The Green Belt as a European Ecological Network strengths and gaps

Kun Zhang
REVIEW AND GAPS: EUROPEAN ECOLOGICAL NETWORKS IN THE PAST 40 YEARS
(1) How to achieve reasonable transitions from a national protection strategy to concrete
local projects; what are the main principles and what is the theoretical model?
(2) How to achieve negotiations and mediations when dealing with local stake holders,
especially when aiming at financial compensations for individual land owners [24]?
(3) How to optimally explore community contributions, particularly through involvment
social learning and other processes by which the maximum protective effects might be
achieved [25]?
5.2 Implementation Assessment
Almost all who are actively involved advocate that tremendous positive effects are
achieved by establishing ecological networks. These advocates are active in the fields of
nature conservation and ecological and sustainable development. Much money has been
invested into network construction. On the other hand, there is a considerable shortcoming of
confirmation, through quantitative assessment, on the degree that ecological networks really
work. There is a great need to answer the question: to what degree has any ecological network
achieved its objective?
It takes some time for the coming out of the ecological network’s effects. This might be
one of the reasons for the lack of project evaluations. Being a pioneer in the construction of
ecological networks, The Netherlands have performed quantitative assessments of the
ecological network efficiency. In these evaluations, detailed quantitative assessments are
based upon 564 species and 131 different ecosystems. The result of the evaluation indicates
that a trade-off must be accepted, at the national level, between ecological improvements and
social costs [26]. In the next few decades, with more projects being implemented, it should be
a requirement to perform more eco-efficiency assessments, and to use guidelines for this
purpose.
5.3 Organisational obligations
Discrepancies exist, in theoretical research and in application, within different countries.
To harmonise their efforts is challenge particularly in Europe. The main objective might be to
organise the establishing of a unified database, promoting efficient geospatial technologies,
and to refer to one common approach [3] [27]. Working among over 100 European-wide
agencies still leaves uncounted numbers of gaps to be filled, not only in information systems,
but also in the European ecological network itself.
6 CONCLUSION
In the process of 40 years, the development of ecological networks as a single target
conservation strategy evolved into a multi-objective comprehensive strategy that now
includes social, cultural and other aims. It has a significant advantage over other strategies as
it may change the shape and location of land uses without losing their conservation potential.
On the other hand, there is still a great deal of uncertainty in theory and in practice.
How to achieve effective approaches and to fill the gap in implementations are some of the
111