Das Projekt "Aalborg Commitments Tools and Resources (ACTOR)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von ICLEI - Local Goverments for Sustainability, Europasekretariat GmbH durchgeführt. The Aalborg Commitments were adopted by the delegates to the June 2004 Aalborg+10 Conference with the intention that these clearly targeted actions will support European local governments in their implementation of the Aalborg Charter agreed at the 1994 Aalborg Conference. The initial commitment by signatory local governments is to undertake a baseline review within 12 months and then to enter into a local target-setting process in consultation with citizens and stakeholders in order to develop within 24 months a local programme of action under the ten Commitment themes. The evolution of the Aalborg process has been taking place at the same time as the European Commission has been preparing the Urban Thematic Strategy (UTS). This is one of seven Thematic Strategies, which together comprise the European Community's 6th Environment Action Programme. The EU has agreed that the theme of sustainable development should underpin all EU actions and this, therefore, is the key organising principle for the UTS. The SSP Fourth Call for Proposals outlines the following the core objective for 3.5. Task 5 as the 'Development of a set of guidelines and tools for signatories to the Aalborg +10 Commitments agreed in June 2004'. ACTOR will therefore have as its principal aim the development of a web-based innovative Toolkit, and a Training Package to support and assist Aalborg Commitments signatories to make efficient and effective progress. This Toolkit will include a comprehensive package of materials that can be provided to new towns and cities once they have signed the Commitments. In association with the Toolkit, the project will involve the design of Training Package on the methodology and operationalisation of the Aalborg Commitments. The Project will actively involve Signatory local authorities and the European Sustainable Cities and Towns Campaign Networks in developing and testing the Toolkit and Training Package. Prime Contractor: University of Northumbria at Newcastle; Newcastle Upon Tyne; United Kingdom.
Das Projekt "Assessment of participatory processes in the creation of spatial plan for the Nature Park Medvednica" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Freiburg, Institut für Geo- und Umweltnaturwissenschaften, Professur für Landespflege durchgeführt. This research aims to assess the influence of participatory processes on spatial planning of Nature Park Medvednica, a mountainous protected area adjacent to Zagreb, the capital city of Croatia, which tries to hold on to the pressure of the urbanization. Because of the inexistence of spatial plan which is required with the Croatian laws; its area was significantly decreased in 2008. There are already two draft spatial plans made for Nature Park Medvednica but no one actually was brought in the legal system. They were both rejected after the public forums displays. The study will be conducted in a framework of stakeholder analysis, for which a series of in-depth interviews with the stakeholders will be performed, and the data of which will be analyzed in a software appropriate for discourse analysis, probably MAXQDA. The data gained will be regarded upon within the concepts of the social exchange theory, Blau, (1964). The results of the research are expected to provide a detailed insight into stakeholders and their influence on the respective spatial planning process. My main research question is: How do the participatory processes influence the creation of spatial plan for NP Medvednica? Type of research is planned to be applied research, and the purpose of the research is going to be descriptive - explanatory. The time dimension of the research would be cross-sectional, with direction of theorizing on deductive approach. The time span of research is planned to be three years. Unit of analysis would be individuals and groups of stakeholders involved in the Medvednica's spatial planning process, the once who were part of the participation process and also the ones that were neglected in that process. The level of stakeholder's participation may be accessed in this research using the framework of 'ladder of participation' (Arnstein, 1969), which has 8 steps: Manipulation, Therapy, Informing, Consultation, Placation, Partnership, Delegated power and Citizen Control. The respective level of participation is a reflection of stakeholders interest to participate, and also partly of its power. In order to assess the power relations of stakeholders in more detail, the 'Power Tools' ('Stakeholder Power Analysis', 'Stakeholder Power Mapping' and 'The Four Rs') of the International Institute for Environment and Development are planned to be used.
Das Projekt "Resolving the impact of climatic processes on ecosystems of the North Atlantic basin and shelf seas: Integrating and advancing observation, monitoring, and prediction (BASIN)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Hamburg, Zentrum für Meeres- und Klimaforschung, Institut für Hydrobiologie und Fischereiwissenschaft, Hydrobiologische Abteilung durchgeführt. The scale of influence of global change and the added value of co-ordinating the scientific activities of the EU and North American countries to assess, predict and mitigate the effects on marine ecosystems of the North Atlantic and their services is the justification for the development of the BASIN SSA. An important step towards such a co-ordinated approach is the development of an implementation plan where by jointly funded international projects can be supported. The development of such a plan is the first key goal of BASIN. The second goal of BASIN is to develop an integrated basin-scale North Atlantic research program, for submission to the EU 7th framework program, US NSF and Canadian NSERC for joint funding. Programmatic goals will be achieved in working groups including experts from both the EU and North America as well as delegates from funding organisations. As a prerequisite for the development of the research proposal, this SSA will (1) assess the status of climate related ecosystem research in the North Atlantic basin and associated shelf seas, (2) identify gaps in systematic observations and process understanding of atmospheric and oceanic parameters, (3) identify the potential for consolidation of long-term observations from EU and international databases for modelling and prediction. The BASIN research program will focus on: Resolving the natural variability, potential impacts and feedbacks of global change on the structure, function and dynamics of ecosystems; Improving the understanding of marine ecosystem functioning; Developing ecosystem based management strategies. Hence, BASIN will contribute significantly to the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) 10-Year Implementation Plan via the development of comprehensive, coordinated, and sustained observations of the Earth System, improved monitoring of the state of the Earth, increased understanding of Earth processes, and enhanced prediction.