INHABIT project

The organization of meetings and workshops, along with participation in meetings external to the project, has been an important phase of INHABIT, as part of the actions dedicated to communication and dissemination of results (DI) and to demonstration in regions not directly covered by the project (D2). More details about the meetings organized by INHABIT consortium can be found in this section. In this context, the two national workshops and the final conference of the project have been particularly relevant at Italian level. These three meetings have seen the overwhelming participation of environment agencies, water management institutions, local authorities, universities and research institutes. At National level, we concentrated on disseminating INHABIT approaches and consolidated results, with examples from various geographic areas. The first national workshop “Critical issues and key aspects in ecological status classification” was held in Cagliari at Regione Autonoma Sardegna on December, 11th and 12th 2012. The second national workshop, entitled “Habitat centrality in ecological status interpretation in the context of WFD” was held in Rome on March, 27th 2013. Lastly, INHABIT final conference “Habitat and ecological status: biological response to possible restoration measures in Italian rivers and lakes” was held in Milan at CNR Research Area on October, 30th and 31st 2013. During and after the dissemination activities a lively scientific debate on a range of issues addressed by INHABIT project has matured, in particular related to methods for aquatic biocoenoses investigation and sampling. Deliverable D2d1 includes a set of papers presenting the results of the national workshops, plus two extra papers by Veneto Environment Agency, not included in workshop activities, providing description for two sampling procedures for benthic fauna in peculiar environmental conditions, considered important for INHABIT context.