MSc Bjarne Moeslund, Bio/consult AS

When we met in Spring 2002 for the Kick-Off Meeting I was in a position to inform you, that the project preparations had been accomplished according to plan. And that we had succeeded in transforming the words of the project document into an operational plan including the best experts in Estonia.

With such a set-up – a good plan and a good manning – we had all reasons to believe in a successful accomplishment of the first big task in the project – preparation of proposals for aquatic NATURA habitats and sites in Estonia.

Since the rest of today’s program is reserved for reviews of the technical results of the project I will concentrate on giving you a short report on the course of the project as seen through the glasses of the project management group.

First, I notice, that the Clerk of the Weather was merciful to us all. Almost too merciful. A long dry summer made fieldwork possible and efficient, but at the end, many rivers ran dry. However, a dry river is easier to investigate than a flooded river.

Throughout the field season the project received an invaluable input of data and information from many people, among these also professor Arvi Järvekülg. Late in the process, he died suddenly and unexpectedly. His death is a big loss to his family and to river science, but he has left us with so much information on Estonian rivers, without which the project outputs would have been of a quite different quality. This project therefore owes Arvi Järvekülg a large debt of gratitude.

The project also owes a large debt of gratitude to everybody else involved – in field as well as office. After submission of the proposal to the Ministry of Environment, it has become evident that the expectations of good results are fulfilled - well and truly! Therefore, the project management group have many good reasons to be content and happy with the course the project.

Although weather was good for fieldwork in 2002, not every wish of fieldwork activities was fulfilled. A field season is no longer than a field season is. In addition, despite 10 to 15 hours of daily work, working days are of limited length too. Of course, some things could have been done differently – not least when we look in the back mirror. However, this is a built-in property of most development projects. The important thing is to use this experience constructively in future projects and activities. It is my hope that the project has been rewarding in some way to everybody involved.

Personally, I am very happy – and proud – to say to all my Estonian colleagues and friends, that this project has been met with recognition from the Danish Ministry of Environment. The project has clearly demonstrated what can be achieved when project tasks are put in the hands of skilled people, managerially as well as technically and scientifically. And I am not thinking of my own hands!

In my hands however – and in the hands of my Danish colleagues - is now resting a lot of valuable knowledge and experience of great value to our work in Denmark and elsewhere. For example, we are now in a much better position to monitor the sparse Danish populations of mud loach than we were only one year ago. In addition, we have seen species and habitats lost many years ago in the heavily cultivated Danish landscape. In addition, discussions with Estonian experts have clarified many things.

Making proposals for NATURA 2000 habitats and sites is but the first step in the process of protecting Estonian aquatic habitats and species. In future, the proposals will be evaluated and incorporated in the overall NATURA 2000 network. Later the designated aquatic habitats shall be monitored and managed, and in these processes, much of the knowledge and experience gained in the course of this project will be of great value.

We have reason to believe that a significant part of the future administration of aquatic habitats will take place pursuant to the Water Framework Directive. Therefore this project has not only provided input to the NATURA 2000 process, it has also provided a useful base for entering into the challenging universe of the Water Framework Directive.

Also in that respect there is reason for satisfaction with project progress until now. The project results seems now to be rooting well all over in the group of Estonian experts, and from Danish point of view, this is a very important result too.

With these words, I thank everybody involved in the project for every contribution – large or small - to the overall outcome of the project. I am sure you will enjoy the technical reviews presented during the meeting today.