7/27/2019 PEER Activity Report 2012

1/4Activity Report 2012 - Issued in 2013

RESEARCH FACILITIES

Best o laboratories,unique platorms,observatoriesand large-scaleexperimental feldsites on page 2

CONFERENCES

L.Jones-Walters

Joint session withALTER-Net on greeninrastructure at theEuroScience OpenForum 2012.Details on page 3

Dear reader,

The second annual report othe Partnership for EuropeanEnvironmental Research providesan overview o the main resultswe achieved in 2012; namely theconclusion o the ecosystem servicesstudy (PRESS) with the publication

o a ull technical and a summaryreport, as well as participation inthe bi-annual EuroScience OpenForum through a session held incollaboration with ALTER-Net (ALong-Term Biodiversity, Ecosystemand Awareness Research Network).Following the renewal o itsFramework Agreement last October,PEER has established severaldevelopment activities. Among theseis ormulation o a joint agendaon environmental monitoring anddata management in Europe. Also,we have started preparing ouralignments or Horizon 2020, thenew EC Framework Programme orResearch and Innovation.Since the Partnership has a rotatingchairmanship, I take the opportunityto welcome my successor Jean-MarcBournigal, President o Irstea, whowill take over in April 2013.

Lea Kauppi, PEER Chair

THE CHAIRS CORNER

Research for a sustainable Europe

PEER 2012

The PEER Research on EcoSystem Services(PRESS) joint initiative ended in September2012 with the publication o a Synthesisand a ull technical report.The initiative demonstrates the biophysicaland socio-economic value o ecosystemservices, which are essential to our well-being since they provide us with ood,clean air and resh water and maintain a

habitable biosphere.Based on pollination, recreation andwater purication case studies perormedat multiple spatial scales, PRESS usesscenarios to estimate the changes inthe fow o ecosystem services and thebenets that could arise as a result opolicy changes.Consequently, it calls or the inclusiono the ecosystem services concept in

decision-making or policies that aect theuse or the state o natural resources, inorder to allow or a systematic review otheir consequences and to prioritise andmake the related investments cost-eective.Repeated invitations o the PRESSscientists as experts to advise Europeanenvironmental policies led DG ENVto express gratitude or supporting the

development and implementation othe EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020.Also, the publication o several peer-reviewed journal articles as well asollow-up FP7 projects like OpenNESS(Operationalisation o Natural Capitaland EcoSystem Services) and MESEU(Mapping and Assessment o ecosystemsand their Services) conrm the hugesuccess o the PRESS project.

'A spatial assessment o ecosystem services in Europe'Synthesis report or policy makers

I enjoyed so much working inan international, enthusiastic,fexible and dynamic team!PRESS gave us the possibi-

lity to build contacts or theuture and open up newcooperation opportunities.

A REWARDING EXPERIENCE Find all PRESS reports at

www.peer.eu

Based on voluntary contri-butions o motivated resear-chers, PRESS respondedquickly to a growing issue,

delivering the same qualityresults as FP projects.It was worth it!

P.Philippe,Irstea

J. Maes (JRC-IES)

J. Hauck (UFZ)

7/27/2019 PEER Activity Report 2012

2/4

Being members o the Partnershipor European Environmental Researchmeans sharing a vision, missions,

ideas, human resources when workingon common projects, as well as techni-cal instruments. PEER Institutes managea series o state o the art acilities suchas observational and experimentalplatorms and all sorts o simulationand visualisation laboratories, some-times unique in Europe.

The inrastructure includes stations ormonitoring land-atmosphere exchange

processes, climate change, greenhousegases and air quality, groundwater-surace interactions, radars and remotesensing machineries; large sites ortesting the eects o chemicals, orinstance insecticides or ertilisers anddierent land uses on various types oecosystems; and or reshwater sam-pling, soil moisture measurements andvegetation surveys. Some o these arelocated in the Arctic and represent keytools or studying the impacts o global

change on this region, e.g. sophistica-ted ice-breaking and coastal vessels.

Other technical platorms are dedica-ted to both agro-environmental assess-ment o spraying technologies and

irrigation equipment, and in particulartheir use in real operating and cli-mate conditions. These activities aimto model the unctioning o irrigationmachines and systems and simulatetheir employment in arms and smallregions.Further major testing acilities concer-ning ecotechnologies, health, naturalhazards and environmental risks maybe ound at dierent locations.

Education acilities are also availableat PEER centres. For example, the LeurLaboratory or Water and SedimentDynamics at Alterra, used by resear-chers or its straight and tilting fumesand the rainall simulator, has at leastthree other important unctionalities: itallows students to observe both rictionand local energy losses, and presentsa demonstration fume and orice toshow how these widely used systems

work by applying the energy conserva-tion law and the equation or continuityo mass.

Most o the above mentioned instru-mentation has recently been made

available or use outside the bounda-ries o the Institutes that own them.From now on, under certain conditionsdepending on the tool, PEER partnersas well as external scientists and insti-tutions can either apply to collaborateon specic projects with our researchteams responsible or the platorms orrequest access to them or their ownstudy purposes.Interested in nding out about acilities,their technical specications and the

related operational costs?Send an email to ino@peer.eu and aPEER scientist will contact you.

Science excellence built on a solid inrastructure

Advanced research acilities and equipment

Activity Report 2012 - Issued in 2013

PROJECTS WEBSITES

DID YOU KNOW?

In 2012, the Board o Directors

renewed the PEER Framework Agree-ment at CEH Headquarters in the UK.Originally signed in 2002 inRoskilde, Denmark, and later in 2007,this new engagement confrms the

willingness to continue ostering scien-tifc cooperation through a commonstrategy in environmental research.

Artifcial streams Alterra Wageningen URGlobal Change Experimental Facility UFZ

Vessel Aranda Tero Purokoski, SYKE

Centre or Spreading and the Environment Irsteanvironmental Research Aircrat Alterra Wageningen UR

Zackerberg Research Station in Greenland DCE

7/27/2019 PEER Activity Report 2012

3/4

In seas and orests, rom felds to cities

A hit at the EuroScience Open Forum 2012

Activity Report 2012 - Issued in 2013

A successul session ongreen inrastructure jointlyorganised by PEER andALTER-Net (A Long-TermBiodiversity, Ecosystemand Awareness Research

Network) took place atthe EuroScience OpenForum 2012 in Dublin onJuly 15th.Europes largest scienticbi-annual meeting bringstogether top researchers,business leaders, EUand government ocialsas well as internatio-nal scientic media todiscuss European science

and address all majorglobal scientic chal-lenges, including energy,climate change, environ-ment, ood and health.An enthusiastic delega-tion attended the pro-gramme, which includedpresentations on seasand orests, urban areasand recreational spacesby I. Sousa Pinto (Portu-guese InterdisciplinaryCentre o Marine and

Environmental Research),I. Hanski (Helsinki Uni-versity), M.L. Paracchini(JRC - IES) and K. Krauze(European RegionalCentre or Ecohydro-

logy/UNESCO). Thepolicy-dialogue andlively discussion with theaudience, moderated byL. Jones-Walters (Euro-pean Centre or NatureConservation) saw S.Pietikinen (Member othe European Parliament)and S. Colgan (IrishEnvironmental ProtectionAgency) giving valuable

insights into dierentaspects o policy imple-mentation and practicaldelivery, which stimulatedruitul exchange with theparticipants.

The conerence deli-neated a picture o theimportance o greenand blue inrastructure tohuman health and econo-mic well-being.The speakers agreed onthe urgency o gettingproper national regula-tion and European policyin place to bring theconcept into operation.

Interview with the Chair of the session

International mobility is a keyasset to a scientist's CV andhelps improve cooperationbetween research teams.The PEER centres havecommitted to supporting staexchange.Ask your Institute's Sherpa!

Want to work with us? Visitour website to nd out aboutadministrative and scienticvacancies open to externalcandidates at our Institutes:

Permanent, medium andshort-term contracts

Secondment positions

PhD, Post-Doc and Seniorgrants

Internships

L. Jones-Walters

Events

Keynote speakers at the green inrastructure session held at the ESOF 2012 conerence, 15th July

WHAT NEXT?

The second PEER internationalconerence 'Science or theEnvironment,' will take place in

Aarhus, Denmark, on the 3rd -4th October 2013. Three maintopics will be addressed: Climate

Action, Resource Efciency andGreen Economy.Further inormation and registra-tion at dce-conerence.au.dk

STAFF EXCHANGE

CHALLENGING CAREERS

Eeva Furman, PhD (thirdrom let) is the Directoro the Centre or En-vironmental Policy atSYKE. She organisedand chaired the sessionon green inrastructureat the conerence, about

which she says: 'TheESOF2012 in Dublinwas a very inspiring

experience.To be able to hold asession in a orum wheremore than 10 Nobellaureates are contributingwas a great honour. Thenext one in 2014 in Co-penhagen will provide

urther insights to latestscientic breakthroughs.Warmly recommended'.

7/27/2019 PEER Activity Report 2012

4/4Activity Report 2012 - Issued in 2013

Conception:E.

Roggio/M

.LeBourlout,Irstea

PEER

,2013/PrintedonFSC-certifiedeco-

friendlypaper

The Partnership for European Environmental Researchis a network o seven o the largest public environmental researchcentres in Europe, ounded in 2001 with the aim o pursuing ajoint scientifc strategy to achieve ecological sustainability.Its member Institutes carry out basic and applied research,covering natural to social sciences.PEER integrates knowledge and expertise to support national andEuropean policy makers, industry and society.

Lea Kauppi, PhDSYKE Director General

Mechelininkatu, 34 a

PL 140, 00251, Helsinki, Finlandtel. + 358206101970ax. + 358954902789lea.kauppi@ymparisto.f

WANT TO KNOW MORE? CONTACT US!

Chair Secretariat

M. Puupponen,SYKE

Secretary+358407432184secretary@peer.eu

E. RoggioIrstea

Secretary or PR+33140966283ino@peer.eu

Directors

K. SlingerlandManaging DirectorAlterrakees.slingerland@wur.nl

M. BaileyDirectorCEHmbailey@ceh.ac.uk

G. TeutschScientifc DirectorUFZg@uz.de

M. BettiDirectorJRC-IESies-contact@jrc.ec.europa.eu

J.M. BournigalPresidentIrsteacabinet-presidence@irstea.r

H. BachClausenDirectorDCEhba@dmu.dk

Sherpas

M. HildnSYKE

H. WolertAlterra

N. WellsCEH

A. SkjoldborgDCE

D. DesprauxIrstea

M. AvraamidesJRC-IES

U. SchmitzUFZ

Communication

S. PellinenSYKE

F. LoosAlterra

H. LowtherCEH

S. VoigtDCE

E. RoggioIrstea

G. MulhernJRC-IES

A. StaakUFZ

www.peer.eu

KEY PUBLICATIONS

PRESS report 'A spatial assessment o ecosystem services inEurope - Methods, case studies and policy analysis - phase 2.

Synthesis report', Sept. 2012

PRESS report 'A spatial assessment o ecosystem services inEurope - Methods, case studies and policy analysis - phase 2',Sept. 2012

PRESS REVIEW

Research Roundtable: Nature's Capital.International Innovation (Oct.2012) Research Media, UK, pp 108-109.ISSN: 2041-4552

Partnership or European Environmental Research.International Innovation (Oct. 2012) Research Media, UK, pp 120-122.ISSN: 2041-4552

Jean-Marc Bournigal takes over PEER Chairmanship starting from April 2013

JRC-IES