Welcome letter from the President of SER Europe
Dear Colleagues,
On behalf the board of the European Chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration SER International I welcome you to the 7th European Conference on Ecological Restoration in Avignon.
During the past decade ecological restoration aiming at the rehabilitation and sustainable management of degraded ecosystems has become an international movement of rapidly rising significance. This is reflected by a constantly growing number of practitioners and scientists attending the biannual conferences organized by the European Chapter of SER since 1996. This year, we are awaiting for the first time more than 400 participants, which means that our conference has become a European prime event in the field of ecology and environmental conservation.
For the first time the conference is hosted in the Mediterranean area, a region facing severe environmental problems under global climate and land-use change. Several plenary and parallel sessions will specifically address to problems related to the restoration of Mediterranean ecosystems. Moreover, we hope to stimulate the exchange of ideas and knowledge on ecological restoration not only between northern and southern Europe but also with Northern Africa and the Middle East.
Thanks to the early and ambitious activities of Thierry Dutoit that started almost two years ago, the conference will be hosted in Avignon’s medieval Pope Place at the edge of the old town, probably one of the most scenic locations for a conference one can imagine. I would like to thank Thierry and the whole organizing team, the sponsors and everybody else involved in the conference organization for their support, idealism and commitment, which are essential to make such an event possible.
I wish you a pleasant und inspiring stay in Avignon and hope to see you again for the 8th European Conference on Ecological Restoration, which will be held in 2012 in the Czech Republic in the city of Ceské Budejovice.
Pr. Dr. Norbert Hölzel
President of SER Europe