141 Acrocephalus 33 (154/155): 141−144, 2012 Special issue on a preliminary inventory of monitoring for raptors in Europe Posebna številka o preliminarnem pregledu monitoringa populacij ptic roparic v Evropi The papers in this special issue of Acrocephalus derive from the workshop “Inventory of existing raptor monitoring in Europe” held in Murcia, Spain, in February 2012, under the auspices of EURAPMON (www.esf.org/ eurapmon and www.eurapmon.net), a European Science Foundation (ESF) “Research Networking Programme” on Research and Monitoring for and with Raptors in Europe. The aim of EURAPMON is to strengthen the contribution of research and monitoring for and with raptors in Europe to delivery of biodiversity, environmental and human health benefits, including maintenance and recovery of raptor populations and their habitats, and reduced chemicals threats to ecosystem and human health. By monitoring for raptors, we refer to monitoring that focuses on raptor populations and trends. By monitoring with raptors, on the other hand, we refer to monitoring which focuses on using raptors to monitor contaminants and other environmental pressures. EURAPMON was launched in May 2010 and will run for 5 years. It builds on a workshop held in Sicily, Italy in October 2006, proceedings of which were published in a Special Issue of Ambio in 2008 (Ambio 37 (6) 2008; http://www. bioone.org/toc/ambi/37/6). EURAPMON participants are drawn from most ESF member countries and from key international organisations, including BirdLife International, MEROS and the Raptor Research Foundation. EURAPMON has access to a significant proportion of leading and emerging expertise and facilities for such work in Europe. EURAPMON’s objectives are: (1) to establish a sustainable and resource- efficient Europe-wide network for monitoring for and with raptors, linked to international networks, (2) to establish consensus on Europe-wide priorities for monitoring for and with raptors, based on a comprehensive inventory of existing monitoring and of needs of key users (policy makers, risk assessors, environmental managers), (3) to spread best practices and build capacities in Europe for harmonised monitoring for and with raptors, and (4) to build a web-based database, populated with interoperable data (not raw data) on European raptor populations and (contaminant and other) pressures on raptors in Europe, and to produce European- and EU-scale analytical outputs, which meet priority user needs. The current publication is a key contribution towards preparing the inventory of existing raptor monitoring. The papers herein have been written by National Coordinators appointed by EURAPMON across Europe (most, but not all, countries have National Coordinators). The papers cover the following countries, organised by geographic region: – Southern Europe: Portugal, Spain, Italy, Malta, Greece – Central Europe: Poland, Slovak Republic, Austria, Hungary 142 – Northern Europe: Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia – Southeastern Europe: Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina – Western Europe: Ireland, Belgium, France, United Kingdom – Eastern Europe (east to the Urals): Russia, Belarus, Georgia Each paper provides an overview of the main players, the extent of national coverage, species monitored, strengths and weaknesses, priorities and capacity-building. An overview paper pulls together the information provided in the individual country papers and draws out key findings in relation to the above questions. The current issue of Acrocephalus provides a first and preliminary overview of the state of monitoring for raptors in Europe. We hope that it will give added stimulus to development of more comprehensive monitoring schemes in European countries and contribute to providing a baseline for development of common pan-European raptor monitoring network for the benefit of raptors and humans, towards delivering the EURAPMON’s aim. Acknowledgements EURAPMON is funded by 15 European research academies, governments and non-governmental organisations through the European Science Foundation: Danish Council for Independent Research, Natural Sciences (FNU); Estonian Science Foundation; Academy of Finland Research Council for Biosciences and Environment; Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS); Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA); Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea, Directorate General for Nature Protection, Italy; Comune di Castellammare del Golfo, Italy; National Research Fund, Luxembourg (FNR); Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NOW); Research Council of Norway; Society for Wild Animals “Falcon”, Poland; Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Portugal; National University Research Council (CNCSIS), Romania; Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS); Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN), Spain; Swedish Research Council (VR); Swedish Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences & Spatial Planning (FORMAS); Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH), UK. We thank Dr Dan Osborn for his constructive support in the early stages of EURAPMON. The proposal for EURAPMON was supported by a European Commission Marie Curie Fellowship to Dr Paola Movalli. We wish to thank Prof Antonio Garcia- Fernandez, Dr Emma Martinez-Lopez and their colleagues at the University of Murcia who were the local organisers of the workshop, the Autonomous Region of Murcia and the Spanish Ministry of Research for workshop co-funding, CEMACAM (the workshop venue), the EURAPMON National Coordinators and their raptor monitoring compatriots who contributed to this publication and all other workshop participants for their valuable contributions. We thank Dr Paola Campus and Marie-Laure Schneider of the European Science Foundation for their support. Special thanks also to Luka Božič, the Editor-in- Chief of Acrocephalus for his constructive collaboration. Uvodnik / Editorial 143 Acrocephalus 33 (154/155): 141−144, 2012 *** Prispevki v tej posebni izdaji Acrocephalusa so plod delavnice “Pregled obstoječega monitoringa ptic roparic v Evropi”, ki je potekala februarja 2012 v Murciji (Španija) v organizaciji projekta EURAPMON (www.esf. org/eurapmon in www.eurapmon.net) Evropske znanstvene fundacije, ki se posveča raziskavam in monitoringu ptic roparic v Evropi. Namen projekta EURAPMON je povečati prispevek raziskav in monitoringa za in s pticami roparicami v Evropi pri zagotavljanju biotske pestrosti ter koristi za okolje in zdravje ljudi, vključno z ohranjanjem in obnavljanjem populacij ptic roparic in njihovih habitatov ter ohranjanjem ekosistemov in varstvom človekovega zdravja zaradi uporabe kemikalij v naravi. Kadar govorimo o monitoringu za ptice roparice, imamo v mislih monitoring, ki se osredotoča na populacije in trende teh ptic, medtem ko monitoring s pticami roparicami pomeni prek monitoringa ptic roparic spremljati stanje v naravi zaradi onesnažil in drugih pritiskov na okolje. Projekt EURAPMON je zaživel maja 2010 in bo trajal pet let. Njegovi zametki so nastali na delavnici, ki je oktobra 2006 potekala na Siciliji, in na osnovi razprav s te delavnice, ki so bile leta 2008 objavljene v posebni številki revije Ambio (Ambio 37 (6) 2008; http://www.bioone.org/toc/ambi/37/6). Pri projektu EURAPMON združujemo raziskovalce iz večine držav članic Evropske znanstvene fundacije in ključnih mednarodnih organizacij, vključno z organizacijama BirdLife International in MEROS in Raptor Research Foundation iz ZDA. EURAPMON ima odprto pot do pomembnega deleža strokovnega znanja in orodij za takšno delo v Evropi. Cilji projekta EURAPMON so: (1) osnovati trajnostno vseevropsko omrežje z učinkovito uporabo virov za monitoring za in s pticami roparicami, povezano z mednarodnimi omrežji, (2) doseči soglasje o vseevropskih prioritetah za monitoring za in s pticami roparicami, temelječe na celostnem pregledu obstoječega monitoringa in potreb ključnih uporabnikov (oblikovalcev politike, ocenjevalcev tveganj, okoljskih upraviteljev), (3) razširjati primere najboljše prakse in ustvarjati kapacitete v Evropi za usklajen monitoring za in s pticami roparicami, in (4) zgraditi na spletu temelječo bazo podatkov z medsebojno povezljivimi podatki o evropskih populacijah ptic roparic in pritiskih nanje v Evropi (z onesnažili in podobno) ter pripraviti analize na evropski in EU-ravni, ki bodo zadovoljevale prednostne potrebe uporabnikov. Pričujoča publikacija je ključni prispevek k pripravi celostnega pregleda obstoječega monitoringa ptic roparic. Članke so napisali nacionalni koordinatorji, imenovani v okviru projekta EURAPMON po vsej Evropi (nacionalne koordinatorje ima večina držav, ne pa vse). Razprave zadevajo naslednje države (po geografskih regijah): – Južna Evropa: Portugalska, Španija, Italija, Malta, Grčija – Srednja Evropa: Poljska, Slovaška, Avstrija, Madžarska – Severna Evropa: Švedska, Norveška, Finska, Estonija, Latvija – Jugovzhodna Evropa: Bolgarija, Slovenija, Hrvaška, Bosna in Hercegovina – Zahodna Evropa: Irska, Belgija, Francija, Združeno kraljestvo – Vzhodna Evropa (do Urala): Rusija, Belorusija, Gruzija 144 Vsak članek vsebuje pregled glavnih protagonistov, obsega nacionalne pokritosti, vrst ptic roparic, vključenih v monitoring, prednosti in slabosti, prednostnih nalog in krepitev zmogljivosti. Pregledni članek združuje informacije, zbrane v člankih posameznih držav, in povzema ključne ugotovitve glede na gornja vprašanja. Pričujoča številka Acrocephalusa prinaša prvi in predhodni pregled stanja populacijskega monitoringa ptic roparic v Evropi. Ob tem upamo, da bo prinesla dodatno spodbudo za razvoj bolj celostnih shem monitoringa v evropskih državah in prispevala k pripravi izhodišč za razvoj skupnega vseevropskega monitoringa ptic roparic tako v njihovo dobro kot dobro ljudi – k izpolnitvi ciljev, zastavljenih v okviru projekta EURAPMON. Guy Duke Scientific Organiser of Murcia 2012 Workshop, Chair of EURAPMON (2010– 2012), External Expert of EURAPMON (2012–) / znanstveni organizator delavnice Murcia 2012, predsednik EURAPMON-a (2010–2012), EURAPMON-ov zunanji izvedenec (2012–) András Kovács Scientific Organiser of Murcia 2012 Workshop, Member of EURAPMON Steering Committee / znanstveni organizator delavnice Murcia 2012, član EURAPMON- ovega projektnega odbora Al Vrezec Chair of EURAPMON (2012–) / predsednik EURAPMON-a (2012–) Paola Movalli Coordinator of EURAPMON (2010–2012), External Expert of EURAPMON (2012–) / koordinatorka EURAPMON-a (2010–2012), EURAPMON-ova zunanja izvedenka (2012–) Uvodnik / Editorial