Integrated Management of European Wetlands

A Project of the European Commission's Fifth Framework Programme (Contract # EVK2-CT2000-22001), contributing to the implementation of the Key Action "Towards Sustainability" within Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development

Today, conserving biologically diverse areas is a widely accepted ethos. Yet, even though many people live within these conservation areas, most policies governing these reserves are based on ecological models which do not integrate the views of local inhabitants. This often leads to conflicts between conservation principles and indigenous livelihoods.

What sorts of policies would local stakeholders living within biologically diverse areas support? In order to answer this question, a team of social scientists co-ordinated interdisciplinary research in wetlands across Europe. These wetlands are internationally recognised conservation areas in Finland, Greece, Lithuania and Romania. This project was the EC-funded Integrated Management of European Wetlands (IMEW) Project, co-ordinated by Dr Sandra Bell.

NOTE: The information in this website does not represent the opinion of the European Community and the Community is not reponsible for any use that might be made of data appearing therein.

This page is maintained by IMEW's WebMistress, last updated 16 December, 2004 .