Welcome to the CERI webpage!
Carpathian EcoRegion Initiative is a coalition of NGOs and research institutes working towards a common vision for conservation and sustainable development of the Carpathians.
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Become a member
Membership is open to NGOs, academic and research institutes committed to sign up to the CERI vision statement and accepting the CERI Statutes.
Support us
All support will be used within the CERI vision, for conservation of the unique Carpathian Biodiversity.
for any kind of cooperation or support
Provide us with your pictures/photographs to be used for free for the promotion of Carpathian region and conservation of biodiversity
Initiate cooperation with CERI network, contact us to elaborate common project
Take advantage of CERI expertise and involve CERI experts into your projects
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Nature and Biodiversity
CERI is particularly dedicated to the implementation of Article 4 of the Carpathian Convention – “Conservation and sustainable use of biological and landscape diversity,” through the development of a Carpathian Biodiversity Information System and a Carpathian Ecological Network, through projects as well as through the activities mentioned below.
Biodiversity Protocol to the Carpathian Convention – lobbying for NGO comments incorporation
In 2006 the first draft of the Biodiversity Protocol to the Carpathian Convention has been elaborated by Ukraine and translated into English. CERI mobilised experts from the Carpathian region and disseminated the draft Protocol for commenting. CERI also initiated the cooperation among main international environmental networks active in the region in order to join forces and proceed further unitedly with lobbying for incorporation of changes into the Protocol. Within its 3rd General Assembly in November 2006 CERI organised common meeting with representation of ISCC, ANPED, CEEWEB, REC and WWF DCP with the aim to agree on common approach of comments collection, summarization and presentation to the Carpathian authorities.
First comments were collected and summarized at the CERI General Assembly 2006. Common version of these comments was briefly presented to the 1st Conference of the Parties to the Carpathian Convention in Kiev, December 2006. CERI applied for the membership in the Working Group on Biodiversity in order to be involved in the process of finalisation of the Protocol. CERI will continue in lobbying activities during the upcoming months, until the Biodiversity Protocol is finalized.
CERI membership in Working Group on Biodiversity at ISCC
CERI nominates its representatives to attend meetings and ensure expert participation on behalf of NGOs and research institutes from Carpathian region at all the relevant initiatives and activities run by the Working Group on Biodiversity, which has been established by the COP1 under the Carpathian Convention implementation Committee. At the same time CERI ensures the distribution of information from this WG among network members in the Carpathian countries. With these activities CERI will serve as the bridge for continual information flow between the Carpathian authorities and the representatives of scientific institutions and public.
Carpathian Clearinghouse
In 2006 CERI has started up the work for establishing a ‘Carpathian Clearinghouse’ in the region, providing a center for streamlined data management and monitoring designed for member organizations, partners and external stakeholders, in order to efficiently track conservation progress in the Carpathians. Within its projects CERI undertook first steps for building capacity for establishing the Clearinghouse. The Clearinghouse will be critical not only for maintaining the highest standards in conservation and sustainable development, but also for being able to prioritize where conservation efforts are most needed, thereby justifying where and how donor money is allocated and achieving the largest benefit per cost.
The 2007 activities will lead to an assessment of existing and available databases storing biodiversity data (vegetation types – alliances, plants, animals) in the Carpathian region with an emphasis on Ukraine, Romania and Serbia. Based on the structure of databases a system how to link and view them will be elaborated (spatial data viewer in case of GIS data, otherwise metadatabase).
Furthermore, CERI will fundraise in order to ensure funding for enlargement of the Carpathian Clearinghouse initiative to western Carpathian countries, namely Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, which are not covered by the sources available at present. In spring 2007 CERI will submit a project proposal to German DBU foundation in order to fulfill this task. In initial stages the following activities are foreseen: assessment of existing databases in Slovakia, Czerch Republic, Poland and Hungary; assessment of availability and compatibility of bio- and geo-data; refinement of borders of orographical units – mapping units in the Carpathians. For data gathering and processing a method developed for the “eastern” phase of the process running under BBI-Matra project will be used.
Carpathian Biodiversity Information System
Carpathian Biodiversity Information System (CBIS) forms an important component of the overall Carpathian Clearinghouse, covering information and data on biodiversity status in the Carpathian mountains. Biodiversity data gathering is lead by Daphne – Institute of Applied Ecology within the MATRA BBI Project. At the same time Daphne is coordinating the CERI Biodiversity Information System Working Group, what ensures the effective coordination among the individual units with biodiversity focus. Development of Carpathian Biodiversity Database under the CBIS is a useful tool for data analyses on the regional level.
Activities for 2007 include the coordination of data gathering: assessment of availability and reliability of biodiversity and geographical data in the Carpathian countries with focus on Ukraine, Romania and Serbia; preparation of national lists of habitats, plants and animals; refinement of the boundaries of the orographical units.
The collection of biodiversity data from western Carpathian countries is part of the already mentioned project proposal elaborated for the German DBU Foundation.
Involvement in Carpathian CADSES Project through biodiversity data collection in Western Carpathians
The Carpathian Project – Protection and sustainable development of the Carpathians in a transnational framework, led by UNEP Vienna-Interim Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention (ISCC) is one of the biggest projects implemented in the Carpathian region at present. The project shall integrate European spatial development policies with the management of the Carpathians’ fragile mountain ecosystems in a transnational context.
Experiences e.g. of the Alpine space demonstrate that mountains can offer considerable potentials for development respecting the value of rich natural and cultural heritage and its preservation for the future. The project will analyze and consolidate the information base, develop strategies and policy instruments, and implement and test pilot activities, in continuous cooperation with local and regional stakeholders. This can not be achieved without inclusion of biodiversity data into the analyses. Therefore CERI, as one of the main organisations gathering data on biodiversity in the Carpathians, negotiates with the project coordinator to join the project partners working on data collection. CERI aims to take over the task to collect the data in western Carpathians. The data would not only serve for the purposes of the Carpathian CADSES Project but could be at the same time used for the development of the Carpathian Biodiversity Information System as the bases for development of Carpathian Ecological Network.
The negotiations between CERI and ISCC will start in spring 2007. If common agreement is reached, the data collection in western Carpathians (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia) will start already in autumn 2007, based on the methodology agreed in the frame of the ongoing CBIS initiative in Eastern Carpathian countries.
Development of Carpathian Ecological Network
Long-term protection and management of the natural resources of the Carpathians in a sustainable way cannot be achieved by each individual country on its own and requires trans-national cooperation. This trans-national cooperation on the protection and sustainable development of the Carpathians is also of great importance in the context of the 'Environment for Europe' process. Due to these aspects, CERI aims at the development of the Carpathian Ecological Network, which once developed would enable coordinated transboundary management of the unique biodiversity of the Carpathians. In this first phase, CERI initiates the process in eastern Carpathian countries – Romania, Serbia and Ukraine with involving experts from western Carpathians for consultations. At the same time CERI undertakes steps to raise further funds to enable all Carpathian countries to get involved into the process in the same extent.
CERI will continue its emphasis to develop a concept for the Carpathian Ecological Network (CEN, process started in 2006 and will continue till 2009) based on an analysis of existing protected areas, (p)SCIs and SPAs and other priority areas linked trough a network of ecological corridors, taking into account the requirements of the Habitats and Birds Directives, the CBD and the Pan European Ecological Network. This concept can only be effectively developed while enhancing capacities of the NGOs in the Ukraine, Romania and Serbia in development of the ecological network, and the implementation of relevant Directives and agreements. (Natura 2000, Emerald, PEEN). To achieve the above mentioned results a great variety of activities will be carried out in close cooperation with the CERI members in the three focal countries. Based on an analysis of the training needs a number of trainings and workshops will be planned and organised. A core of the work group for development of the Carpathian Ecological Network has started the discussions on the methodology and procedure, which will be used to design the ecological network. Members from the CERI countries with different background and expertise will be nominated for each expert meeting according to the required expertise: first planning meeting – biodiversity experts -generalists, to fulfill the tasks during 2007 – socio-economic experts from Serbia and Ukraine, biologists – ichthyologist, freshwater and amphibians & reptiles experts, preferably from Ukraine; a border aspects of conservaion expert from Czech Republic and Hungary.
In 2007 CERI will further work on the methodology for CEN development, will identify most important regional conservation features and targets. After identification of this information a scenario meeting will be prepared to start with identification of the CEN structure and components.
CERI involvement in 2012 Protected Area Programme
The International member of CERI, WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme is the lead partner in programme entitled 2010 Protected Areas Programme – The Carpathian Mountains Ecoregion – Phase 1. This programme for the Carpathian region is one of a number of focal ecoregion programmes chosen as priorities by WWF to promote and support the implementation of the Convention of Biological Diversity Programme of Work for Protected Areas. The programme will be run for five years between January 2007 and December 2011.
CERI was involved in the preparation of the programme and will be involved also in its implementation. The main CERI role shall be in organizing working group and/or consultation process for the development of guidelines for a monitoring scheme on protected area management effectiveness. Besides that, CERI is a member of the programme Steering Group.