Category Archives: Conference

The UK and Ireland Lakes Network Conference 2022

Lakes and their restoration – opportunities for nature recovery and people: Cheshire, June 22.

A multi-sector audience of environmental NGOs, practitioners, academics, researchers and statutory agencies gathered providing a great opportunity to learn and share experience on:

  • The role of lakes in the context of nature recovery networks, landscape and catchment scale restoration
  • Engagement of citizens in understanding lakes
  • How lake restoration is being delivered across England

Tony Juniper – Chair of Natural England opened the conference with a keynote paper describing his own fascination with lakes and making the case for wider collaboration to create a more sustainable future for lakes.

Conference presentations:

The second day was based around two field visits to internationally designated lakes in Cheshire, Hatchmere and Tatton Mere, to see and hear about issues affecting them, and discuss solutions implemented for their restoration. Including the introduction of beavers, restoring the hydrological regime, altering fish assemblages and improving water quality.

Feedback from the event:

“I am much more inspired to do stuff on lakes”

“It reinforced the importance of focusing on lakes as well as rivers”

“Meeting face to face – changed views”

“I liked the full day of talks, it made it easier to get funding to come”

“I got a big dollop of CPD out of it!”

“The best training I have had since joined organisation”

“The importance of networking is harder to quantify”

Event sponsors

Many thanks to Iolight and Aquatic solutions UK for supporting the event

Get in touch

If you would like to find out more about attending, or being involved in our next event please get in touch: info@ukandirelandlakes.org

Invitation to CANAPE sustainable peatlands conference

canape conference poster

canape conference poster

This 3-day conference brings together European stakeholders, managers and policy makers to discuss their visions on restoring and protecting peatlands. The event focuses on innovative techniques, business models and policy options developed over 4 years of work by the Interreg projects CANAPE and Carbon Connects.

Day 1 13/10/2021 9.30 – 17.30 CET

  • Ecosystem restoration – protecting today’s environment
  • Utilising rewetted and restored Peatlands

Day 2 14/10/2021 9.30 – 16.30 CET

  • Business models – creating business opportunities
  • Policy for a better future

Day 3 15/10/2021 TBC

  • Field Trip!

For a more detailed agenda, please follow this link (opens in new window). 

During this symposium we invite stakeholders from various backgrounds and expertise to share their knowledge and insights through parallel working sessions to give participants the chance to follow and join interactive expert discussions on topics of their interest.

We are excited to offer this symposium in a hybrid format; welcoming participants for the main sessions in both a virtual room and at Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences in Leeuwarden (Netherlands).

Due to COVID-19 measures, we are bound to a maximum number of participants in the room.

Reserve your (online/in-person) seat.

All information on the conference and latest updates can be found on the conference website.

LIFE Blue Lakes Capacity Building Workshop: Microplastics in Lakes

plastic lake

Programme – LIFE Blue Lakes Capacity Building Workshop

14:00 – Moderation and Welcoming

Udo Gattenlöhner, Global Nature Fund

Plastic waste and plastic litter – A general problem

Nina van Zinnicq Bergmann, International Waste Platform

No Microplastics – Just Waves. The mission of the LIFE Blue Lakes Project

Bettina Schmidt, Global Nature Fund

The Lake Paper – Solution approaches for Communities in Italy and Germany

Fabrizio Soddu, Legambiente

Interactive Session 1 –  Breakout Rooms

14:50 – Break

15:00 – Why do we need a Standard Monitoring Protocol for microplastic pollution in lakes?

Maria Sighicelli, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) and Valentina Della Bella, Environmental Protection Agency of Umbria (ARPA UMBRIA)

Do we know occurrence, removal and fate of microplastics in municipal drinking and wastewater treatment plants?

Francesco Fatone, Polytechnical University Marche

Participatory process to involve companies of the outdoor, tyre and cosmectic industry

Dimitri Vedel, Lake Constance Foundation

Improving the existing legal framework at European level through the development of a Lake White Paper

Leonardo Gatta, Central Apennines River Basin District Authority (ABDAC)

Interactive Session 2 –  Breakout Rooms

Closing session. Conclusion and outlook

16:00 – End of event

Registration

The participation in the event is free of charge. A registration is necessary. Please register for the event under the link below. You will receive the dial-in information by e-mail after registration.

https://www.globalnature.org/en/home/events/life-blue-lakes-capacity-building-workshop

The EPA National Water Event 2021 Online Conference

The EPA National Water Event 2021 Online Conference is taking place on the morning of the 16 and 17 of June.

The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Water: integrating policy and practice’ with many expert speakers lined up to share their knowledge on how to protect & improve water quality in Ireland.

There will be 4 sessions at the conference:

  • 16 June 09:30-10:50       Session 1: Setting the scene
  • 16 June 11:20-13:00       Session 2: Opportunities for multiple benefits
  • 17 June 09:15-10:40       Session 3: Looking forward – integration in practice, pressures and solutions
  • 17 June 11:10-13:00       Session 4: Learning from communities

The full programme will be available in the coming days; for anyone wishing to attend the conference you can register for free at https://ti.to/waterconference/2021

Invitation to the “Water Film Club” on 23 March 2021

hand in water

The Lake Balaton Development Coordination Agency is organizing an online event on March 23, 2021 to mark World Water Day. The aim of the event is to raise the awareness of participants on the importance of water and to increase their knowledge about the global hydrological cycle, water footprint, human water consumption and the water management developments and investments in the Lake Balaton region.

The presentations in the morning session will be in Hungarian (and interpretation will not be available). However, in the afternoon, as closure of the event, we will organise a “Water Film Club”, where we would like to introduce short video films on the protection of water habitats and water management of lakes from all over the world.

First of all, we would like to say thank to those of you, who had already sent video films for this session. Secondly, we would highly appreciate, if you could join us in the Water Film Club as participants.

The event will be implemented by using the ZOOM webinar software.
Time: March 23, 2021 at 14.00 (CET)
Direct link to join the event:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88125669290?pwd=U2xseXlDRG5LK01sbFlKSjF6VXJNZz09
Meeting ID: 881 2566 9290
Passcode: 593359

 

Invitation to join webinar on tackling eutrophication in lakes

lake balaton hungary

The Lake Balaton Development Coordination Agency has invited Living Lakes partners and friends to join a free online seminar on ‘Experiences and good practices to tackle eutrophication in shallow lakes applying thin-layer sediment dredging technologies’ which takes place on March 16 2021.

With about 600 km2 surface area, Lake Balaton is the largest freshwater lake in Central Europe and it is one of the most important natural treasures of Hungary. Just like in case of other shallow lakes, sediments play an important role in the nutrient cycling of Lake Balaton.

As a result of high external loads of nutrients in the past, sediments became storages of such substances. The surface layer of sediments of shallow lakes can readily be resuspended due to wind induced wave action and contribute to the nutrient load (internal load) and, eventually to eutrophication which is manifested in harmful algal blooms.

Removal of the most active, most polluted surface sediment layer (10-30 cm) by thin layer dredging is a common technique in water quality/eutrophication control. In addition to overall water quality improvement of a shallow lake, dredging may contribute to providing better quality and utility value for beaches and small-boat harbours.

In the seminar, we would like to draw attention to the importance and impacts of sediment dredging on large shallow lakes, and to introduce Hungarian and international dredging best practices and experiences. The planned programme of the event can be found in the attachment. The language of the event will be Hungarian, English and Japan, with simultaneous interpretation.

The seminar will be organized on ZOOM,  the direct link, meeting ID, and passcode to join the meeting are found below: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88647427533?pwd=YXdtNlFvUy8wN2hHeWdwSmk2enFSQT09
Meeting ID: 886 4742 7533
Passcode: 937450

UK and Ireland Lakes Network Conference 2019 Papers

The UK and Ireland Lakes Network Conference – Lakes Protecting, Enhancing and Restoring was held in Westport, Ireland.

The conference papers are here:

Global Perspective on Lakes  Udo Gattenlöhner, Global Nature Fund

Lake Water Quality and the Water Framework Directive – Maths and Facts.  Dierdre Tierney, Environmental Protection Agency

Lough Forbes and challenges for safe drinking water.  Andrew Boylan, Irish Water

Odds and sods: Irish lakes and the Habitats Directive  Aine O Connor, National Parks and Wildlife

WFD and Fish in Lakes Monitoring – Methods, Trends and Climate change.  Fiona Kelly, Inland Fisheries Ireland

Lough Carra: past, present and future.  Chris Huxley and Tom Byrne, Lough Carra Catchment Association

The Local Authority Waters Programme–Lake Local Catchment Assessments in Action.  Bernadette White, Local Authorities Water Programme 

The Group Water Scheme sector in Ireland: An under-utilised resource for improving ecosystem services delivery?  Alec Rolston, Dundalk, institute of Technology

Cranes, drains and net carbon gains –working towards sustainable wetland management in the Broads National Park, UK, Dan Hoare, Broads Authority

Predicting in-lake responses to change using near real time models Tadhg Moore, PROGNOS PROJECT, DKIT

Remote sensing – a tool for lake assessment. Gary Free , Institute for Electromagnetic Sensing for the Environment

Assessing the potential of drones to take water samples and physicochemical data from open lakes. Conor Graham, Galway Mayo, Institute of Technology  

The Blue Dot Catchment Programme – preserving Irelands high status lakes. Cormac Mc Conigley, Local Authorities Water Programme

The Clones Lakes: How water quality decline is captured in charophyte lakes.
Mr Nick Stewart, Consultant 

 

On the second day conference delegates were treated to site visits to Loch Carra where this film was shared t.co/0wQJWwALPX  and a tour of Burrishoole Research Station.

 

UK and Ireland Lakes Network Conference 2019 – Lakes Protecting, Enhancing and Restoring.

The 2019 UK and Ireland Lakes Network 2019 Conference “Lakes – Protecting, Enhancing and Restoring”  is about to commence in Westport, Ireland. The programme is available here:

UKILN Programme 2019

2019 UKILN Conference Poster

The keynote speech will be from Mr. Udo Gattenlöhner, from the Global Nature Fund and sessions cover monitoring and assessment, actions on the ground and research.

It is a great opportunity to network and keep up to date with lake issues and best practice

UKILN Conference 2019 – “Lakes Protecting, Enhancing and Restoring”

Draft 2019 UKILN Conference ProgrammeThis year the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, Ireland) are hosting the United Kingdom and Ireland Lake Network (UKLIN) Conference on the 16th and 17th of October 2019 in Westport.

This year’s theme is “Lakes – protecting, enhancing, restoring”. The theme encompasses activities from monitoring to actions on the ground to protect, enhance and restore lakes. The thread running through the conference will be the Water Framework Directive (WFD), in a broad sense. The purpose of the conference is to show how everyone plays a role in bringing about good water quality and habitat conditions. It is to illustrate how our activities are linked and form building blocks. It is through working together that achieving good water quality is possible.

The proposed schedule is to have a day of presentations on the 16th of October followed by a fieldtrip to the Marine Institute Facility at Newport on Lough Feeagh and other lakes in the West on the 17th of October.

For more information, see the 2019 UKILN Conference Poster v2

And the full conference programme Draft 2019 UKILN Conference Programme

To register visit

https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/lakes-protecting-enhancing-and-restoring-uklin-conference-tickets-6013888703

2018 Conference

UK and Ireland Lakes Network Conference 2018

21st and 22nd May, Seamus Heaney Homeplace, Bellaghy

“CONNECTING PEOPLE AND LAKES: PAST AND PRESENT”

SEE BOOKING LINK BELOW

Conference Day Two – £25.00

Tour Day One – £25.00

 Dinner  Day One – £25.00

The UK and Ireland Lakes Network is an association of people and organisations who have an interest in managing lakes through a whole catchment approach. The body achieves this through the sharing of the experience and expertise.

UKILN brings together all those different organisations, ranging from national regulators to local interest groups and specialist professionals. It covers the whole variety of lake issues from the environment to local community needs, leisure uses and legal requirements through to the more intangible values such as their cultural and spiritual qualities.

2018 Conference

In 2018 the UK and Ireland Lakes Network will be holding its conference in Northern Ireland in the new Seamus Heaney Homeplace Centre. Over the last number of years, the themes of the UK and Ireland conference have been fairly scientific based including, water quality management and environmental protection.  However, this year 2018 the conference will look at other aspects of Lakes that are equally important.  These include themes such as the connections between lakes and health and well-being, the sublime and poetic features of our wet landscapes, the  past and present cultural traditions associated with our lake resources and how and why we just want to connect with water itself.  (See below for booking details)

Venue

The new Seamus Heaney Homeplace centre has just been opened in 2017 in Northern Ireland.  Seamus Heaney was a Nobel laureate and internationally renowned poet whose work often celebrated the Lough Beg landscape in which he was born and brought up.   It would therefore be of relevance and opportune to maybe examine themes he often wrote about such as the connections of  water to the cultural, historic and spiritual aspects of our lives. The main conference day is on the 22 May 2018

Themes

The theme of the conference will  be “ Connecting People and Lakes: Past and Present”

Speakers and potential speaker topics will therefore include:

  • The sublime inspiration of lakes and water.
  • The healing power of water and Lakes.
  • The importance of water and lakes to ancient people. (The archaeology of lakes as food sources, sanctuaries and places of worship and habitation.)
  • The cultural legacy and traditions stemming from lakes.  eg traditional fishing boats, religious traditions, songs and ballads of lakes, heritage buildings left on shores.
  • How and why do people connect to lakes
  • What do we mean by a sustainable lake and what are the health, social and economic benefits ?

Dates and Timeline

Monday 21st May 2018: Tour Day

2pm – 5pm      Tour of Heaney Country –  the starting point of the tour is Seamus Heaney Homeplace 45 Main Street, Bellaghy.  BT45 8HT

You will be taken on a guided tour around Heaney Country by Gerry Darby, you will visit some of the sites referred to in his writing, hear poetry recitals and gain an understanding of his interpretation of the landscape.  Please bring appropriate outdoor wear in case of inclement weather.  Following the tour, the bus will drop you off at your hotel (Ardtara Country House) to check in

8pm                 Conference Dinner at Ardtara Country House

Tuesday 22nd May 2018: Main Conference Day

9.30am            Registration, tea & coffee

10am               Conference opened by Gerry Darby, Chairperson, UKILN

10.30am          Dr Liam Campbell, Built and Cultural Heritage Officer Lough Neagh: The
Cultural Legacy of Ireland’s Loughs.

11.00am          Dr Paul Logue, Senior Archaeologist with Department for Communities,
Historic Environment Division: Lakes Crannogs and Irish Landscapes of Power.

11.30am          tea & coffee break

12noon            Alish Hanna and Niall Hanna. The Musical and Singing Traditions of Lough
Neagh, Past and Present.

12.30pm          Greta Mc Carron, Local Authority Waters and Communities Officer, Republic
of Ireland: How Lakes and Water can improve our Health and Well-being.

1.00pm            Lunch

2.00pm            Dr Trish Murphy, Celebrate Water, Inishowen Donegal: A view from Lough
Foyle. Joining Rivers, People and The Sea.

2.30pm            Scott Ferguson, Seven Lochs Wetland Park, Scotland: Connecting Lakes and
People In an Urban Environment.

3.00pm            tea & coffee break

3.30pm            Conference summary & close by Gerry Darby UKILN Chairperson

4pm                 Transport to Belfast International Airport & Belfast City Airport

Getting there

By Car

The conference venue is Seamus Heaney Homeplace

45 Main Street, Bellaghy.  BT45 8HT

Click here for Google Map

The Conference dinner venue / Hotel is

8 Gorteade Road, Upperlands.  BT46 5SA

Click here for Google Map

 

Accommodation

You are advised to book your accommodation as early as possible, there are only a limited number of rooms available.  The recommended accommodation is Ardtara Country House Hotel  8 Gorteade Road, Upperlands.  BT46 5SA

 

The following delegate rate has been agreed:

B&B single occupancy £99

B&B twin occupancy £139

Please telephone to book 028 7964 4490 – this delegate rate cannot be booked online, you will need to quote UK & Ireland Lakes Network

 

If Ardtara is fully booked, the nearest hotel is Walsh’s Hotel, Maghera https://www.walshshotel.com/  There are no special delegate rates