Environmental Statement
Reducing the ecological footprint of ECCB 2012 (Including a Call for Tender)
The 3rd European Congress of Conservation Biology “Conservation biology on the edge”, to be held in Glasgow at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC) from 28 August to 1 September 2012, will welcome more than 1,500 biologists, practitioners, consultants, policy makers, social scientists, teachers and students to discuss, design and disseminate new guidelines, tools and strategies in an attempt to win the race to significantly reduce the loss of biodiversity. This meeting will stimulate conservation science and improve conservation action. At the last ECCB in Prague, the Europe Section of the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB-ES) started its campaign for holding more eco-friendly European conservation congresses*. Apart from several special events organized by SCB-ES, the local congress organizers strived for an eco-friendly meeting and tried to minimize environmental impact.
In Glasgow, we want to go beyond our previous efforts. Partially, this can be achieved by the local organizers’ and the conference centre’s ‘low footprint’ strategy. Click here to view the SECC's environmental policy.
Personally, each participant of ECCB 2012 is encouraged to calculate and minimize his/her individual footprint and take care e.g., of compensating travel-related emissions.
Additionally, in the context of Glasgow’s conference, again, SCB-ES wants to support an existing biodiversity conservation project with positive impacts both for climate and nature.
Call for tender - Reducing the ecological footprint of ECCB 2012
We call for project proposals that meet our objective to contribute as much as possible to both biodiversity conservation and climate protection. The deadline for submission of proposals is
30th July 2012.
Eligibility Criteria:
Projects implemented in Europe that make a relevant contribution to biodiversity conservation and climate protection (e.g. peat bog regeneration, reforestation in previously forested regions, conservation of natural succession, deforestation avoidance) are eligible. Funding will be granted for one or several existing projects or new initiatives that can demonstrate a significant impact. The project shall be carried out by a registered non-governmental or governmental organization.
Financial component:
The amount allocated from conference revenues to selected projects will be 10.000 €. Projects submitted should include a description of activities, targets, involvement of public bodies and a detailed description of the expected budget.
Selection criteria:
Selection will be based on technical and scientific approaches, allocation of resources, including budget, with emphasis on demonstrated experience in the field of work specified. Demonstration sites with larger areas to be restored and planted will be preferred. In-kind or direct financial contribution towards the achievements of the outcomes would be considered an advantage.
Each proposal will be reviewed according to the following criteria:
o General description, justification of the project idea
o Expected impacts in terms of conservation and reduction of greenhouse gas
emissions, technical feasibility and quality
o Institutional context, experience
o Sustainability aspects
o Financial components, budget
Submission:
The Europe Section of the Society for Conservation Biology invites interested parties to submit a full proposal of no more than 4 pages via E-mail with the reference “Tender for the ECCB2012 footprint project”.
Note that full proposals must be written in English only and addressed to:
The President of the Europe Section of the Society for Conservation Biology
via the Congress Secretariat: ECCB
Professor Pierre L. Ibisch
Chair, Policy Committee, Society for Conservation Biology Europe Section
*The global SC is also strongly committed to low-footprint meetings. In 2006 SCB formed an Ecological Footprint Committee (EFC) to help measure and reduce the ecological impacts of SCB’s operations. A major activity of the EFC has been to identify appropriate carbon offset projects, which allow SCB to mitigate the annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the organization and the International Congress on Conservation Biology (ICCB) meetings. More information about the EFC can be found here. The EFC has recently decided to continue SCB’s carbon offset program for the next 3 ICCB meetings (2010, 2011, and 2013; see: the Wild Rose Conservation Site in southern Alberta), and the next 4 years of SCB operations (2010-2013) with a new carbon offset project.