Workshops Workshops on the following topics are planned to be organised: Data Harmonisation and Integration for Coastal/Marine Stakeholders - EU-funded special support action (SSA) MOTIIVE Final results of INTERREG IIIC MESSINA project (Managing European Shoreline and Sharing Information on Near-shore Areas) Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone - LOICZ Cooperation on EC projects in the Baltic Sea region European Platform for Coastal Research Coordination Action - ENCORA Les Esturiales Network Workshop descriptions Pdf version is available here. Workshop Title: Data Harmonisation and Integration for Coastal and Marine Stakeholders Objectives: The aim of the workshop is to inform coastal and marine stakeholders of: The benefits of data harmonisation across different themes, underpinned by core reference data defined by the EC INSPIRE initiative. The benefits of developing and implementing a common coastal/marine spatial data infrastructure (CSDI) and minimum requirements for such an information infrastructure. The benefits and limitations of applying open source tools for coastal data management, especially in regard to globally recognised OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) interoperability specifications. Introducing the "Use Case" template to collect standardised data in future on cost-benefit parameters of participants' projects. What is required of them in order to more fully participate in the OGC open source specification process and application of the OGC Reference Model for interoperability, e.g. participation in OGC SIGs (special interest groups) and WGs (working groups). Introduction to the EU-funded special support action (SSA) MOTIIVE, which aims to examine the cost benefit of using non-proprietary data standards for coastal and marine applications and RISE, a second SSA investigating data harmonisation and integration technology via OGC for land-based spatial data. The overall goal for the workshop will be to educate participants in data harmonisation and integration technologies and techniques and to gain their active support for the MOTIIVE and RISE projects and objectives. Draft Agenda Introduction to the workshop - aims and objectives. Introduction to INSPIRE and its implications for the coastal and marine environment. Introduction to coastal/marine spatial data infrastructure (CSDI/MGDI) requirements, benefits and responsibilities of stakeholders. The role of open source tools to increase the efficiency of spatial data management in cross-disciplinary, integrated environments. Break Introduction to MOTIIVE and what is expected from the coastal/marine stakeholder community. Brief introduction to RISE, and its formal relationship to MOTIIVE regarding land-based spatial data. Presentation of a draft coastal/marine stakeholder "Cost-Benefit Use Case Template". Q & A session Close About MOTIIVE MOTIIVE is a project funded by the EU Sixth Framework Programme, as a specific support action (SSA). Members of the MOTIIVE consortium include a network of experienced marine and coastal data providers, users and service implementers. MOTIIVE addresses the harmonisation requirements between the INSPIRE 'Annex II' data component "Elevation", comprising terrestrial, bathymetric and coastal elevation data, and INSPIRE's Annex III marine thematic data for "sea regions", "oceanic spatial features" and "coastal zone management areas". The project will support the development of INSPIRE( the proposed EU directive on spatial data infrastructure in Europe) and GMES by demonstrating how interoperability technology, using international open standards, aids in integrating multiple data sources from multiple disciplines. For more information, contact: Keiran Millard, HR Wallingford (Project Coordinator) Roger Longhorn, IDG (UK) Ltd, (MOTIIVE Steering Committee) Maria Ferreira, EUCC - the Coastal Union (Stakeholders Involvement) Pdf version is available here. European coastal areas offer a variety of recreational and economic opportunities to the continent’s citizens and these depend largely on maintaining the environmental quality and character of beaches and coastal systems. With the continuing migration of citizens towards coastal areas however, the character and quality of the shoreline is changing. High population density is affecting the natural processes that govern both environmental and geological processes. This, in turn, has increased public exposure to the risks associated with coastal storms and erosion, such as property damage. Despite efforts by many European public authorities to compile information on the hazards facing coastal systems, there is still much to discover and suggests the need for increased partnership amongst European coastal authorities. MESSINA stands for Monitoring European Shorelines and Sharing Information on Near shore Areas. The MESSINA initiative intends to partly bridge these gaps by breaking "knowledge isolation" of some local authorities and institutions in Europe, by raising their managerial and technical capabilities through a mutualisation of the experience accumulated by each of them, and by upgrading existing shoreline management guidelines through an integration of the latest innovative techniques and methods available in Europe. The objectives of this 3 years project are: to provide a state of the art of shoreline monitoring and modelling techniques supporting coastline management policies, with a particular attention paid to innovative techniques; to review concrete examples of economic analysis methodologies applied to shoreline management policy inside and outside Europe; to embed lessons learnt from existing coastal defence engineering practices - including hard and soft engineering - into coastal planning processes at the local level; to assess information requirements to better integrate coastal erosion processes into spatial planning policies; to design and implement a pilot GIS-based information system dedicated to shoreline management planning at the local level, to be experimented by the project partners. Ultimately, MESSINA aims at maximizing the benefits of future investments in coastline management and raise the public awareness about the need to manage the coastline in a sound and sustainable way. For that the project partners have designed a "MESSINA Coastal Manager Toolkit" made of 4 Practical Guides ("Monitoring and modelling the shoreline", "Valuing the shoreline", "Engineering the shoreline", "Integrating the shoreline into spatial planning policies") and a demo CDROM featuring a GIS-based prototype of shoreline management planning practices. The Practical Guides content and issues will be commented and discussed during Littoral 2006 specific workshops: Monitoring and modelling the shoreline; Valuating the shoreline; Engineering the shoreline; Integrating the shoreline into spatial planning processes. More informations are available on www.interreg-messina.org Content of Workshops shall be proposed in the coming weeks in common agreement with organization team. Partners' list: Institut Géographique National (IGN) - French Geographic Institute (France) Rijksinstituut voor Kust en Zee (RIKZ) - National Institute for Coastal and Marine Management of the Netherlands (Netherlands) Communauté d'Agglomération du Bassin de Thau – Community of Agglomeration of the Thau Basin (France) Ystadskommun - Municipality of Ystad (Sweden) Universita degli Studi di Messina - University of Messine (Italy) Universita degli Studi di Napoli Federico II - University of Naples (Italy) Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB) - Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain) Uniwersytet Szczecinski - University of Szczecin (Poland) Urzad Gminy w Rewalu - Municipality of Rewal (Poland) Statens Geotekniska Institut (SGI) - Swedish Geotechnical Institute ErosionssSkadeCentrum - Centre for Coastal Erosion Studies (Sweden) Provincia Regionale di Ragusa - Province of Ragusa (Italy) Isle of Wight Council (UK)