European conference on private land conservation

While polarisation seems to be growing in politics, an opposite trend can be observed when it comes to natural site management. In everyday practice of nature conservation, there is more and more cooperation between nature conservationists, landowners, farmers, businesses and financial institutions. Numerous examples were on display in Brussels, at the Forum for the Future of Agriculture on 26 March and the European Private Land Conservation Conference on 27 March.

The conference reflected on the state of play and emerging trends of private land conservation in Europe. Representatives from various EU member states presented successful tools and financial mechanisms from their countries, followed by a high-level panel discussion on how to upscale private land conservation in Europe.

We were honoured to present as our key-note speaker Mr Charlie Burrell, owner of the Knepp Estate, “one of the most exciting wildlife conservation projects in Europe”. We learned that over the past 20 years, he and his family have transformed the Knepp Estate, a 3,500-acre estate in Sussex, England, from an intensive dairy farm to a natural landscape where farming in primitive ways is part of the business model for the future.

This conference also celebrated the conclusion of the successful LIFE project ‘European Networks for Private Land Conservation’.

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2024 European conference on private land conservation – Keynote speech

Charles Burrell

2024 European conference on private land conservation – Country Profiles

2024 European conference on private land conservation – Panel discussion

Charles Burrell, Amy E. Johnson, Jörg-Andreas Krüger, Angelo Salsi

Confirmed speakers (in alphabetical order)

Charles Burrell

Co-Owner, Knepp Estate

Learn More

Charles Burrell

Co-Owner, Knepp Estate

Charlie inherited the 3,500-acre estate from his grandparents in the 1980’s and is the inspiration behind the Knepp Wildland Project. Having run Knepp Home Farm for 20 years, Charlie had a dramatic change of heart after a visit to the Oostvaardersplassen project in Holland in the 1990s and saw the potential for a similar “rewilding” project at home in Sussex.

Charlie is chair of the Romanian rewilding project, Foundation Conservation Carpathia, and is on the board of Rewilding Britain, The Arcadia Fund, Ingleby Farms Environment Committee, the Endangered Landscapes Programme and the Bronze Oak Project.

Amy E. Johnson

Conservation Biologist and Program Director, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute

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Amy E. Johnson

Conservation Biologist and Program Director, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute

Dr. Amy E. Johnson integrates citizen science to help conduct ecological research on more than 80,000 acre of private lands in Northern Virginia. Her current research focuses on exploring the responses of grassland bird communities to native grassland restoration and regenerative grazing. This includes sampling avian communities to quantify abundance, diversity and reproductive success in relation to grassland management. She and her team are also working with partners to study methods for establishing and managing native grasslands, tracking the migratory connectivity of declining grassland birds, and understanding motivations behind conservation behaviours on private lands.

Jörg-Andreas Krüger

President, NABU

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Jörg-Andreas Krüger

President, NABU

Jörg-Andreas Krüger was elected as NABU President for the first time on November 9, 2019 by the Federal Representatives' Meeting of NABU. He is a member of various steering committees and panels, including the German Council for Sustainable Development and the Future Commission on Agriculture.

Chandni Navalkha

Associate Director of the ILCN

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Chandni Navalkha

Associate Director of the ILCN

Chandni Navalkha is the Associate Director for Sustainably Managed Land and Water Resources at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she works on projects to advance and accelerate the enduring protection of land and water resources worldwide. Chandni manages the activities of the International Land Conservation Network, which brings together private and civic land conservation practitioners from around the world to share expertise, experience, and inspiration through exchange, collaboration and peer learning. Prior to joining the Lincoln Institute, Chandni was a fellow with the Sri Lanka Program for Forest Conservation, conducting research on the impacts of conservation on local livelihoods. She has worked for organizations in North America, Latin America, and South Asia supporting urban, peri-urban, and rural communities undertaking voluntary land and resource conservation, and earlier in her career worked in change management for private and public sector organizations as a consultant with Accenture. Chandni holds a Master's in Environmental Science from the Yale School of the Environment.

Humberto Delgado Rosa

Director of Natural Capital, DG Environment, European Commission

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Humberto Delgado Rosa

Director of Natural Capital, DG Environment, European Commission

Humberto Delgado Rosa is the Director of Natural Capital at the European Commission’s directorate general for environment, a position he has held since November 2015. Previously, he was the director for mainstreaming adaptation and low carbon technology in the directorate general for climate action (DG CLIMA). He is experienced in European and international environmental policy, particularly in biodiversity and climate change issues. Prior to that, Delgado Rosa served as secretary of state for the environment of the Portuguese government from March 2005 to June 2011. He was an advisor for environmental matters to the prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002. He holds a PhD in evolutionary biology.

Angelo Salsi

Former Head of Department at CINEA - European Commission

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Angelo Salsi

Former Head of Department at CINEA - European Commission

As graduate of the University of Bologna, Italy, Angelo began his career as an agro-meteorologist in the Regional Meteorological Service of Emilia-Romagna.

In 1994, he joined the staff of the European Commission and worked in the EU institutions for almost 29 years covering policy areas such as nature conservation, environment, climate, energy and blue economy. He has been associated with the EU LIFE financial program since the start of his career and has a solid experience in projects and programme management with a particular focus on environment.

He retired in October 2022 from his last position as Head of the Department “Natural resources, climate, sustainable blue economy and clean energy” in the European Commission executive agency CINEA.

Agenda

Mar 27, 2024

09:00 - 14:00 (CET)

09:00 - 09:45 (CET)

Introduction

• Humberto Delgado Rosa, Director of Natural Capital, European Commission

09:15 - 09:45 (CET)

Keynote speaker

• Charlie Burrell, Owner, Knepp Estate, UK

09:45 - 10:45 (CET)

Setting the scene: Private land conservation tools & financing mechanisms in Europe

 

• Easements in France
• Nature management plans in Belgium
• Stewardship agreements in Catalonia
• Conservation leases in Germany
• METSO program in Finland
• Privately protected areas in Italy

 

10:45 - 11:00 (CET)

Coffee break

11:00 - 12:10 (CET)

Panel discussion

Reflection on the situation in Europe from different perspectives.

• Focus 1: how tools and financing mechanisms contribute to this
• Focus 2: the need of bringing individual owners and NGOs together
• Focus 3: the way forward

Confirmed panelists include

• Jörg Andreas Krüger, President, NABU
• Chandni Navalkha, Associate Director, ILCN
• Angelo Salsi, Former Head of Department at CINEA – European Commission
• Amy E. Johnson, Conservation Biologist and Program Director, Smithsonian
• Charlie Burrell, Owner, Knepp Estate

12:10 - 12:40 (CET)

New initiatives in Europe to stimulate private land conservation

12:40 - 12:50 (CET)

The importance of Private Land Conservation Ambassadors and partners

12:50 - 13:00 (CET)

Closing note

• Humberto Delgado Rosa, Director of Natural Capital, European Commission

13:00 - 14:00 (CET)

Networking lunch

14:00 - 19:00 (CET)

Optional: Field trip

Limited spots were available on the optional field trip! Delegates were able to discover how the longstanding relationship between a noble family and a nature NGO resulted in one of the most precious chunks of interconnected nature in a very fragmented Flemish landscape.

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