A LIFE platform meeting will be organized on October 12 – 13, 2022 to address integrated and innovative approaches to coastal wetlands, birds and habitats conservation. Sharing the successful management models and strategies will allow not only focus on the strict replication aspects but will also target related aspects like scaling-up, demonstration and mainstreaming.
 
Lectors from Spain, Italy, Bulgaria, Greece, etc. will share their experiences to restore degraded ecosystems, to prevent and reduce the impact of natural disasters.
 
The coastal wetlands play an important role in the regional economy, however increasing human pressure could limit the economic and ecological services provided by these ecosystems. That is why managing human interventions in a way that enables them to safeguard their existence but could also cause their disappearance from the coastal landscape.
 
The meeting will address the following issues in 4 panel sessions:

1.        Coastal wetland governance and cross-sectoral cooperation
2.         Climate change mitigation and adaption of coastal wetlands
3.         Innovative restoration, conservation and monitoring approaches
4.         The socio-economic value of coastal wetlands

 
During the Platform meeting special attention will be paid to identifying not only the output and outcome-based lessons, but specifically the process-based ones (e.g. the novel approaches), as well as the problem based (e.g negative learnings to avoid a repeat).
 
The objective of the meeting is to gather European best practices from coastal areas for their sustainable management and to be a key event at the Black Sea in the frame of the #LIFEis30 campaign.
 

DATE, VENUE AND REGISTRATION

The LIFE Platform Meeting will be held on October 12-13, in the International Congress Center of Burgas. You can register here: https://forms.gle/EYGWNkEQ8nBpTsaQ9 (deadline for registration: 30.09.2022)
 
The programme will include a plenary session (one and a half working days) and a field visit (half-day). The meeting will be a hybrid event – a "live" in-person event in Burgas with a "virtual" online component. It will also provide opportunities for networking and sharing experiences. A special publication will be developed with the abstract from the presentations of the participants. All outcomes from the platform meeting will be made available online.
 
The event is kindly hosted by the Lagoon of LIFE project/ LIFE17 NAT/BG/000558 that is focused on maintaining the Man-Lake Symbiosis for the benefit of species and habitats of EU conservation concern. It is taking actions for full-scale restoration of the ecological processes, establishing a self-sustaining and financially viable mechanism to allow for the long-term conservation management of the lagoon and promoting the benefits generated by the Natura 2000 site Atanasovsko Lake.