SWS meeting European Chapter 2016 /Potsdam /Germany /17-20 May

“Wetland Science and Society: knowledge transfer, conservation conflicts and restoration management”

Dear Colleagues,

We warmly invite you to the upcoming 11^th annual European Chapter meeting of the Society of Wetlands Scientists (SWS) (http://www.sws.org/europe-chapter).

The meeting will be held in Potsdam near Berlin, Germany, 17-20 May 2016 and is being organized by the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries in cooperation with the German peat Society DGMT and the Naturschutzfonds Brandenburg (the meeting website will be available in September 2015).

The meeting will be an opportunity to provide new perspectives on:

1)      Strategies on how wetland science can be effectively implemented in practice (“knowledge transfer”)

2)      Approaches to harmonizing wetland functions and economic interests (“conservation conflicts”)

3)      Utilization of wetlands for mitigation of water pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and loss of biodiversity (“restoration management”)

SWS want to encourage people of all branches of wetland science and practice, and especially those with a focus on European wetland issues, to participate, including: Biologists, Local Government Officials & Decision-Makers, Consultants, Conservationists, Ecologists, Educators, Environmental Consultants, Scientists, and Managers, Foresters, Graduate Students, Hydrologists etc.

The meeting will include parallel oral sessions, poster presentations and field excursions in to biosphere reserve SpreeForest and managed wetland sites from EU Life projects. The number of participants is limited to 120 people on a first come-first served basis.

The deadline for abstract submission will be February 23, 2016.

Feel free to pass this information on to colleagues who might be interested.

With kind regards,

Dominik Zak and Jörg Gelbrecht

on behalf of the president of SWS Europe

Prof. Jos Verhoeven (The Netherlands)