WWF - OEMN News & Publications

Business from/for Nature

2009-07-06

This brochure introduces specific examples of business for, and from, nature.

These examples are all real, and are all working.

On the ground, throughout Europe, with real people, solving real problems.

The business sectors which are actively using, restoring, and conserving nature are quite diverse:

energy,
clay and gravel mining,
supermarket retailing,
fruit and vegetable production,
meat production,
tourism

The brochure describes each sector in turn – how it works, where it works, and who benefits.

It highlights opportunities for expansion. And it provides contacts for those readers interested in developing a business/nature mechanism in their community, their country, or their company.

About the Project
The success stories all come from WWF International's One Europe More Nature project (OEMN).

This project set out to solve environmental problems through developing, testing, and implementing practical business/nature combinations which benefit business, nature, and local people.

Pulling together a group of stakeholders including business partners, local communities, and landowners, OEMN developed a conservation vision, and then worked out the business case for it. Market research, technical feasibilities, communications, and policy work followed where necessary.

Together, these elements set the basis for a new arrangement, a "mechanism".

Funded and inspired by WWF Netherlands, OEMN ran from 2003 to 2009, in which time those business/nature "mechanisms" became self-financing.

In all cases nature has become integrated into the companies' business operations.

Here, nature is no longer something on the side: it is now a fundament of business; it is one pillar of a new business-as-usual.

Good for business, good for nature, and good for local people – WWF's One Europe More Nature project.

Cinema and Nature on the Menu in Estonia

2008-12-08

Festival-goers on the Estonian island of Hiiumaa were offered an interesting main course on the 6th December: a nature-friendly cookery masterclass with one of the country's top chefs. Film enthusiasts visiting the 12th annual Pimedate Ööde Filmfestival in Kardla were shown how to prepare gourmet dinners made with the finest beef, grown on the island's abundant grasslands, in harmony with nature. The combination of quality art, quality cuisine, and a quality environment proved quite compelling for the many visitors who flocked to the island.

The event, organised by Lia Rosenberg of Arhipelaag, a local NGO and partner of WWF's One Europe More Nature project, was highly successful in bringing awareness of the values of semi-natural coastal grasslands to a new audience. „They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach" joked one film-goer, „well if the beef tastes this good, those grasslands will have a whole new group of supporters after tonight".

Started 10 years ago by Arhipelaag and WWF Sweden, to restore and conserve the valuable grasslands whilst at the same time providing income opportunities for local people, the Vainameri project now counts more than 2,000 cows and 20,000 hectares of grassland. Since 2003 the project has been a part of WWF's One Europe More Nature programme, which aims to show that what's good for nature can also be good for business, and vice versa. „That's a lot of cows, and a lot of nature, including habitat for the many thousands of waterfowl which use Vainameri as a stop-off point on their annual migrations" commented Charlie Avis, the OEMN Project Leader. And in time, a lot of beef too.

Hence the need to educate current and future consumers about the higher quality, better tasting, and healthier meat obtained from cattle grazed on wet meadows. Summer-time tourism is one market, and the project works with eco-tourism service providers and travel agencies to spread the word. But in time most meat will be consumed on the Estonian mainland. „You buy a kilo of great-tasting meat and you get a hectare of nature thrown in for free!" says Rosenberg. That's a message which increasing numbers of domestic and foreign tourists have understood for some time now, and after the success of last night's event, it appears that the Estonian film community is ready for second helpings of the special Vainameri beef as well.

WWF's One Europe More Nature (OEMN) project uses an innovative approach to forge unusual partnerships so that business and nature can co-exist. Its mechanisms lead to win-win solutions for all, allowing Europe's rural workers to generate income from the countryside while protecting nature. OEMN, tested at many pilot rural locations throughout Europe, is now mainstreaming conservation into everyday European business life.

For more information on OEMN contact Charlie Avis at Charlie.avis@wwf.hu and for more information on Vainameri, contact Lia Rosenberg at lia@arhipelaag.ee or download the new OEMN Vainameri factsheet.

Beavers come home as new landscape takes shape in Hungary

2008-11-11

On 31 October 2008, 15 beavers were released into the wild at the One Europe More Nature (OEMN) project site in Tiszatarján, eastern Hungary. The event marked the final chapter of a long-standing cooperation between WWF-Hungary, OBI (European home improvements retailer) and German NGO Bund Naturschutz in Bayern, which brought the beavers from Bavaria for release into the rapidly-changing wetlands of the Tisza floodplains.

The 5 beaver families followed the release of a herd of water buffalo in Tiszatarján during the summer of 2008, and seemed to take immediately to their new environment. And it really is a new environment. The former dense monoculture of the invasive shrub species Amorpha fructicosa is rapidly being cleared, sold to the nearby AES biomass power station, and burnt to generate green electricity. As the photograph on this page shows, the resultant landscape is changing before peoples' very eyes, revealing the former mixed woody grassland (previously) so typical of the Tisza and its tributaries.

"These cleared areas are now being grazed by the buffaloes which will help bring back the grass, flower and insect diversity which is so valuable, including for the many birds which are returning to the area," explained Charlie Avis, the OEMN Project Leader.

The beavers play a similarly positive ecological role for the wetlands. "Once the beautiful grasslands and wetlands are restored, the village will have additional opportunities for tourism and recreation, and already many people come here to look at the water buffaloes and the many other birds and animals. And all of it is paid for by the sales of the former shrubby jungle as biomass for green electricity."

Of the many hundreds of visitors who came to the project site on 31 October, 2 were perhaps especially important: WWF field staff working in the Danube Delta in Romania and Ukraine. They were there to view and learn about the biomass cutting and grassland and wetland restoration, because Amorpha is also a nuisance where they work. Soon then, the lessons and experiences from Hungary could be used to solve environmental problems and kick-start a new economy elsewhere in Europe, showing that good ideas can find new homes.

The story is thus truly a win-win situation with benefits for people, for business, and for nature, including the 15 beavers who found a comfortable and spacious new home beside the Tisza River.

WWF's One Europe More Nature (OEMN) project uses an innovative approach to forge unusual partnerships so that business and nature can co-exist. Its mechanisms lead to win-win solutions for all, allowing Europe's rural workers to generate income from the countryside while protecting nature. OEMN, tested at many pilot rural locations throughout Europe, is now mainstreaming conservation into everyday European business life.

For more information on OEMN activities in the Tisza Floodplains, see the Tisza Floodplains Fact Sheet.

For more details about the beavers, contact Alexandra Balogh at: alexandra.balogh@wwf.hu.

Cows prepared for a long, hard winter in OEMN Maramures

2008-10-16

Work is almost complete on the picturesque winter shelter for nature-conserving cows, built by OEMN partners at Rachita meadow, high up on the Maramures plateau above Baia Mare. This means that for the first time, the semi-wild herd will be able to spend the winter in natural conditions rather than boxed into sheds down in the nearby villages.

The shelter, which cost almost 80,000 Euros and which conforms to all ecological and nature conservation regulations and best practices, allows free access in and out for animals, meaning that they will only go in when the winter bites hardest. With temperatures sometimes dropping to -25 C, huddling together under the stone and wood structure will keep the animals alive as well as enhancing social interactions between the members of the herd.

„Last year, we had to bring the animals down because they had only recently be re-introduced into nature, and because the winter shed was not even started" explained Edit Pop, the WWF project manager for the initiative. „But when we tried, the lead females of the herd clearly did not want to leave the mountain pastures, and they turned back. Even with 5 men and 2 dogs, it was impossible to persuade them to swap their new home - natural habitat – for the lowlands. We had to leave them there and try again another day."

The structure is designed to also accomodate humans: tourists can sleep in rooms located above the animal shelter, making a novel alternative to the nearby wooden cabana, which has already been intensively used by paying guests despite only opening for business in June. „People like to come and see the meadows, the cows, and the landscape" says Rodica Tiplea, who runs the business with her husband and other family members from the nearby village of Ocna Sugatag. „And we like to show them. The accomodation is made of traditional materials, furnished with local handicrafts, and everyone seems to enjoy the naturally-produced food and drink which we offer". With foreign tourists already having visited from as far away as USA, UK, Canada, Sweden, Austria, Estonia, and Hungary, the Tiplea family is confident they will soon re-coup the investments they have made, and start to turn a profit.

Benefits for local people, benefits for nature, and benefits for business. These three features are typical of OEMN projects such as this one. Benefits for cows, who clearly enjoy their open-air lifestyle, are an added bonus.

Contact WWF for more details on how to replicate this project ..... and visit www.rmt.ro to see and book accomodation on the plateau.

Swimmers and water buffalos unite in Hungary

2008-07-15

At exactly 15:00 on Sunday, July 6, thousands of Europeans across the continent jumped into rivers near to where they lived. Their "BIG JUMP", held annually every July 6, was a symbol of concern and hope for their rivers and wetlands. "In a nutshell, BIG JUMP is a European river swimming day, where people reclaim their environment and demonstrate their wish to have clean and living rivers again," says the European Rivers Network, the BIG JUMP's initiators.

At exactly the same time, about 400 people, including local mayors taking the plunge hand-in-hand, jumped into the Tisza River next to the villages of Tiszatarjan and Nagykoru in Hungary. It was the first Big Jump ever in Hungary, organized by WWF and the local municipalities and supported by sponsors such as the local Borsodi Brewery.

Overall, some 2,000 people were on hand to take part in the festivities. In Tiszatarjan, there were competitions in barrel rolling, rafting and the bundling of newly chopped wild bushes called Amorpha, as well as sailing and boating. The entire event was broadcast live by one of Hungary's most popular radio stations, Slager Radio, who led the JUMP announcement at 15:00 and played some super tunes (including Vangelis!) to accompany the late-night swimmers bearing torches in hand. Plenty of other media were also there to capture the moments including Egri Szent Korona Rádió, Lánchíd Rádió and Rádió Q, and the event featured on the main evening news of MTV1 – Hungary's national public TV broadcaster.

Buffalos that like water
Besides the Tisza swimmers, another group of (new) locals received enormous attention – a pack of five water buffalos – seen by visitors mainly via horse and carriage. They, like the swimmers, were also expressing their concern for local wetlands, but in their own personalized way – by eating.

The massive animals (strong one year-olds) had arrived four days earlier, purchased by WWF from the nearby Hortobagy National Park and loaned to local people as a "revolving herd". On the 6th, they were getting used to their comfortable new quarters of only a few square meters. Soon, they would be released into a larger 12 hectare area to progress admirably in their new jobs as professional grass eaters.

WWF's `One Europe, More Nature (OEMN)´ project bought the water buffalos because of their keen appreciation for clean water, quality wetlands and good grass -- and the area around Tiszatarjan has just that. Through their grazing, the buffalos actually act as "wetland and grassland managers", making sure that invasive Amorpha fructicosa bushes don't grow everywhere and replace local plant species (as they have been doing). The land to which the buffalo will be released was earlier cleared of Amorpha by the WWF project, and the buffalo will make sure it doesn't come back. As a result, these grasslands will also now attract more water birds such as Grey heron, Great egret, Little egret, Black stork, Squacco heron and Eurasian bittern whose numbers had declined a fair bit in recent decades because of the loss in local floodplains – one of their key habitats.

To manage the water buffalos, and for other restoration activities, some funds come from payments from the local energy giant, AES Hungary, which purchases and burns local `biomass´ – willow trees as well as the invasive Amorpha bushes – to produce electricity at its nearby power stations.

"We wanted to present how OEMN works and show everyone what's been happening here," says Mr. Csaba Vaszko, OEMN's Hungarian Project Manager. "There are still some excellent wetlands along the Tisza where buffalo can roam and people can swim, but we need more wetlands and more nature, and that's what our project is about."

New OEMN `Approach Brochure´

2008-06-16

The new OEMN Approach Brochure, `Solutions through Partnering Business with Nature´, is now available.

Learn more about how OEMN uses an innovative approach to forge unusual partnerships so that business and nature can co-exist. Its mechanisms lead to win-win solutions for all, allowing Europe's rural workers to make incomes from the countryside while protecting nature.

OEMN, already tested at many pilot rural locations throughout Europe, is now mainstreaming conservation into everyday European business life.

Reading this new brochure is the first step toward your becoming a potential new partner at an existing or future OEMN project site.

Grazing the birds back to coastal Estonia

2008-04-30

The birds don´t know it. The cattle don´t either. But both are helping to improve the economy of Väinameri -- a mosaic region of shallow seas, islands, dune beaches and reed beds in Estonia next to the Baltic Sea.

In this part of northern Europe, natural coastal grasslands had for centuries been a haven for wildlife, attracting immense flocks of birds. Each spring and autumn, around two million waterfowl including Common Crane, Mute Swan and Golden Eye descended on the area as a stopover on their migration routes. The grasslands were maintained by farmers practising low-intensity, traditional grazing with local breeds of cattle, sheep and horses. Cattle were raised primarily for dairy products.

After the fall of communism in 1989, agriculture in the area nearly collapsed. Estonia's joining the EU brought additional challenges. The 1990s proved extremely difficult economically for the dairy farmers as dairies went bankrupt, farmers lost money and many gave up farming. Over that decade, the area's overall population decreased steadily by 12%. High unemployment was further combined with an ageing population, and many young people moved to the cities in search of work. Once the grazing stopped, the land soon became overgrown with reeds and scrub, and the species which depended on the grasslands began to disappear.

Agriculture alone began to look like a losing activity for local people. Perhaps, combined with rural tourism, nature conservation and the production of handicrafts from local products, it might lead to improved incomes for farmers and benefits for the environment at the same time. And the goal of raising cattle would need to switch from producing dairy products to producing high quality, nature-friendly, "green" beef? And it did.

Bring on the beef and the birds
"The farmers tell us more and more birds are now coming back including Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwit and Ruff," says Lia Rosenberg, a member of the local NGO Arhipelaag. "That means the coasts are again able to provide habitat as they did before."

Behind the positive change was a project begun in 1999 by Arhipelaag and WWF Sweden geared to restoring the coastal wet grasslands. "It was absolutely the last time we could save the farmers' faith in agriculture and keep farming economical," says Rosenberg. The project provided 30 cows to the farmers and the cows were soon eating nothing but the natural grasses periodically soaked by mineral-rich coastal tide waters. Soon after, the old coastal meadows slowly re-emerged from beneath the reeds -- about 20,000 ha of semi-natural areas with significant nature conservation value have now been restored and/or managed. Today there are 25 farmers raising over 2,000 cattle in the area.

Farmers gain income from the sale of meat. They receive government support from Estonia´s environment and agriculture ministries for preserving traditional agricultural practices and important environmental landscapes – especially as much of the area is part of a national protected area. The return of biodiversity is also strengthening the area´s growing eco-tourism sector.

"We have experienced incredible conservation results here," says Charlie Avis, Manager for WWF´s `One Europe, More Nature´ project. "The next step is for the farmers to increase their incomes through the sale of higher-value green beef."

Arhipelaag, the farmers and WWF have been trying to create a new market for the conservation-oriented green beef. Local campaigns held in 2007 found that summer tourists have high interest in the green beef, as do consumers in the Estonian capital city of Tallinn. "But locals find the higher price difficult," says Rosenberg. "And we are still having trouble trying to find a slaughterhouse that can efficiently separate green beef from conventional beef."

"What we are really aiming at here is a healthy, sustainable local economy based on eco-tourism and green beef sales," says Avis. "Just as importantly, we can only make that happen if nature is healthy and protected, and that means these wonderful coastal grasslands and the millions of birds that depend on them each year."

"Others have learnt from Vainameri and have started similar activities of their own, for example in Olonets in Russia," adds Avis. "The next step is to apply this approach over a much wider region, possibly the entire Baltic. A sturdy new economy based on nature based on Baltic beef - that should now be the goal."

WWF's One Europe More Nature (OEMN) project uses an innovative approach to forge unusual partnerships so that business and nature can co-exist. Its mechanisms lead to win-win solutions for all, allowing Europe's rural workers to make incomes from the countryside while protecting nature. OEMN, tested at many pilot rural locations throughout Europe, is now mainstreaming conservation into everyday European business life.

Planting the energy for wetland conservation in north Hungary

2008-04-25

Outside Europe´s cities, in those massive stretches of land we still call the `countryside´, there are plenty of opportunities for plants to grow. What actually grows in a specific location has usually been the result of people making decisions about `land-use´- - whether it´s to use the land for growing crops for food, growing crops for `bio-fuels´ or managing lands so that natural grasses nourish grazing animals such as cattle. Decisions have also been made to protect and conserve lands, often within the confines of national parks, to ensure the existence of special habitats and species.

One inevitable result of all of that has been competition and arguments between different people with different interests favouring different land-uses. Take, for example, recent debates about bio-fuels processed from plants such as corn and sugar cane. Earlier supported by many as a promising alternative to carbon-based fossil fuels and climate change cure, a growing population of critics is now blaming them for taking land away from food crops and thereby contributing to rising food prices. The bio-fuel debate actually reflects one key reality about land-use decision-making – it can be extremely complicated.

Despite the complexity, one probable certainty is that land-use answers cannot be globally applied. Rather, a decision that may be good for one place may not be good for another. It really all depends on the place and what it has to offer, naturally. At one site in northern Hungary´s Tisza region, WWF believes it is helping to guide good local decisions about land-use, and the kinds of plants that should be growing there.

Biomass, bio-energy, incomes, profits and conservation
In a pilot project managed through WWF´s `One Europe, More Nature (OEMN)´ project near the town of Tiszatarjan, WWF mediated an energy deal between the local municipality, farmers and the nearby energy company AES Hungary. Here, a new local company was created to cut and collect `biomass´ from local vegetation, which in turn sells it to AES, which burns it to produce energy. The project began with cutting invasive acacia shrubs that had overtaken large areas of former natural vegetation. After the nasty invasive shrubs disappear, the area´s floodplain forests, wetlands and grasslands will be restored through a re-investment of sales of native willow trees which will provide the AES power station with a long-term supply of biomass.

"The project shows that the supply of `biomass´ to produce renewable energy, tailored to a region´s needs, can have multiple benefits for business, nature and rural development," says WWF Global Bio-energy Coordinator Jean-Philippe Denruyter.

"The grasses and willows are an excellent local and sustainable energy alternative to the former use of fossil fuels which contributed to climate change," says local Project Manager Csaba Vaszko. "Local residents, many of whom face difficult economic circumstances, now have new incomes and jobs. AES will profit. And the new energy source will help encourage other businesses to become established in this economically depressed area."

Perhaps most interesting of all, the WWF deal requires landowners to set some of their lands aside for conservation purposes -- to restore important wetlands (formerly lost because of agriculture and then invasive species) which are vital for flood protection, water purification and as a habitat for globally important endangered species. In this way, the landowners will get an additional income, coming from some of the revenues made from the sale of the bio-energy, to subsidize the continuous management of the protected wetland grasslands.

The project will also release beavers which play a natural role as "wetland restorers" into the wild next month. And later, Hungarian grey cattle and water buffalo will be re-introduced to keep the invasive species back and to slowly restore the grasslands through their grazing. As the former wetland and grasslands meadows are restored, the beautiful landscape and flourishing species will then drive increased eco-tourism to the area -- another new source of income.

"The lesson in this place is that producing bio-energy from plants makes good land-use sense," says WWF OEMN Project Manager Charlie Avis. "If local vegetation can be used sustainably for positive local and global impacts, then we say: Use it! Biomass is driving a new, more sustainable economy here in this region. Everyone benefits. Nature and business can go hand in hand, and the services provided by nature are far more than just producing food. That is something the world increasingly needs to realize."

WWF's One Europe More Nature (OEMN) project uses an innovative approach to forge unusual partnerships so that business and nature can co-exist. Its mechanisms lead to win-win solutions for all, allowing Europe's rural workers to make incomes from the countryside while protecting nature. OEMN, tested at many pilot rural locations throughout Europe, is now mainstreaming conservation into everyday European business life.

The grass is greener on the upper side

2008-03-31

In June 2007, WWF bought and then `loaned´ a new herd of 22 cows and 4 bulls to Tiplea Petre, a progressive farmer from the village of Ocna Sugatag in Maramures, Romania. It was an attempt to jump-start new incomes and revitalize a depressed rural economy in a picturesque and ecologically valuable region.

Maramures County's farmers had for centuries tended herds of brown cattle (`Bruna de Maramures´) for meat and dairy products using traditional practices. The cattle, by grazing on high grasslands, had shaped rich meadow ecosystems for a variety of plant, bird and animal species. However, Romania´s accession to the EU in 2007 brought problems. In many cases, local dairy production failed to meet new EU standards for hygiene and animal welfare leading to the closure of farms and dramatic decreases in cow populations. Many traditional grazing activities and their beneficial impacts for semi-managed grasslands and their rich biodiversity ceased.

With the WWF introduction of the new traditional herd, natural grazing in the grasslands resumed. Voluptuous cow appetites in the mountainous plateau led to the restoration of 80 ha of high nature-value sub-alpine grassland. Sixteen calves were also born.

The key to future project success will be the `revolving herd´ -- after five years, Tiplea will pass on the same number of cattle he received to another farmer who will also graze them on grasslands, allowing the herd size to expand over time. The grass will get greener as more animals, farmers and landowners become involved. Two local cattle breeder associations now want to continue the project.

By 2010, the farm and cows will be organically certified. Some of the cows will be slaughtered for meat for sale. Project partners are trying to get the quality, organic `green´ beef a higher market price through promoting a market niche such as linking high quality beef production with landscape conservation.

Thus maintained, the original mosaic landscape of mixed open grasslands, forests and wetlands is not only good for biodiversity – it is also extremely attractive from a tourism point of view, which is one of the economic sectors Maramures is pinning its hopes on for future economic development.

Tiplea is making other personal investments. Besides raising the first herd, he developed a tourism facility linked to his conservation story, investing 280,000 € into accommodations for 14 tourists in a new rural pension. He's also building a winter shelter for his cows. And WWF is helping him to better access external development funds.

Some new funds will come soon to Maramures, such as subsidies from Romania's National Rural Development Programme to landowners who demonstrate good agricultural practices on grasslands. These will include annual payments of 124 €/ha for agri-environment measures (e.g. mowing after 1 July or using organic fertilizers) and 58 €/ha for traditional agricultural practices (e.g. manual mowing).

OEMN also contributed to the designation of a new Natura 2000 site in the area through sharing scientific data and raising awareness. The site consists of 19,602 ha of grassland habitats and is partially grazed by sheep, water buffalo and the project's cows. In the future, farmers contributing to maintaining the site will also be eligible for direct government payments.

With time, the Bruna de Maramures cow will once again become central to the local economy and the conservation of high nature value grassland meadows – generating incomes through withdrawals from the rural area's natural grass bank and maintaining that capital for the benefit of wildlife, farmers and tourists alike. (More about OEMN Maramures project)

Andalusia government to end illegal farming and restore Doñana habitats

2007-12-04

The regional government of Andalusia in Spain has approved a Special Plan to re-organize the lands used for strawberry farming in Doñana, based on a 2006 proposal by WWF. Before strawberry farming began in Doñana, natural forests in the area connected Doñana National and Nature Parks with inland ecosystems. However, the growth of strawberry farming led to the clearance of large areas of Doñana forest, blocking the corridors for wild species. The new Plan should help restore the corridors.

Much of the earlier expansion in farming was done through an illegal use of lands. WWF-Adena found about 450 ha of greenhouses illegally located inside the protected areas of the Natura 2000 Network, 2,173 ha in public forests and some in Protected Natural Areas.

Some 35% of local creeks were found to be occupied or damaged by the agricultural activities. Farmers also illegally bored holes to access groundwater resources for irrigating their crops. 50% of the strawberry fields use water illegally. Out of 1,400 wells in the area, only 10% have water abstraction permits for the water they use. This uncontrolled water use already had a direct relation with the alarming groundwater depletion of the aquifer around La Rocina creek, one of the main suppliers of water to the Doñana National Park marshes, which over the last 30 years suffered a water depletion rate of 50%. Lagoons and vegetation that require high soil humidity (e.g. cork oaks) also disappeared. If nothing is done, the area will approach ecological collapse.

In response, WWF took a number of actions which triggered a multi-year process of change and success. In May 2006, WWF-Spain published a proposal for ecological corridors in northwest Doñana to reconnect Doñana lands with other valuable ecosystems inland. Some 1,000 ha of strawberry fields (most illegally created) out of a total of 6,000 ha now being cultivated would be relocated in less sensitive areas to make room for the corridors. This proposal was presented to water, farming and environment authorities and discussed with local stakeholders during the public participation meetings of the Doñana Sustainable Development Plan.

In September 2006, WWF-Spain started an irrigation pilot project in Doñana to prove the possibility of increasing the efficient use of water in strawberry cultivation. The result was water savings of 20%.

In January 2007, WWF-Netherlands and Albert Heijn, the largest supermarket chain in the Netherlands, agreed to work with each other and Doñana farmers to change Doñana strawberry farming. This included Albert Heijn requiring new conditions (or 'protocols') developed by WWF for strawberry purchases from Doñana such as the legal use of land and water, efficient use of water and integration of the fields with the surrounding environment.

In March 2007, WWF invited journalists from across Europe to Doñana. The result was widespread media coverage and raised consumer awareness across the continent. Consumers were encouraged to link the strawberries they eat with how they are farmed and affect the environment. They also found out about the environmental challenges still faced by strawberry farming in Doñana.

"This is a clear example of how wise decisions in the supermarket can have a direct positive impact on the environment," says Eva Hernandez, Doñana Coordinator for WWF-Spain. "But wise decisions can only be made if good information is provided by the supermarkets." (More about the OEMN Doñana project)

One Europe More Nature - Project Brochure

2006-05-30

WWF's One Europe More Nature project is working to restore and maintain key European landscapes and habitats by forging innovative partnerships with a wide ranger of stakeholders.

At a series of sites across Europe, WWF and its local partners are working to identify opportunities where the interests of business and nature overlap, and forging innovative partnerships to take advantage of these opportunities. The people involved in our projects include big businesses, extractive industries, local entrepreneurs, farmers, foresters and politicians. Together, we are working to develop win-win situations where economic and ecological concerns go hand in hand, where businesses make a profit and nature's capital is maintained or enhanced.

This brochure sets out the project's aims and objectives, and provides details of the eight project sites - Doñana (Spain), Tisza floodplain (Hungary), Maramures (Romania), the Ardennes (Spain), Gelderse Poort (the Netherlands), Prespa (Greece), Sinca Noua (Romania) and Väinameri (Estonia).

These sites serve as showcases for the One Europe More Nature approach – living examples of a new way of living, and an inspiration for people across Europe to get involved and start shaping Europe's changing landscapes for the benefit of people and nature.

The project is funded and inspired by WWF Netherlands.

Danube Floods: Long-term solutions needed for people and nature

2006-04-18

Vienna/Bucharest/Sofia – Floodwaters have returned to Bulgaria and Romania, menacing towns, villages and human lives. Human interventions in the floodplains of the Danube River and its major tributaries have led to a dramatic situation in downstream areas of the Danube. Long-term solutions for flood management are required that work with nature, not against it, by giving space back to the rivers.

As an important step in this direction, WWF urges the Governments of Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Moldova to put into practice the solutions agreed by them in 2000 in the "Declaration on the co-operation for the creation of the Lower Danube Green Corridor".

"Facilitated by WWF, the agreement to establish the Lower Danube Green Corridor aims to make the Lower Danube a living river again, connected to its natural flooding areas and wetlands, reducing the risk of major flooding in areas with human settlements and offering benefits both for local economies - fisheries, tourism - and for protected areas along the river" said Orieta Hulea, Coordinator of the WWF Lower Danube Green Corridor Programme.

"The mechanism is simple: the floodplains are like natural sponges: they act as natural storage reservoirs allowing large volumes of water to be stored and slowly and safely released down rivers and into the groundwater. If we destroy these areas, by cutting them off from the main river beds and draining them for agriculture as has happened on the Lower Danube as across most of Europe, their potential for flood retention is lost and the risk for major flooding increases, as we have experienced in the last couple of years. "

In 2000, the Lower Danube countries committed to restore 223,608 ha of the former floodplain areas, in the framework of the Lower Danube Green Corridor Agreement. Only 6% of this commitment has been accomplished to date, and the largest wetland areas that have been converted to agricultural polders are still waiting to be reconnected to the river, including those at Potelu, Belene, Seaca- Suhaia – Zimnicea, Gostinu- Prundu – Greaca, Kalimok – Tutrakan, Pardina, Sireasa.

The recent controlled flooding in selected areas undertaken by the Romanian Government has been a step forward toward this approach and underlines that giving more space to the river is crucial for reducing floodwater pressure on human settlements e.g. at Rousse, Calarasi, Silistra, Harsova, and Fetesti. It is important to keep these flooded areas as water retention zones in future and thus reduce the risk from future floods.

Still, an integrated and more transparent flood management approach is needed to stop the dangerous cycle of permitting farming or industrial activities in high risk flood areas, like floodplains, and then building higher and higher dykes to protect them. All economic, ecological and human factors must be considered and actions must be taken to provide long-term solutions, by reconnecting the rivers to their floodplains in the former wetland areas.

Beside their flood control function, floodplains have multiple values, such as keeping high water quality by trapping sediments and pollutants, providing habitats for plants and animals, supporting sustainable tourism, forestry and rich fisheries and replenishing groundwater tables through periodic natural flooding. 80% of the Danube River wetlands have been lost over the past two hundred years, due to human interventions.

Notes to editors:

• The former Greaca wetland from the Danube floodplain was drained into an agriculture polder in 1964 - 1966. 27.830 hectares of floodplain were lost. The area has been proposed and committed to be restored to its natural functions in the Lower Danube Green Corridor Declaration. Map of Greaca before drainage (1920) and nowadays (2004) attached.
• From a ten-year comparative study of the world's great flood disasters from 1950 – 1998 by the German Insurance company, Munich Reinsurance, the number of global flood events increased threefold: 1950 – 1979 – 7/9 major floods per decade; 1980 – 1989 – 20 major floods; 1989 – 1998 – 34 major floods. For more information, see "Floods Trends and Global Change" report, by Thomas Loster( 1999)
• For over a decade WWF has been working to restore the floodplains of the Lower Danube and its tributaries in Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Moldova, thus contributing to the practical implementation of the Lower Danube Green Corridor Agreement signed by the governments of Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine in 2000.

For further information:
Christine Bratrich, WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme
Tel: +43 1 524 547019
Email: cbratrich@wwfdcp.org

Orieta Hulea, WWF Lower Danube Green Corridor Programme Coordinator
Tel: + 40 744 980461
Email: ohulea@wwfdcp.ro

One Europe More Nature in the Tisza River Basin

2006-03-07

WWF is working at three sites along the Tisza River in Romania and Hungary to maintain and restore the wetlands and floodplains in a way that will be beneficial to the local economy.

In Maramures, the activities will focus on switching to new integrated forms of forest, grassland and water management to maintain and restore the integrity of the upland landscape, support sustainable flood management, and at the same time create new income opportunities for local people.

In the Ecsed Marsh area, common ecological and economic activities will be developed by Hungary and Romania for the large scale cross-border restoration of what was once Central Europe's largest inland marshland complex.

In Nagykoru, activities will focus on habitat restoration by the retention of the floodwaters, and the introduction of land use practices which are better suited to floodplains, such as extensive grazing practices by local races of cattle and the cultivation of local varieties of fruit in floodplain orchards.

World's most endangered cat species threatened by EU funds

2006-03-03

Brussels, Belgium / Gland, Switzerland – EU funds are being used to build roads and dams that are destroying the habitat of the Iberian lynx, the world's most endangered cat species.

In Spain, the remaining Iberian lynx population – with around 100 individuals left, including just 25 breeding females – is under major threat due to loss and fragmentation of its habitat. New construction works will hamper efforts to conserve the endangered cat.

A new WWF report, "Conflicting EU funds", shows that despite the EU commitment to halt biodiversity loss by 2010, vast sums of European Union money are being spent on roads, dams and irrigation schemes which threaten critically endangered species and key habitats in Europe. In many cases, EU funds are being used for activities that are recognised as major threats by the EU itself.

"Europe has to take responsibility for its own species, but at present the European Union is using its funds to both support biodiversity and undermine it," says Stefanie Lang, Regional Policy Officer at WWF's European Policy Office.

"This is an unacceptable situation caused by wrong decisions at national or regional level and poor coordination between Member States and the European Commission."

As the EU is shaping new funding regulations for the period 2007-2013, the report presents eight case studies where competing plans funded by the EU are damaging biodiversity.

In Spain, EU funds are used for infrastructures, such as 20 dams and 16 roads, including the new highway Toledo-Ciudad Real-Puertollano-Cordoba, that will have a detrimental impact on lynx habitat protected under the Natura 2000 network.

Similarly, EU funds have been used to overexploit bluefin tuna fisheries in the Mediterranean, and to promote damaging agricultural subsidies which have resulted in the mismanagement of cork oak forests in Portugal.

In Greece, while the EU Commission Directorate General (DG) responsible for the environment is supporting a LIFE project to protect brown bears, the DG Regional Development is funding the planned Egnatia Highway, which directly threatens these animals.

WWF urges to withdraw EU funds that conflict with biodiversity goals and the EU environmental legislation and says that EU funds must include priority measures to protect biodiversity and Natura 2000 sites. On the other hand, WWF recommends that EU Member States develop good national programmes that contribute to the 2010 goal.

"If we are to halt the loss of biodiversity and preserve the remaining natural heritage of Europe, which is essential for long term economic prosperity, the EU cannot afford to continue funding the destruction of habitats and environmentally damaging infrastructures as it has in the past," says Gerald Dick of WWF's Global Species Programme.

Notes to editors:
• The eight case studies are: Agricultural Subsidies and Cork Oak Ecosystems, Portugal; Threats to the Iberian Lynx, Spain; Brown Bears and the Egnatia Highway, Greece; Fisheries Funds and Tuna Farming, the Mediterranean; Via Baltica and Natura 2000, Poland; Navigation on the Danube and Natura 2000
Odelouca Dam and the Monichique Natura 2000 site, Portugal and Western Algarve Biodiversity and Irrigation, Spain

• In the coming months the EU Institutions will decide on the European Fisheries Fund (Fisheries Council in April), the LIFE+ regulation (Environment Council in March and June) and the guidelines for Structural Funds. Furthermore, the European Commission is expected to publish in April a communication on biodiversity, with a roadmap to halt biodiversity loss in the EU by 2010.

• In 2004 the Structural and Cohesion Funds accounted for 34% of the total EU budget, while the LIFE-Nature budget accounted for only 0,06%.

For further information:
Stefanie Lang, Regional Policy Officer,
WWF European Policy Office,
Tel: +32 2 740 0930,
E-mail: slang@wwfepo.org

Gerald Dick, WWF's Global Species Programme,
Mobile: +43 676 834 88212,
E-mail: gerald.dick@wwf.at

Claudia Delpero, Communications Manager,
WWF European Policy Office,
Tel: +32 2 740 0925,
Mobile: +32 497 406 381,
E-mail: cdelpero@wwfepo.org

WWF helps with oil spill clean-up efforts in Estonia

2006-02-01

Tallinn, Estonia – An oil spill off the northwestern coast of Estonia has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of seabirds, including gulls and long-tailed ducks. Estonia's border guards have patrolled the coastal waters, but have not been able to identify where the leak may have come from.

"Heavy winds have made it difficult to pinpoint the origin of the oil," said Tõnis Ulm, head of the Environment Centre of Western Estonia. "A leak from a tanker off the coast could be a possible explanation."

Volunteers from WWF's associate organization, Estonian Fund for Nature, have been helping local authorities clean up several kilometres of an oil-stained shoreline, as well as save birdlife. Some oil-stained wildlife has also been detected on Finland's southwestern coast, but no oil slicks have been seen there. WWF-Finland has sent oil-combating equipment to help with the clean-up efforts in Estonia and is ready to help if local authorities ask for additional assistance.

"The oil accident off the coast of Estonia shows that the Baltic Sea countries do not have effective oil spill response measures in place," said Jari Luukkonen, WWF-Finland's conservation director.

"The same nightmare could take place in Finland since some 10,000 ships operate in the Gulf of Finland each month, yet the country lacks a proper action plan and technical response measures to take care of thousands of oil-stained birds."

WWF-Finland is calling on the Finnish government to set aside funds in the state budget for more effective oil response measures.

"Finland needs a transportable bird cleaning unit, a proper oil spill response plan for wildlife, and further resources to deal with wildlife casualties," Luukkonen added.

In May 2006, WWF-Finland will offer a training course on washing and caring for oil-stained birds. Some 3,500 volunteers have registered as oil combat troops, with over 300 trained. WWF-Norway, WWF-Russia, and WWF's Arctic Programme have also established voluntary oil-combat troops based on the Finnish model.

"The responsibility of saving wildlife following an oil spill cannot fully rest on volunteers," Luukkonen said. "However, we are trying to help the best we can."

For further information:
Päivi Rosqvist, Head of Press
WWF-Finland
Tel: +358 9 7740 1040
E-mail: paivi.rosqvist@wwf.fi

::: Europe Update :::
One Europe, More Nature in the Tisza River Basin

2006-01-18

The forces driving land and water use patterns in Europe, such as international trade, economics, policies and climate change, are immense. Many of these forces hit especially hard in central and eastern Europe, especially as many of these nations are faced with EU enlargement, floods, agricultural abandonment, and other issues confronting rural communities. The prospect of trying to influence these processes is daunting, yet we are all part of these trends, and while they pose many threats, they also offer many opportunities.

WWF, through One Europe More Nature, is identifying these opportunities and trying to make these dynamic forces work for nature and for people. By seeking out new partners and sectors, and by understanding what business can do for nature and what nature can do for business. Working in partnership with local communities, governments and businesses, new mechanisms for mainstreaming nature conservation into everyday life are being developed. Often, the starting point is to realise that farmers in the future will not necessarily produce only food, but also other products and services like water management, landscape maintenance, habitat provision and tourism services.

New perspectives
Starting in downstream Hungary at the first of the government's flood retention reservoirs, WWF is piecing together an integrated plan for restoring Ecsedi láp, once one of central Europe's finest wetlands. By marrying a site-specific management plan for the floodplain to the search for a big economic power as investor, this twin-track approach offers hope for farmers facing multiple problems as a result of the failure of industrialised monoculture agriculture and the withdrawal of subsidies for mainstream farming. All sorts of economic possibilities open up once stakeholders recognise that change is not only needed but also advantageous.

"We are investigating alternative land management possibilities for our former floodplains including biomass, and WWF is linking us to power stations in Hungary which have decided to go green," explains Lajos Kovács, mayor of nearby Nagyecsed. "The country will get its flood protection, the wetlands will be restored, the power station will get its raw materials, and we will get jobs and a new economic pillar for our region."

New ideas
Up in the headwaters of the Tisza in the Maramures region of Romania, WWF's office in Baia Mare has embarked on an energetic community-participatory approach to rural development. The aim is to protect and enhance the landscape and ecological functioning of the Oas-Gutai plateau, one of the jewels of the Carpathian Mountains. Working on forestry issues with the international furniture giant IKEA, planning for improved grassland management through high quality meat production, and seeking out business possibilities in harmony with catchment management, WWF aims to improve the "sponge function" of the plateau's headwaters. This protects the important biodiversity of the region, so it can be a resource for the future as well as present.

"This place is very special and deserves a special approach," says WWF local project officer Edit Pop. "Our philosophy is that Maramures can be branded as the green paradise of the Carpathians, not as a museum piece but as a living, working, economically productive place to live. That means we have to change the way we approach conservation and make it happen through business."

Already, governmental organisations have bought into WWF's vision for the area and business leaders now approach Edit with ideas on how to harmonise their needs with those of nature.

WWF believes these positive stories have important lessons not just for rural development and for nature conservation, but also for policy makers at EU, national, and local levels as well.

"By managing our rivers and wetlands in a more natural way, we are showing that flood management is possible which optimises benefits to people and nature in very important locations," says Csaba Vaszkó, WWF's project manager in Hungary. "That is a message which is not just relevant to us here in Hungary, but to people struggling with these issues all over the continent."

For further information:
Charlie Avis
One Europe, More Nature Project Coordinator
WWF-Hungary
Tel: +36 1 2145554
E-mail: charlie.avis@wwf.hu

A Policy Field Guide to Sinca Noua and the Tagla Mountains

2005-12-18

In the Romanian village of Sinca Noua, the One Europe More Nature project is helping local people to develop a new, sustainable economy.

A Policy Field Guide to the Gelderse Poort

2005-12-09

Gelderse Poort is in the area where the River Rhine branches out into the Rivers Waal, Lower Rhine and IJssel, near the cities of Arnhem, Nijmegen and Emmerich. Here Ark Nature and its partners are working hand in hand with local people, businesses and brick industries to restore nature in the Rhine delta. The project is part of the One Europe More Nature initiative.

This brochure outlines some of their activities in the area.

One Europe, More Nature in the Tisza River Basin, Hungary

2005-12-09

Through the One Europe More Nature (OEMN) project, WWF Hungary is working to restore the Tisza floodplain and reconnect it to the river. This series of factsheets highlights some of WWF's activities in the area.

Working towards an ambitious vision
The vision of WWF is a restored Tisza river basin whose floodplains and wetlands are once again re-connected to the main river channels. A fully ecologically functioning river system could support the range of human, ecological and economic aspects of life in the region. The Tisza Vision sheet explains more about the restoration possibilities and dynamics of the Tisza River.

Drivers in the field
Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is a key driver for landscapes across Europe. What will this mean for the Tisza floodplains and the farmers who work there? OEMN is answering this question by working on the ground at the most fundamental level: local. There is no successful demonstration project without a field component. The Ecsed Marsh restoration not only shows how to restore low-yield, low-elevation, potential seminatural floodplain areas, but the approach of planning and implementation is also a clear mechanism, which can be adapted to any other similar site in Europe.

Uncovering and demonstrating practical mechanisms
To fulfill the vision, OEMN identifies and launches win-win partnerships between those groups gaining benefits from using natural resources. The project builds on strong economical bases and promotes elements of an emerging "new economy" - good for people and good for the environment. In the preparation phase we screened several business opportunities directly linked to the floodplains. A relatively small-scale example is the local fruit production which has many benefits, not only for the local producers but for nature as well. The Nagykörű Floodplain Orchard sheet tells more about how this new economy contributes to the Tisza vision (and also the fight against invasive species).

Large scale opportunities?
Restoration over large-scale areas, thousands of hectares, where nature can conquer the land again - this is the dream of every nature conservationist in Europe and the goal of OEMN. But other large-scale trends are on the horizon, pulling in tens of thousands of hectares – land which could be wetlands and restored floodplain could be turned into energy plantations. Biomass power-plants are becoming key players in the energy sector and it is imperative to find common ground for co-operation, because these changes are happening with or without the involvement of the nature conservation community. The Green Power sheet introduces how.

Payments for Environmental Services (PES)
In the developing world this term has been well known for more than twenty years. It can be a whole range of schemes, where private investors, municipalities or local bodies are uncovering the functions of the ecosystems and, based on common understanding and interest, they are conserving the natural resources through market-based mechanisms. In Europe, apart from a few examples, there are only embryonic projects but the Danube drinking water sheet gives a good description of one such working pilot co-operation, between WWF and Hungarian drinking water supply companies.

The Väinameri Project: Linking Rural Life and Coastal Nature

2005-12-09

On the Baltic coast in Western Estonia, the NGO Arhipelaag is working to restore the coastal meadows and revive the local economy. The initiative is part of WWF's One Europe More Nature project.

WWF - OEMN News & Publications

Business from/for Nature

Cinema and Nature on the Menu in Estonia

Beavers come home as new landscape takes shape in Hungary

Cows prepared for a long, hard winter in OEMN Maramures

Swimmers and water buffalos unite in Hungary

New OEMN `Approach Brochure´

Grazing the birds back to coastal Estonia

Planting the energy for wetland conservation in north Hungary

The grass is greener on the upper side

Andalusia government to end illegal farming and restore Doñana habitats

One Europe More Nature - Project Brochure

Danube Floods: Long-term solutions needed for people and nature

One Europe More Nature in the Tisza River Basin

World's most endangered cat species threatened by EU funds

WWF helps with oil spill clean-up efforts in Estonia

::: Europe Update ::: One Europe, More Nature in the Tisza River Basin

A Policy Field Guide to Sinca Noua and the Tagla Mountains

A Policy Field Guide to the Gelderse Poort

One Europe, More Nature in the Tisza River Basin, Hungary

The Väinameri Project: Linking Rural Life and Coastal Nature

::: Europe Update :::
One Europe, More Nature in the Tisza River Basin