SEMCLIMED plantations goes on in Valencia

A specimen of Limonium mansanetianum planted in Villanueva de Castellon (Valencia), flowering by june 2008. © Emilio Laguna, 20.06.2008

The CIEF officers ongoes with the regular monitoring of plantations of several endemic and threatened species in gypsic steppes, made along the autumn of 2007. First results -still to be analized in deep during the next weeks- show that the endemic Limonium mansanetianum (CR-UICN, absolute endemic of gypsic areas in a reduced sector of the central counties of the province of Valencia, UTM quadrat 10x10 km 30S YJ 12) only survive on pure gypsum substrates -Triasic pink/grey marnes of the facies Keuper-; conparative plots made on edge habitats -contacting gypsum and calcic soils- failed severely. The effect of pot sizes, greenhouse substrata and plantlets age will be studied afterwords.

Some images of the plantation -made by early november 2007- and excellent images of L. mansanetianum are available at the webpages maintained by the enthusiastic, local naturalist and nature photographer José Mena: http://www.menanat.com/noticia.php?id=46 and http://www.menanat.com/noticia.php?id=47,

CIEF officers Inma Ferrando and Daniel Corral monitor the plantations of Limonium mansanetianum in Villanueva de Castellon (Valencia). © Emilio Laguna, 20.06.2008

Announcement of Eurograd V, June 2009

The 5th European congress of Botanic Gardens, Eurogard V 'Botanic Gardens in tha Age of Climate Change' will develop by8th-12th June 2009 at Helsinki. Information and call for papers is already available at the website http://www.luomus.fi/eurogardv/

Important dates can be consulted at http://www.luomus.fi/eurogardv/papers.html

'Environment for Europeans' focused on CC

The issue nº 30 of the EU Directorate General for Environment's magazine 'Environment for Europeans', recently published, encloses the article 'The Bali Roadmap. First steps to a new global climate change agreement', where the groundlines of the European policy on this topic is explained. The magazine issue is going to be available in a few weeks at the website http://ec.europa.eu/environment/news/efe/index_en.htm *
*Expected URL to download the issue is http://ec.europa.eu/environment/news/efe/docs/efe29_en.pdf

Generalitat Valenciana and UNKA-MAICh's projects on PMRs in a LIFE brochure

The recent brochure (PDF format, 52 p.) edited by the European Commission about the LIFE projects focused on plant conservation include extended articles on the Valencian Plant Microreserves project (leaded by the Generalitat Valenciana) and the CRETAPLANT project (managed by UNKA and MAICh); in addition, the foreward drafted by Mr Patrick Murphy, head of EC's Unit on Nature and Biodiversity, made a special mention on PMRs, and both projects are specifically labelled with a new logo 'LIFE PMR projects'. To download the brochure please visit
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/publications/lifepublications/lifefocus/documents/plants.pdf

Climate Change congress in Copenhagen 2009, registration is opened

The IARU -International Alliance of Research Universities- announces the cellebration of the next conference 'Climate Change - Risks, Challenges and Decissions', to be held in Copenhagen (Denmark) by 10-12 March 2009. This conference will prepare information for the COP 15 ouf the United Nations Conference on Climate Change. Key speakers will include Drs. R. K. Pachauri (Chairman of the IPCC) and J.M. Barroso (President of the European Commission). One of the central topics will be the adaptation of land use worldwide to the effects of global warming. You'll find more information at the website http://climatecongress.ku.dk/ Please note that the deadline for abstract submissions is opened till 1st September 2008. Lower price for registration will be maintained until 10th November 2008.

The Interreg SEMCLIMED is finishing

Seedlings of the Canarian endemic Echium wildprettii, one of the most threatened Spanish species. ©E. Laguna, 2008.

The project SEMCLIMED is formally finished since the end of May 2008, but the cooperation to draft the final results will continue during the next weeks, as well as the preparation of bussiness and economic reports. During the next months, please consult www.semclimed.org to obtain more accurated information on the results. Currently, a recent article is available at the webpage http://www.semclimed.org/allegati/24.pdf