About the programme

The PEEN
In 1995 the European environment ministers endorsed the Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy and its Action Theme to establish a Pan-European Ecological Network (PEEN).
This goal was reinforced at the Ministerial ‘Environment for Europe’ conference in 2003 in Kyiv, which adopted two concise targets for the establishment of the European Ecological Network.

Countries from South-East Europe and the Black Sea Area are crucially important to the PEEN because they contain a considerable and unique share of Europe’s biodiversity. A functional PEEN will require the safeguarding of important core areas located in this region and the establishment of corridors from these core areas to other parts of Europe. It will also provide a major contribution to achieving the 2010 targets in Europe.

Several initiatives exist on different scales aiming at establishing ecological networks that cover parts or all of South-East Europe and the Black Sea Area. These include:

the Work Programme on Protected Areas and Ecological Networks under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
the Bern Convention’s Emerald Network
the EU’s Natura 2000
and national or regional initiatives such as the Croatian, Romanian, Russian and Ukrainian National Ecological Networks.

The SEENET programme aimed to create a framework for increased synergy and cooperation between these initiatives, and thus increase the chances of meeting the Kyiv targets on establishing a Pan-European Ecological Network and ensuring European implementation of the CBD work programme. The SEENET programme did this by stimulating cooperation and dialogue among all the stakeholders involved in establishing PEEN, including those stakeholders not traditionally associated with nature conservation and biodiversity management. In addition, the programme acted as a clearing-house on information about policy processes and expertise concerning ecological networks for international, national and regional actors.

Decisive action needs to be taken now to facilitate the establishment of PEEN in South-East Europe and in countries around the Black Sea. The SEENET programme supported this, focusing on South-East Europe and the Black Sea area – in particular on Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Ukraine, Russian Federation and Turkey.

The Programme
The main objective of this programme was to facilitate the full involvement of South-East Europe and the Black Sea area in activities in support of the PEEN and to ensure that interests and considerations specific to these regions are taken into account.

To achieve this, the SEENET programme adopted an integrative approach, aimed at involvement of all relevant stakeholder groups and specifically including non-conservation stakeholders. The programme took into account coastal and marine areas as well as terrestrial areas.

The programme provided support to and facilitated the establishment of the PEEN in
South-East Europe and the Black Sea area by:

Promoting the ecological network concept, and PEEN in particular, among relevant actors and in relevant forums in South-East Europe and the Black Sea area;
Capacity-building programmes for governmental and non-governmental organisations in these regions;
Supporting organisations from South-East Europe and the Black Sea area in successfully applying for funding for projects in support of ecological networks and PEEN;
Stimulating the involvement of other sectors, such as agriculture, transport, fisheries and spatial planning in discussions concerning ecological networks in general and PEEN in particular;
Stimulating and supporting discussions in the EU about connectivity and ecological networks, where appropriate promoting interests of and considerations specific to South-East Europe and the Black Sea area;
Supporting effective implementation of activities focusing on ecological networks under the CBD, the Environment for Europe process and the PEBLDS, while in particular promoting the interests and considerations of South-East Europe and the Black Sea area.

The main beneficiaries of this programme included national authorities and NGOs in Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Russian Federation and Ukraine, as well as owners and managers of protected areas in these countries. However, the programme also had beneficial effects for intergovernmental organisations with a responsibility for establishing ecological networks in general, PEEN in particular and international NGOs.

The programme team consisted of representatives of the three organisations most closely involved in the programme implementation: ECNC-European Centre for Nature Conservation, Eurosite and EUCC-the Coastal Union.

Mr Rob Wolters (ECNC)
Ms Agnes Bruszik (ECNC)
Ms Ana Nieto (ECNC)
Mr Neil McIntosh (Eurosite)
Ms Daniela van Elburg (EUCC - The Coastal Union)

In order to avoid duplication of effort and the setting up of unnecessary bodies and structures, the SEENET programme did not establish a steering group; the existing Council of Europe Committee of Experts for the Establishment of PEEN was considered as its steering group. All targeted countries were represented in this group, and where necessary their active participation was stimulated and facilitated via this programme.

A focus group was established which consisted of experts on the different topics relevant to this programme from the countries targeted and representatives of organisations of stakeholders that are not adequately represented via the Council of Europe’s Committee of Experts. The focus group members were:

Mr Aybars ALTIPARMAK - Ministry of Environment and Forestry (Turkey)
Ms Helene BOUGESSA - Directorate of Culture and Cultural and Natural Heritage Council of
Europe (France)
Ms Claudia COMAN - National Institute for Marine Research and Development (NIMRD) ‘Grigore Antipa’ (Romania)
Ms Duska DIMOVIC - Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia (Serbia)
Ms Kamelia GEORGIEVA (Bulgaria)
Ms Maguelonne DÉJEANT-PONS - European Conference of Ministers responsible for Regional Planning (CEMAT), Council of Europe (France)
Dr Vasiliy KOSTHUSIN - National Ecological Centre (Ukraine)
Dr Radoje LAUSEVIC - Regional Environment Centre, Regional Director for South-East Europe (Serbia)
Mr George ROMANCA - COST 341 programme (Romania)
Drs Jan-Willem SNEEP - Committee of Experts for the Establishment of PEEN (The Netherlands)
Ms Ramona Topic, State Institute for Nature Protection (Croatia)

Focus group, Belgrade meeting, May 2006

The SEENET programme was funded by the BBI Matra fund of the Netherlands Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The programme ran for two years.

For more information about the programme visit www.ecnc.org/Seenet