Nagy Tavak ás Vizes Élőhelyek Védelme

Ewa Leś

Clean Baltic Coalition, River University
Citizen of the Oder river basin, founder of the unique interdisciplinary River University, Leader of the Eutrophication Working Area at Coalition Clean Baltic; co-founder of Polish Save The Rivers Coalition (Koalicja Ratujmy Rzeki); initiator and coordinator of “the Water Round Table. Partnerships for society and nature” on flood protection policy and water management in Poland, in cooperation with the Ministry of the Environment. Biologist, PgD in Environmental Law, certified PRINCE2® Project Manager, certified and working on Governance for Transboundary Freshwater Security. Determined to cooperate cross-sectorally for the protection of rivers and water security & resilience. Runs her own practice to support water-dependent communities.

Presentation: "The importance of implementing the EU Water Pollution regulations"

Caroline Whalley

European Environment Agency

(EEA)

Expert: Water industries and pollution

Caroline leads work on water pollution at the European Environment Agency, including the Urban Waste Water Treatment and Environmental Quality Standards Directives. She is also leading the EEA’s work on the outcome of the most recent reporting under the Water Framework Directive. Before joining EEA, she worked in water and marine policy at the Department for Environment, Fisheries and Rural Affairs, in the UK.

Presentation: "Pressures on European water resources"

Sara Johansson

European Environmental Bureau (EEB)

Sara Johansson works at the European Environmental Bureau, a network of 180 environmental civil society organisations across 41 countries. As part of the Biodiversity, Water & Soil team she focuses on water protection, in particular water pollution prevention. Prior to the EEB, she worked in various research and development projects in the field of innovative wastewater treatment in the academia as well as in the private sector.

Title of her presentation:
"What improvements are needed to deliver the Water Framework Directive commitment"

Artur Furdyna

Rewilding Oder Delta

Graduate of the Faculty of Food and Fishery Sciences at the Agricultural Academy in Szczecin, hydrobiologist, master's degree in marine fisheries, specialization: ichthyology, water ecology. For thirty years he has been involved in the protection and restoration of riverine ecosystems in Western Pomerania, including cooperating with universities in the region, universities of Szczecin and the West Pomeranian University of Technology and IGB (Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries). An active social activist, he has chaired the Society of Friends of the Ina and Gowienica Rivers since 2008. Co-founder member of the Save the Rivers Coalition, member of the Clean Baltic Coalition for several years. Participated in many projects: environmental monitoring and protection, rangers and nature tourism among others LIFEDrawaPL, INT 114 ImproRivHab and more recently, from a decade of activities of Rewilding Europe, Rewilding Oder Delta. Privately an active wildlife watching guide, photographer and angler.

Presentation: "Rewilding Oder Delta - the benefits of large scale restoration of freshwater habitats"

PAUL BROTHERTON

Freshwater Manager Wetlands International Europe
Paul is the focal point at the NGO Wetland International Europe seeking to accelerate implementation of EU freshwater laws, restore and protect free-flowing rivers, and deploy and upscale nature-based solutions for inland waters, in collaboration with member NGOs, networks and partnerships in Europe. He has over three decades of experience working at the intersection of conservation science, policy and communications in the EU, US and globally.

Presentations: "NGO call for a new EU climate and water resilience law" and "Introducing EuroLakes"

UNgvári Gábor

Regional Centre for Energy Policy Research (REKK.AQUA)
Gábor Ungvári, PhD is senior water economist at REKK.AQUA. His main professional interest is applying economics for the advanced use of water resources and water related ecosystem services in the current context of water policy problems.
To make the complex issues along the water cycle more understandable for a wider audience he edits the Hungarian language blog and webpage www.szelidvizorszag.hu.

Presentation: "The economic benefits from restoration"

Szabó Brigitta

HUN-REN Centre for Agricultural Research, Institute for Soil Sciences

Brigitta Szabó is a Senior Researcher in the Department of Soil Physics and Water Management at the Institute for Soil Sciences, HUN-REN Centre for Agricultural Research. Her research activities focus on soil physics, soil database construction and harmonization, prediction of soil properties at local, regional, and continental scales, data mining techniques and mapping of soil hydraulic properties. She is involved in national and European soil database constructions, develops pedotransfer functions for Hungarian and European scale applications, works on the implementation of prediction methods in R packages and web interfaces, and derives soil hydraulic maps for Hungary and Europe.
Presentation: "Retain water and nutrients in small agricultural catchments - the OPTAIN project"

Udo Gattenlöhner

Executive Director of Global Nature Fund
Udo Gattenlöhner graduated in Agricultural Sciences from the University of Hohenheim (Germany) in 1990 and worked as a project director for NGOs such DUH (Environmental Action Germany) and Lake Constance Foundation as well as the Ministry of Agriculture of Baden-Württemberg. In 1999, he joined Global Nature Fund as Executive Director. Udo Gattenlöhner has broad experiences in developing and projects, i.e. in development cooperation, agriculture & water management and wetland restoration on national and international level.
Presentation: "Improving the status of our lakes through the European Living Lakes Association"