Our webinars

We have recently changed the set up for our webinars, they are free to all those who are  from member organisations of the EAI section and the link can be obtained from [email protected] or if you are a non-member you can book  via eventbrite and the cost will be £25 per webinar. If you would like to become a member you can further information here and also contact [email protected]

Latest Webinars

Wednesday 21st february at 12.00

The digital direction of peatland restoration: automation and digital twins

The UK rapidly needs to upscale its peatland restoration efforts to meet climate change and biodiversity targets. A major part of the solution lies in increased financing, but a complementary solution is for restoration practitioners to embrace digital technologies to improve restoration efficiencies. Using remote sensing data and custom-built GIS models/scripts, it is now possible to automatically map erosional peatland features, such as hagg edges, in seconds/minutes compared to days/weeks of manual work. Combining automated outputs with digital twins then allows for an immersive quality checking process and restoration interventions to be decided on from the desk rather than via labour-intensive field surveys.

The North Pennines National Landscape is the second largest of the 38 National Landscapes (previously known as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, AONBs) in England and Wales, containing approximately 900 km2 of peatland which has been historically drained and degraded. The North Pennines National Landscape team has been successfully restoring these peatlands since 2006.

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Listen to  the past webinars

Tuesday 23rd January 2024 at12:00

Transforming Travel: Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Authority’s Strategy to Reduce Transport Emissions

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority’s recently published ‘Sustainable Travel and Modal Shift’ report proposes a strategy to help the park deliver its net zero ambitions. As the biggest single contributor towards park-wide emissions, the national park authority recognises the need to reduce the carbon footprint of travel to and around the park, in addition to improving transport options for people living, working and visiting the area.

In this webinar, you will hear from John Pinkard of Ansons Consulting, who led the development of the sustainable travel and modal shift strategy. He will describe some of the most significant travel-related challenges encountered in the park, and explain how the strategy aims to address them.  You will also hear from Kenny Auld at Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority, who will discuss the implementation of the strategy from the perspective of the park authority.

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Tuesday 5th December 2023 12.00

Assessing social impacts of European Protected Areas – This will be an interractive event with the participants

Social impact assessments for protected areas have increased in popularity the past years. These assessments can assist practitioners in making informed decisions and maximize nature’s benefits to people while also making sure that key biodiversity conservation targets are achieved. In this webinar, we will explore ways of conducting social impact assessments for protected areas. Prof Nikoleta Jones from the University of Warwick will describe a step-by-step approach discussing how these assessments can be designed and implemented effectively.

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Tuesday 21st November at 12.00

Understanding Biodiversity Credits
Manesh Lacoul Global Co-ordinator Biodiversity Credit Alliance

A biodiversity credit market is in the early stages of being established. This market needs to be efficient and robust to align private sector finance with nature positive goals and achieve just and equitable outcomes. Although biodiversity credits are seen as promising, there are a variety of issues that need to be resolved to ensure a viable, transparent and accountable market.

The Biodiversity Credit Alliance (BCA) exists to provide guidance for the establishment of a credible and scalable market that stands up to the scrutiny of multiple stakeholders. Key among them are Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities at the frontline of the biodiversity crisis. BCA is working together with the Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities to ensure strong foundations and principles exist and can be applied by all market participants going forward. BCA has established Working Groups to define and develop relevant concepts to best assist the formulation of a transparent and trusted market. Some ongoing workstreams are “Definition of biodiversity credit”, “Demand side sources and motivation for biodiversity credits – preliminary overview”, “Review mechanisms for supply-side quality and integrity”, and “Biodiversity Credit Alliance: Digital Framework”.

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Tuesday 31st October at 12.00

MOBILE BIG DATA FOR UNDERSTANDING PEOPLE IN NATURE

Tuuli Toivonen is a geographer and a professor of geoinformatics leading the multidisciplinary Digital Geography Lab. Her research explores the possibilities of using novel (big/open) data sources and spatial analyses to support environmental and sustainable land use planning and decision-making. She has studied the use of national parks and other green areas since 2014.

Her presentation Using Mobile Big Data for Understanding People in Nature will explore the possibilities of using various mobile big data sources (such as mobile phone data and social media data) for understanding where and when people visit nature, who they are and what do they prefer. The talk presents some key findings of two projects: Social Media Data for Conservation Science (SOMECON, 2016-2021) and Mobile Big Data for Understanding People in Nature (MOBICON, 2022-2026).

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Mitigation, nature inclusive design and Compensation measures for Coastal wind farms – lessons from Netherlands – Tuesday 26th September 2023 at 12.00

Caitlin  Cunningham works as a Marine Sustainability Adviser for NatureScot.  In 2022, Caitlin was awarded the Alfred Toepfer Scholarship through the EUROPARC Federation, which enabled her to undertake a study visit to the Netherlands to learn more about sustainable development in protected areas. This was focused on coastal wind farms, looking at the novel mitigation techniques, nature-inclusive design, and potential compensation measures, including lessons learnt from other industries. This webinar will focus on the findings of this study visit, including recommendations for the offshore wind sector, with a particular focus on relevance to Scotland.

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You can also read a short article by Caitlin here

Exploring the need to diversify the protected Landscapes workforce and governance – Thursday 30th March at 12.15

Protected landscapes have an imperitive to diversify not only its visitor profile but probably to achieve this, its workforce and governace to reflect the UK population. This webinar will be the first steps in looking at what needs to be done and will showcase how the voluntary sector through Wildlife and Countryside link have progressed, and how Loch Lommond NP has approached governance.

Chair – Kenny Auld – Head of Visitor Services Loch Lomond and Trossachs NP

Speakers were:

Eleanor Ward is the Policy Officer at Wildlife and Countryside Link,

Zain Sehgal sits on the board of trustees for Boots & Beards as a treasurer and on the board of Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park in shadowing capacity. .

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Diversity in Park Catergories – Thursday 26th January

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Creative ways of engaging with visitors in Protected Landscapes – Tuesday 30st January

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Low Carbon Lake District  -carbon budget and accounting methodology and practical application-  Friday 29th April 2022

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Airborne LiDAR use in peatland restoration – Thursday 9th June 2022

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Taking a look at Volunteering in proteceted areas – Tuesday 8th March 2022

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Inventive Communications – For the love of peat: Inspiring people to care for blanket bogs  28th February 2022

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Corporate Partnerships 11th January 2022

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Re -Introducing Beavers a UK and European experience – 13 December 2021

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Assessing social impacts of European Protected Areas – 2nd December 2021

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A Cooperative Perspective on Restoration of Irish Peatlands –Thursday 4th November 2021

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For The Members Event 2021 recordings –  Listen here

Joint webinars with EUROPARC Nordic-Baltic and EUROPARC Atlantic Isles Sections. Impacts of COVID-19 on the desire of more of the public to access nature and the outdoors.

Part 1 Thursday 6th May 2021

Looking at solutions of overcrowding in certain areas, particularly managing car parking and use of facilities in hot spots and the need for safe distancing.

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Part 2 Wednesday 26th May 2021

How to help people once in protected areas, especially those new to protected areas to respect the protected area and its values

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Managing Waste in protected Areas – Friday 14th July 2021

Managing waste of all types in protected areas and how to manage signage and information to encourage appropriate behaviour especially to those new to the outdoors.

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Demonstrating UAV Use – Pennine PeatLIFE – Monday 24 May 2021

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Private sector funding for peatland restoration – Thursday 21st January

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This webinar supported by the Pennine Peatlife project

Update on Implementation of Glover Review – Wednesday 2nd December 2020

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Making Space for Nature -10 years on  – Tuesday 10th November 2020

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UK Peat update and Overiew of the Peatland Code 6th October 2020

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Heritage of Peatlands 17th September 2020

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Seascape Sensitivity and Visual Buffers: Latest Approaches and Guidance Part 1: Visual buffers wednesday 1st July  2020

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Part 2 – Seascape character sensitivity Tuesday 7 July 2020

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Links to documents mentioned in the webinar can be found here

Building Blocks Part 1 on Wednesday 10th June 2020

Part 1 – Find out about Moors for the Future Partnership’s ground-breaking project Building Blocks- Next Steps in Gully Blocking.

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Part 2 on Wednesday 17th June 2020

Part 2 – Join the Partnership team for a closer look at the technical details of the Building Blocks project.

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Pennine PeatLIFE Restoration Work Review – Wednesday 27th May 2020

Links to other videos mentioned in the webinar

Upland peat bunding https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLlXFPMo_ow

Heather brash https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4T0Q2P_t4w

Hagg re-profiling – YPP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bcIyRs9-rg

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Stage Zero river restoration approach, design and applications taken from Oregon into a UK river context of Honlicote Estate – Tuesday 12th May 2020

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The Roles of Different Sphagnum Species in Bogs – Tuesday 28th April 2020

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Working with Landscape character and qualities of designated landscapes – a Development Management Perspective – Thursday 19th March 2020

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Followed by Q & A session

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Molinia Management – Thursday 27th February 2020

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Nature and Public Health: the role of health in improving the health of a population – Thursday 5th December 2019

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Sustainable Fisheries in Marine Protected Areas… how to make it possible? Wednesday 20th November 2019

Film links within webinar:

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Waterfalls, peat pipes & gullies: hydrological restoration of challenging blanket bog sites a Pennine PeatLIFE perspective – Tuesday 10 September 2019

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Coastal PioneersThursday 23 May 2019

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Demonstrating UAV Use: Pennine PeatLIFE – A Progress Report – Monday 13th May 2019

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A peatland-tailored User Guide on methods to value benefits from restoration.  Friday 8th February 2019 .

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Peatland Code in Practice

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Bare Peat Restoration

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The Green Halo Partnership Wednesday 8th August 2018

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 Geospatial Analysis of Blanket Bog habitats utilising Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Technology – Tuesday 5th June 2018

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Adding fuel to the fire: the pivotal role of Fire Operations Groups (FOGs) in wildfire fighting Friday 4th May 2018

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Rising from the ashes – wildfire conservation, research and prevention in the UK and beyond Thursday 26th April2018

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Paul Leadbitter provided a detailed outline of the Pennine PeatLIFE project on  Thursday 8th March 2018

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From ecological meltdown to community-led marine protection; the Community of Arran case study Monday 29th of January 2018

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Reducing the visual impacts of major Infrastructure in the protected landscapes of England and Wales – Monday 6th February 2017

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