Working with Nature

Free Half Day Seminar – PIANC Event

FRIDAY 20 FEBRUARY 2009 at 2.00 PM

One Great George Street, Westminster, London SW1P 3AA

In December 2008, PIANC published a new Position Paper entitled Working with Nature. 

Working with Nature calls for an important shift in thinking in our approach to navigation development projects to help deliver mutually beneficial, ‘win-win’ solutions.  It promotes a proactive, integrated approach which:

• focuses on achieving the project objectives in an ecosystem context rather than assessing the consequences of a predefined project design;
• focuses on identifying win-win solutions rather than simply minimising ecological harm. 

Working with Nature thus considers the project objectives firstly from the perspective of the natural system rather than from the perspective of technical design.  However, Working with Nature does not mean that we no longer achieve our development objectives: rather it ensures that these objectives are satisfied in a way which maximises opportunities and - importantly - reduces frustrations, delays and associated extra costs. 

PIANC recognises that developing and delivering win-win solutions will take more innovation and imagination in some cases than in others but is convinced that the rewards of Working with Nature will nonetheless extend far beyond the natural environment into social and economic aspects.  As such, Working with Nature represents an important element of PIANC’s future strategy: it will be actively promoted as a necessary way to contribute to truly sustainable development.   

This free, half day meeting hosted by the ICE on 20th February will:

• introduce the PIANC Position Paper
• provide some examples of how the Working with Nature concept is already being put into practice, and
• encourage discussion of some of the outstanding challenges. 

Speakers will include:

Jan Brooke, PIANC Environmental Commission, UK representative: ‘Introducing Working with Nature’ 

Peter Barham, Sustainable Development Manager, Associated British Ports: ‘The environment as part of project planning in ABP’

Rob Cunningham, Head of Water Policy, RSPB: ‘Working with natural processes for nature conservation and flood risk management: A tool, threat or distraction?’

Dan Hoare, Waterways Conservation Manager, Broads Authority: ‘Beneficial re-use of dredged sediment – current activity in The Broads’

John Pomfret, Inland Waterways Advisory Council: ‘Britain’s Inland Waterways: Balancing the Needs of Navigation and Aquatic Wildlife’

The full text of the PIANC position paper Working with Nature is available on the PIANC website at:  http://www.pianc-aipcn.org/docs02/news/Workingwithnature.doc

Jan 09