1. www.naturalengland.org.uk Philip Eckersley Senior Specialist – Enforcement The ECONAT 2000 Network

2. What is the Econat Network Network Members Rijkswaterstaat Netherlands –Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management Natural England, UK –Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Niedersächsischer Landesbetrieb für Wasserwirtschaft, Küsten- und Naturschutz, Germany –part of Ministry of Environment of Lower Saxony, ATEN, France –Umbrella for protected area management bodies –mandated by the French Ministry in charge of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Land use planning.

3. The Econat 2000 Network Econat aims: 1.To promote the exchange of best practice and experience on implementing Natura 2000 across Europe, in particular economic developments 2.To enhance cooperation across borders and sectors 3.To improve understanding of the practical application of ‘legal’, ‘ecological’ and “economic” concepts

4. The Econat Network How does it work? A number of small, focussed peer exchanges per year in the four partner countries Management team from network members Annual seminar to share findings

5. The Econat Network Planned for 2010 in UK: Recreational access & Natura 2000 Dealing with Uncertainty Peer exchanges 2009 Management planning Linear / transport infrastructure Legal aspects of species protection Natura 2000 Protected marine areas Estuaries

6. Peer Exchange – Transport & Infrastructure Aims: Compare procedures and contexts in NL, D, UK and F Using case studies examine the specific problems caused by linear infrastructures on N2K sites Examine solutions to mitigate and / or compensate for impacts Case Studies Impacts of new High Speed Train link (TGV – Est in France) NOx impacts on protected sites – New Motorway Germany National Ecological network - Netherlands

7. Peer Exchange – Transport & Infrastructure Common issues Assessment of favourable conservation status of habitats and species; Evaluation of alternative solutions; Confusion around ‘mitigation’ versus ‘compensatory measures’ with developers and consultancies; Still problems with the assessment and quantification of ‘significant adverse effects’; Lack of technical and scientific knowledge on the reactions of habitats and species to infrastructure impacts, particularly cumulative ones; Lack of areas for compensation, and guarantees of effectiveness of compensatory measures; Lack of connectivity program in N2000 at European level,

8. The Econat Network http://seminar.econat.n2000.fr phil.eckersley@naturalengland.org.uk