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Strategy
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The strategy of the PEER network for Biodiversity and Nature Conservation (CONNECT) employs two complementary approaches: the "top-down" approach adopted in strategic activities involving the joint network, and the "bottom-up" approach applied to ad hoc activities of partnerships led by individual institutes or scientists.
CONNECT serving international environmental authorities
With the objective effectively to support the environmental administrations, especially at the international level, the joint network expertise must be available and, with short notice, be prepared to focus on selected topical problem areas which have been put on the environmental agenda. With the aims to contribute to the setting of priorities and to obtain early information on potential tasks the network institutes have established close formal and informal links to the central and decentral parts of the international environmental administrations, links which can be exploited by all network members.
Based on a currently updated overview of topical and coming priorities of the administrations, the network leaders can decide to allocate resources to specific areas or activities (R&D projects; consultancy) with the aim to ensure the necessary volume, experience and versatility in the project groups. Doing so, the network leaders exploit the joint expertise of the network against the background of the scientific profiles of the individual institutes. The implementation of the "top down" strategy would be facilitated by complementary expert resources which have been reserved for networking purposes by the Institute managements combined with early information on coming tasks to be solved by the network.
CONNECT as a research network for ad hoc collaboration on specific conservation topics
Very often scientific achievements which prove useful to the environmental administration at the national level in one country are relevant to the administrations in other countries or at the international level. Having comparable roles in national environmental research, the CONNECT institutes and the individual scientists will often benefit from interchanging know-how or participating in joint research projects and consultancy activities. External research groups are invited to join the collaboration on an ad hoc basis.
A currently updated overview of priorities and scientific "strong points" at all the institutes is a prerequisite to the CONNECT scientists for establishing contact to relevant partners in time. The network researchers exploit the network capabilities in establishing contact to potential collaboration partners in CONNECT or outside the network. The effective implementation of the "bottom up" strategy thus presented requires early, detailed and targeted information on new and coming activities as well as on the scientific developments at the institutes.
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For more information on this research network please contact:
Dr Allan Watt
CEH - Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Hill of Brathens
Banchory
Aberdeenshire
AB31 4BY
United Kingdom
Tel.: +44-1330-826300
Fax: +44-1330-823303
E-mail:
Dr Jurgen Tack
CONNECT Secretary
Institute of Nature Conservation
Kliniekstraat 25
B-1070 Brussels
Belgium
Tel.: +32-2-5581861
Fax: +32-2-5581805
E-mail: |
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