On August 18, 2024, the Nature Restoration Law came into effect and with it, much needed hope for European communities.
The European Nature Restoration Law, as part of the European Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, includes developing National Restoration Plans in EU Member States. However, to implement these plans on a national-scale, there is a need for a more thorough integration of ecological restoration methods in school curricula and training courses in order to provide students and professionals with the green skills necessary to transition to a sustainable and more-climate resilient society.
For this reason, the European Commission has been encouraging and supporting Member States to modernize Vocational Education and Training (VET) and continuing education programs.The Erasmus+ funded project TEAM#UP, a partnership of 15 institutions from five European countries, is a great example of this process. It aims to provide educational material on ecological restoration and make these available on an open educational resource platform. Working with diverse partners from VET schools, universities, and the private sector across Czech Republic, Germany, Norway, and Spain, TEAM#UP aids in facilitating the skills development and training necessary for upscaling ecological restoration practices across Europe.
Get to know us and learn more about our project at www.teamup2restore.eu
Funded by the European Union. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the EACEA is responsible for the views expressed.
The TEAM#UP project has recently completed its first year. We have decided to celebrate this anniversary by publishing our second 
In May this year, we started working on a very interesting project called Restoration of springs - retention of water in the landscape directly at the source. Its aim is to find out whether and what effect the revitalisation of springs has on their biota and basic water parameters. And because we take research seriously, the project involves specialists in higher plants, mosses, macromycetes and macrozoobenthos. The application guarantor is the Administration of the Šumava National Park. The pipes and sensors for monitoring of the water level have already been installed, the spring sampling of macrozoobenthos has successfully been completed, but we are definitely not fnishing there. Monitoring of higher plants, mosses and fungi is in its full swing. The project is quite ambitious in the number of sites, therefore we are now very busy. But the result, the Methodology for monitoring of springs and assessing the effect of their restoration, will definitely be worth it!
In June, Klára Řehounková participated as an invited speaker at the Aggregates Europe - UEPG conference in Belgium, this year focused on new trends in biodiversity support in mining areas. In a session focused on scientific knowledge and its application in practice, Klára had the opportunity to reach managers of large European mining companies. During the informal discussions, there was a lot of talk about the newly approved Nature Restoration Law.
A new project funded by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic has been recently launched in cooperation with entomologists. The project is aimed at assessing the impact of green roofs on biodiversity in cities. The project brings together experts from both disciplines to monitor the presence of plants and insects on green roofs. The project aims to find out which species of plants and insects are able to get on the roofs, how the roofs are evolving, and what impact they have on local ecosystems. The first phase of data collection started last week in České Budějovice. We expect interesting results that could contribute to a better understanding of the ecological functions of green roofs in urban environments.
This week, a workshop focused on meadow restoration using regional seed mixtures was held in the White Carpathians. Together with our Norwegian colleagues, we had the opportunity to see many interesting sites with examples of good practice. Wednesday morning was devoted to a summary of the finishing project Regional seed mixtures as an effective tool for the conservation of grassland habitat diversity. We shared the newly gained experience and preliminary results and presented future perspectives. In return, our Norwegian colleagues presented their knowledge of the management of restored grasslands.
Our partner school, Agricultural College and Agricultural Secondary School Benešov, invited us to give a lecture to their students about near-natural maintenance of the urban greenery and also about regional seed mixtures. Both topics will be incorporated into the developing educational materials materials within the TEAM#UP project. About 25 students from several different study programs listened to the lectures given by Klára and Kamča. We thank you for the invitation and we hope that the students enjoyed our talks.
