Nature conservation, Protected Areas and the Nature-GIS project
The nature conservation and the protected areas management meet complex problems varying from environmental planning to economic and social aspects, involving several and different organisations; most of these problems are related to the Geographical Information.

One of the objectives of the European project Nature-GIS (IST programme) is to promote the collaboration among experts in different disciplines and to offer to the final users a support to the GIS potentiality application in the specific field of Protected Areas.  

To this purpose, one of the results is the creation of a pan-European community, the Nature-GIS Network that on a side enlarges the already existent partnership of the project and on an other side gathers several organisations and actors operating in the field of Geographical Information and/or nature conservation, interested in the use of GIS in the specific application sector. 

Problems related to the management of Protected Areas are often approached only at local or regional level, whilst linkages with European policies and main operators from other Countries or Regions are often weak.

Nature-GIS Network addresses the resolution of these critical aspects.  This is achieved by helping to better identify, through the use of effective Geographical Information to plan and manage interventions, specific needs of Authorities in charge of environmental protection, that are often in difficulties in balancing spatial planning, rural development and nature conservation.  The access to high quality Geographical Information allows a wider and more effective intervention plan to the operators at all levels.    

 

 

Partners
The Nature-GIS partnership, enriched now by the creation of the Network, upon the basis of their skill and experience has assured an interdisciplinary approach to problems and aspects related to the management of Protected Areas and to the use of GIS. 

Key categories of experts are in fact involved, such as: Protected Areas experts, users and experts of GIS technologies and the IT-GIS industry.  The presence of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission assures the linkage with the ongoing initiatives in the specific sector and in particular with the INSPIRE initiative, recently translated into a proposal for Directive, under discussion at the European Parliament (INSPIRE - Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe, http://inspire.jrc.it)

 

 

Aim of the project

The objectives of NATURE-GIS are:

•  increase awareness about a more integrated approach to the use of GI in protected areas at a European level

•  support European policy development in the use of GI for nature conservation

•  provide reference material for the development of the INSPIRE specifications, through a user needs assessment as well as data modelling

•  investigate and test the feasibility of web access to distribute data in order to support the work of operators in protected areas and nature conservation

•  establish a pan-European "Nature-GIS Group", to further benefit the operators in the fields.

In such a way, the Nature-GIS project can give a contribution to the creation of a Spatial Data Infrastructure in compliance with international standards and European policies.  In this context, Nature-GIS is a demonstration project of the INSPIRE principles, aiming at supporting the public access to data and information on Protected Areas and Natura 2000 Network. This has been carried out through the design, the creation and the prototype validation of a web portal for Protected Areas, which offers a guide for the operators in the field of web-GIS. 

Together with the web portal, one of the main results of the project is the issue of guidelines (Guidelines for data infrastructures for protected areas) for the management of Geographical Data for Protected Areas, having in mind their sharing at pan-European level.

 

 

Further information:

On the Nature-GIS web site is also available a Restricted Area of the Nature-GIS network, where, upon registration, it is possible to consult the project deliverables.