The NoLIMITS International Workshop was held at Brasenose College (Oxford, UK), 24-26 March 1999. The objectives of the Workshop were to:
 | bring together potential users and providers of data and information from sites across Europe; |
| develop a rationale for a network of long-term integrated monitoring sites across Europe, based on user requirements; |
| develop a strategy for the development of a European network; |
| identify research opportunities arising from closer links between sites across Europe; |
| identify the next steps required to facilitate the development of a European network of sites. |
The Workshop was attended by 85 people from 22 different European countries. Discussions at the Workshop are currently being considered by the NoLIMITS Task Force to decide how best to proceed.
A Workshop Synthesis Report has been drafted and will be made available soon.
The Workshop Programme is provided below.
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Programme for the NoLIMITS Workshop
Brasenose College, Oxford, UK, 24-26 March 1999
Day 1 - Wednesday 24 March 1999
Why do we need a European Network of Integrated Monitoring Sites?
Primary objective for Day 1: To inform Workshop participants about existing approaches to integrated monitoring and establish why a European sites network is required.
9:30 Welcome, Introduction & Session Chair - Brian Wilkinson (Director, CEH)
9:35 - 9:55 What is NoLIMITS and why are we here? - Terry Parr (NoLIMITS Coordinator)
9:55 - 10:10 The ENRICH Programme - Julia Kundermann (European Commission DGXII)
10:10 - 11:00 Defining and characterising integrated site monitoring in Europe
| ECN - A national integrated monitoring network - Ian Woiwod (UK) |
| Integrated monitoring in Phare countries - Edit Kovacs-Lang (Hungary) |
| IMP - An international integrated monitoring network - Martin Forsius (Finland) |
| Discussion |
11:15 - 12:45 Why is a pan-European network needed? - the opinions of some key users
Session Chair - Bill Heal (UK)
| From national monitoring to European environmental reporting - Gordon McInnes (European Environment Agency) |
| The European network under Council Regulation 3528/86 - Protection of the Community's forests against atmospheric pollution Josef Herkendell (European Commission - DGVI) |
| FP5: Funding opportunities for research work on Biodiversity, on Ecosystems and on Global Observing systems - Martin Sharman (European Commission DGXII) |
| Early human health effects of climate change in Europe: A proposal from the World Health Organisation’s European Centre for Environment and Health - Bettina Menne and Roberto Bertollini (WHO) |
| How the network will contribute to global monitoring - Jim Gosz (Global Terrestrial Observing System) |
14:00 - 15:30 Different approaches to integrated monitoring in Europe & why a European network is important - 10 minute presentations
Session Chair - Tadeusz Prus (Poland)
| ICP Waters - experience during 12 years of data handling in an international cooperative programme - Brit Lisa Skjelkvale, M. Johannessen Ulstein & G. G. Raddum (Norway) |
| Environmental monitoring in Estonia - Reet Talkop (Estonia) |
| Monitoring for nature conservation in Europe - Corinna Bischoff & Rainer Droschmeister (Germany) |
| From sectoral to integrated environmental monitoring: Challenges and Opportunities in Romania - Angheluta Vadineanu (Romania) |
| Irish Ecological Monitoring Network - Ted Farrell (Ireland) |
| Czech long-term ecological research network - ecosystems on crossroads - Vera Straskrabova (Czech Republic) |
| Set up and strategy for the Intensive Monitoring of forest ecosystems in Europe - Wim de Vries (Netherlands) |
| Norwegian Long-term Integrated Monitoring Programmes and Their Links to Europe - Erik Framstad (Norway) |
Session Chair: Terry Parr (NoLIMITS Coordinator)
15:45 - 16:00 An overview of environmental monitoring in Europe - Bill Heal (UK)
16:00 - 16:45 Review, synthesis and discussion
Day 2 - Thursday 25 March 1999
Design issues for a European Integrated Monitoring Network
Primary objective for Day 2: To develop ideas and make decisions about what a European Integrated Monitoring Network will need to look like to address identified user requirements.
09:00 - 09:30 Working groups: terms of reference and objectives - WG Chairs
9:30 - 12:30 Five parallel working groups examining design issues
Working Group 1: Network design - Chaired by Philippe Martin (European Commission)
Presentations to the Working Group:
| Quality ingredients for effective network design - Philippe Martin (European Commission) |
| Proposal for ecological classification of monitoring sites, measurements and estimated parameters - Ferenc Horvath (Hungary) |
Topics for discussion:
| What network design requirements have been identified by users? and what criteria can be used to prioritise them? |
| What should be the scope/coverage of the network?, should it be limited to a few issues or should it attempt to be as wide as possible? |
| How many sites does the network need?, and how should these sites be distributed?, How should sites be selected? |
| How many, how often and which variables should be measured? |
| How comparable does the data need to be?, should measurements be made using standard protocols?, which protocols? |
| What are the priority areas for research to enhance network development? |
| The group will prepare a brief verbal report for the next plenary session |
Working Group 2: Providing users with information - Chaired by Keith Bull (UK)
Presentation to the Working Group:
| Demonstration of the NoLIMITS Information Exchange Network Pilot Study - Mandy Lane (UK) |
Topics for discussion:
| What are the key requirements of an information exchange network, I) for participating sites, and ii) for other users ? |
| What should be the priorities for system development - e.g. meta-data access, summary data access, access to interpreted information? |
| What design issues correspond to these requirements? |
| Given the self-sustaining philosophy, to what extent should the system be distributed? |
| What are the resource implications? |
| How should NoLIMITS pursue the development of IEN? Is there a need for a follow-up Working Group to take this forward and, if so, who should contribute? |
| The group will prepare a brief verbal report for the next plenary session |
Working Group 3: Modelling - Chaired by Martin Forsius (Finland)
Presentations to the Working Group:
| Integrated monitoring and modelling at the MEDALUS project sites - some results - John Thornes (UK) |
Topics for discussion:
| Which environmental problems should be given highest priority in eventual modelling work at NoLIMITS sites? |
| Can we identify specific policy-related questions which should be addressed in a site-specific approach? What kind of outputs should the models be capable of delivering? |
| What data/information do the models need to address these questions? |
| What techniques are available to connect site-specific work to regional-scale databases/approaches? |
| How should the modelling work be organised?, - identification of key topics, - selection of models and expert institutes, - selection, number and distribution of sites, - funding of modelling work, - connections to ongoing activities, - what are the priority areas for research to enhance network development |
| What should be done with the present background report? |
| The group will prepare a brief verbal report for the next plenary session |
Working Group 4: Presenting biodiversity data from terrestrial ecosystems as comparable indicators of change - Chaired by Edit Kovacs-Lang (Hungary)
Presentations to the Working Group:
| Monitoring of soil invertebrate communities in different semi-natural and man influenced biotopes in Czech Republic - Karel Tajovsky (Czech Republic) |
| National Biodiversity Monitoring System in Hungary - Katalin Torok (Hungary) |
| The present state of monitoring of vegetation changes in Slovenia - Andraz Carni (Slovenia) |
Topics for discussion:
| The role of research in integrated monitoring |
| What are the main ecosystem types of relevance to NoLIMITS? |
| What are the main threats for these ecosystems in Europe? |
| Which are the best biodiversity indicators in the different ecosystems which respond to these threats? |
| How do we distinguish between "noise" and "signals" from monitoring data? |
| How do we identify "indices" on the state of biodiversity for politicians and administrators? |
| What are the priority areas for research to enhance network development? |
| The group will prepare a brief verbal report for the next plenary session |
Working Group 5: Links between in-situ and Earth Observation data - Chaired by Peter Churchill (European Commission)
Topics for discussion:
| From the EO perspective: What information (eg. calibration & validation) is lacking from terrestrial systems that is needed by the EO community? |
| What measurements are required to bridge this gap?, And how often? |
| Which is more important wide geographic coverage or high density of measurements? |
| Could this information be provided by a European network of integrated environmental monitoring sites? |
| From the in-situ perspective: What information is available from integrated environmental monitoring sites in terrestrial systems that could potentially be used by the EO community? |
| Would there be value in co-locating instruments at monitoring sites for the calibration of satellite images with instrumentation for the validation of data products? |
| How do EO users require information delivered? |
| How could monitoring sites use EO data to further their own activities? (scaling-up?) |
| What are the priority areas for research to enhance network development? |
| The group will prepare a brief verbal report for the next plenary session |
14:00 - 15:30 Reports from the Working Groups and plenary discussion
Session Chair - Jim Gosz (GTOS)
| Working Group 1 report - Philippe Martin (European Commission) |
| Working Group 2 report - Keith Bull (UK) |
| Working Group 3 report - Martin Forsius (Finland) |
| Working Group 4 report - Edit Kovacs-Lang (Hungary) |
| Working Group 5 report - Peter Churchill (European Commission) |
| Plenary discussion |
15:45 - 17:30 Poster Session: Environmental Monitoring - Networks and Needs
Day 3 - Friday 26 March 1999
Implementation issues for a European Integrated Monitoring Network
Primary objective for Day 3: To examine some of the issues that will need to be addressed if a European Integrated Monitoring Network is to be successfully implemented.
09:00 - 09:30 Review and Synthesis of Day 2, and organisation of the Day 3 Working Groups
09:30 - 11:00 Four ad-hoc Working Groups were convened to examine the following topics:
| Redefining the NoLIMITS Vision - Chaired by Philippe Martin (European Commission, JRC) |
| Defining the concept of a network of networks- Chaired by Ted Farrell (Ireland) |
| NoLIMITS Demonstration Project - Chaired by Jeff Tschirley (GTOS) |
| Identifiying added value of participation - Chaired by Vera Straskrabova (Czech Republic) |
11:15 - 12:15 Reports from the Working Groups and plenary discussion - Chaired by Gordon McInnes (European Environment Agency)
12:15 - 12:30 Concluding remarks - Terry Parr (NoLIMITS Coordinator)
Visit to the Environmental Change Network monitoring site at Wytham Wood - Mike Morecroft & Michele Taylor (ECN)
