European landscapes are being reshaped by the growth in renewable energies and the ongoing exploitation of fossil resources such as lignite (brown coal) and shale gas. These forces are at the heart of debates on the assessment, appropriate design and governance of the emerging energy landscapes. European and national policies for energy transitions challenge conventional ways of perceiving and thinking about landscapes as well as established planning routines. Key questions are: Perception – How is the character, perception, assessment and social construction of landscapes influenced by present and past uses of energy? Planning – Which types of landscape-related planning and governance regimes exist and how are they linked to landscape planning, spatial planning and energy policy? Participation – In the face of energy transitions, to what extent are landscape policies inclusive and participatory? Which actors are involved and who is constituted as an actor in this regard? Power – Which power relations shape the interplay of energies and landscapes? How can the workings of power be conceptualised and critically reflected? ... [Information of the supplier]
Wooded rural landscapes are an invaluable natural and cultural legacy of Central and Eastern Europe. A concentration on particular, strictly classified natural sites or plant communities, national and European conservation systems ignores, neglects or undervalues the meta-systems of dynamic rural landscapes dependent on the multiple traditional use of land. Intensive farming and modern forestry, accompanied by the development of conservation models based on segregated land-uses, mean that there are now ‘hard’ boundaries, both philosophically and physically, between spatial units of economic or conservation interest. Despite the increasing knowledge of the role of dynamic processes in the well-being of populations and ecosystems, these boundaries cause substantial reduction of horizontal movements of species. As a result, what had once developed as highly dynamic patchy landscapes, have started to shift towards mostly static and much simplified spatial patterns. In addition, the boundaries discourage researchers from seeing the landscape as a whole; instead, they may concentrate on just what happens inside one patch or type of patch. The conference aims at fostering interdisciplinary discussion and analysis. We seek to encourage the sharing of knowledge from researchers studying wooded rural landscapes and representing from across disciplines: from taxonomy and ecology, from paleo-ecology and environmental history, from ethno-ecology, from spatial planning and landscape architecture, from land use economy involving ecosystem services. We believe such a platform will provide a theoretical foundation for the development of a new management and conservation approach that is essential for sustaining the richness and values of wooded rural landscapes in Central and Eastern Europe. ... [Information of the supplier]
The Max Planck Digital Library (MPDL) cordially invites you to participate in the Open Science Days 2016. The event will take place at the Harnack House in Berlin and is going to extend over one and a half days (February 17/18). Having no specific focus topic at the first Open Science Days in 2014, we dealt with the various aspects of openness in the different areas of Open Science. At our next event we would like to put an emphasis on one of these areas: Citizen Science. Citizen Science refers to the growing involvement of amateur or non-professional scientists in the research process. In some research fields, like e.g. environmental research, this involvement already has become a common practice. Other research disciplines seem to be more reluctant and yet it is unclear, whether Citizen Science will be an important factor in all areas of the entire research process in the future. SETI@home, an early approach to internet-based Citizen Science, already started in 1999. Being focused on distributed computing, this project depends on a rather passive contribution by citizens. Today, we see a broad range of projects that require a more active role: Citizens are asked to collect water samples or to describe ancient texts. Interested people can decide to analyze pictures or video recordings of tiny worms, far galaxies or prowling groups of apes. More complex projects involve citizens that are willing to build up their own technical equipment for rather demanding and precise measurements and observations. Some discussions even concern the involvement of citizens in the establishment of hypotheses and the planning of research. Which are the most important perspectives and opportunities deriving from this opening of research processes for a broader public? Are there different motivating factors for the researchers or research organizations that already have taken action in the field of Citizen Science? What have been their experiences so far? Are there any serious risks, those who promote the advancement of Citizen Science should bear in mind? Participants will have the opportunity to present their own ideas, experiences, initiatives or activities and to discuss current topics related to Citizen Science. Aside from the mentioned thematic priority, there will also be talks and room for discussion on current developments concerning further areas of Open Science. The conference language will be English. The participation fee is 100 € and the number of participants is limited to 80 persons. ... [Information of the supplier]
The 1st Joint Meeting of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) and the Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG) also known as the Taxonomic Databases Working Group, will take place from August 25th to September 2nd 2018 in Dunedin, New Zealand. The theme of the conference is: Collections and Data in an Uncertain World. The destructive forces of nature were never more evident than with the 2011 Tōhoku tsunami in Japan or the earthquakes that struck Christchurch in 2010 and 2011. The damage to museums and collections, and data loss were staggering. As reconstruction is now well underway, what have we learned from these catastrophes and how can we mitigate damage to our "libraries of life" in the future? ... [Information of the supplier, modified]