All attendees proclaimed the first conference with the involvement of the new European Chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration International (SERI) as a great success. Coming as 3^rd European Conference on Restoration Ecology, "Challenges of the Future - Our Joint Responsibility" (25-31 August 2002) succeeded the meetings in Zurich (1996) and in Groningen (1998). Fortuitously, the event was convened in the same city, Budapest (Hungary) where the idea to build a European forum for ecological restoration was first born during the 7^th European Ecological Congress (EURECO) in 1995.

The presence of over 200 participants from 27 countries, with more than 170 oral and poster presentations, ensured a broad representation of restoration in Europe during the intensive three days of presentations and discussions. Conference themes embraced topics related to restoration from developing conceptual approaches to monitoring the efficiency of restoration.

James Aronson, Head of the Restoration Ecology Group in the Functional and Evolutionary Ecology Laboratory, of the French National Scientific Research Network (CNRS), Montpellier, and Editor of the new SER International-Island Press book series on Ecological Restoration, gave the opening talk. The challenge of this Millenium for restorationists is that our work does not include only the elaboration of better tools for the restoration, rehabilitation and reintegration of ecosystems, but must also show coherence in terms of ecological, economic and social viability. This task requires a greater integration of academics, but also the involvement of people and institutions concerned with socio-cultural and economical aspects of environmental and ecosystem management and restoration.

Strategic planning is a key to restoration success. Goal setting should be carried out in the context of local, regional, national and international needs. Monitoring can inform adaptive management of sites, and therefore should be an integral part of restoration plans, as demonstrated by Jim Harris of the Institute of Water and Environment, Cranfield University, UK.

Strategies for restoring species and habitats show great diversity according to different regions and ecosystem types. Ramón Vallejo, Fundación CEAM, Valencia, Spain, summarized the major restoration objectives and strategies with special emphasis on dry land ecosystems of the Mediterranean region.

Restoration needs to include both biodiversity and ecosystem function considerations. Jelte van Andel, Laboratory of Plant Ecology, University of Groningen, Netherlands, introduced biodiversity criteria for evaluating the status of ecological systems, e.g. measuring disturbance and the success of recovery or restoration, demonstrating various ways that ecological science can contribute to restoration.

Tools and techniques themselves are insufficient for reaching restoration goals. The support of community at local, national and international levels is a must. Gerhard Wiegleb LS Allgemeine Ökologie, BTU Cottbus, Germany, called our attention to the importance of so called "discursive development of environmental aims", and the role of cultural norms in selecting reference states.

The requirements of the society also have to be considered at the European scale. The European Chapter will investigate promising avenues of research and report on scientific advances of interest to European legislators. Martin Sharman from the European Commission (Research DG DI-2 Biodiversity and Global Change) summarized the role that the Chapter could play in the European Research Area and presented the next EU framework program of research and technological development.

Workshops targeted specialized fields and different approaches, such as grassland restoration, soil reclamation, the idea of Restoring Natural Capital, and the presentation of Global Terrestrial Observing System project of FAO. Others searched for collaboration at national (Hungary) and international levels. People who attended these workshops can form the basis of future working groups.

The three days of the formal Conference were followed by one to three-day field trips in Hungary and one trip to Slovakia and the Czech Republic. These trips showed visitors various restoration projects in wetlands, bogs, sodic (halophitic) habitats and mining areas and the range of native vegetation types in these countries.

The meeting highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of the European Chapter. A strong scientific background (ecological theories, historical data sets, successional studies, field experiments) and the rapid development of technology encourage us to meet the challenges of the new Millenium. We still need to strengthen socio-economic aspects and linkages between science and public policy and between researchers and practitioners. It was stressed to pay more attention to European regulations and directives in research planning.

The next SERI Europe meeting was also announced. It will combine the 17^th Annual Meeting of SER International and the 4^th meeting of European restorationists, and will be held in 2005 in Zaragoza (Spain).

The conference published a declaration on Ecological Restoration and the Quest for Sustainability marking the occasion of the central European floods in August and the World Summit in Johannesburg. This declaration was distributed to the media in Hungary, Canada and other countries. You can find the document on the conference website.

The new Board is truly international, consisting of 8 people from 7 countries. Rudy van Diggelen (Netherlands) was confirmed as Chair. Shivcharn Dhillion (Norway) is working on the bylaws of the chapter as vice-chair. Jim Harris is responsible for the website. Francisco Comín (Spain) is organizing the joint meeting planned for 2005. Katalin Török (Hungary), the chair of the Budapest conference, will help as well, building on the experience gained during the Budapest meeting. The Board includes two experts, Kris Decleer (Belgium) and Wiktor Kotowski (Poland) to help bridge the gap between scientists, practitioners, policy makers and the public. Finally Melinda Halassy (Hungary) will continue her work as chapter secretary.

Melinda Halassy
Chapter Secretary
European Chapter