Issue No.5
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Contents
Meet our team members
Professor Jeremy Biggs, CEO at Freshwater Habitats Trust. He is a freshwater biologist with a special interest in ponds and the patterns of freshwater biodiversity at landscape scale, in all kinds of freshwater habitats. His main role in PONDERFUL is to guide Freshwater Habitats Trust’s work on the project, with a special emphasis on the promotion and dissemination of the results.
Updates on our work
The PONDERFUL consortium has brought together more than 50 of the world’s leading freshwater specialists to officially welcome a new resolution to promote and protect small wetlands. The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands has now adopted Resolution XIV.15: The conservation and management of small wetlands, which is an important signal to national and international institutions of the importance of small wetlands and waterbodies for freshwater biodiversity. Members of the consortium, along with scientists and conservationists from across the globe, signed a letter to Dr Musonda Mumba, Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in this regard.
A video created by the PONDERFUL project is contributing to disseminate PONDERFUL results: the role of ponds in mitigating and adapting to climate change, delivering ecosystem services and reversing the decline in biodiversity. Discover more about these rich and fascinating habitats, how can they help to protect wildlife and their importance to humans as a nature-based solution.
News and events
In May, the PONDERFUL consortium met in Uppsala, Sweden, to share the most recent results of the project. The event was also an opportunity to share our knowledge of how ponds will help us adapt and mitigate climate change, protect biodiversity, and deliver ecosystem services. The meeting included 53 members from the consortium from 11 countries.
During the second half of 2023, PONDERFUL will run a series of technical webinars about the value and management of ponds. In particular, the events will focus on their importance for aquatic species conservation, invasive species, carbon balance and pond construction and management. The webinars of one hour duration will take place on Zoom and are open to all free of charge, but registration is compulsory. In our next webinar, on August 29 at 4 pm (CET) we will have Dr. Roger Paulo Mormul from the State University of Maringá, Brazil, talking about “The world we created and the Planet we want from a freshwater perspective”. Registration link for the webinar here.
The PONDERFUL project was represented at the NatureNetwork Taskforces Cluster meeting, held in Brussels on 7th June. Through interviews, presentations, panel debates, and interactive sessions, this meeting showcased results, tools and products from EU-funded projects, focused on Nature-based Solutions (NBS). Dr Aurélie Boissezon of PONDERFUL partner University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland and Dr Mireia Bartrons Vilamala of project partner The University of Vic – Central University of Catalonia attended the meeting, which provided opportunities to share ideas and discuss collaboration with other NBS-focused projects.
Ponds were the subject of several sessions at the Symposium for European Freshwater Sciences (SEFS13), held in the UK in June. The conference, which is one of the biggest events in the freshwater calendar, included a programme of pond-related sessions hosted by PONDERFUL partner the European Pond Conservation Network (EPCN). Several members of the PONDERFUL consortium attended the symposium, presenting their work and sharing results with other freshwater scientists from around the world.
Freshwater reports
Another review of papers and events of general interest for freshwater ecologists that caught our eye and are thought or action provoking. In addition, the PONDERFUL consortium is now publishing a growing number of papers with results from the project. Keep an eye on the scientific publications page of our website for updates.