutch government. This brochure presents information on how the CBIS was designed, and how the data stored can be retrieved and used. It also clarifies how the CBIS data were used to design the ecological network and, last but not least, it offers recommendations for the use of the proposed ecological network in supporting sustainable developmentin the Carpathians. Due to funding restrictions, the project focused on three east Carpathian countries: Romania, Serbia and Ukraine, which together host the largest area of the Carpathians (Fig. 2). Geographically, the Eastern Carpathians also include parts of the Carpathians located in Poland and Slovakia. Data collection in the Western Carpathians (Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary) will be completed by 2010 and is funded by a parallel project.

This chapter discusses the dynamics and interactions that govern AWIs in the river floodplains of the Netherlands, with specific reference to how these have been incorporated into the Netherlands floodplain policy. In addition, case material from other floodplains and river valleys in Europe is briefly discussed where relevant