Protection and renaturation of dune habitats on the southern Baltic coast in Poland, Germany and Lithuania, removal of invasive species, extensive educational activities aimed at local communities and society as a whole - these and other activities will be undertaken as part of the LIFE for Dunes PL project led by dr Magdalena Lazarus from the Faculty of Biology at the University of Gdańsk. The conference opening the project activities took place in the auditorium of the Faculty of Biology on February 5-7, 2025.
Photo by Alan Stocki
‘Dunes play a key role in maintaining biodiversity, protecting coastal areas and mitigating climate change,’ said the Dean of the Faculty of Biology, prof. dr hab. Dariusz Szlachetko, welcoming the gathered guests. ‘They serve as habitats for rare, often endangered species, and also act as a buffer against the power of the sea. The challenges we face in protecting them require not only scientific knowledge but also broad interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral cooperation.’
The three-day kick-off conference provided an opportunity for the numerous national and international project partners to meet in person. Representatives of the various project work packages presented the planned activities and the methodology to be used. Guests were also invited who represent entities with which the project contractors would like to cooperate in the future. The current situation of dune habitats on the southern Baltic coast is alarming, as most of them are endangered, but it is still possible to protect and restore them:
Photo by Piotr Rutkowski
‘We invited our friends from Germany and Lithuania because this is not a national problem but an international one,’ said dr Magdalena Lazarus. ‘We also invited numerous partners to find the best solutions together to remedy this disastrous situation.’
The importance of dune ecosystems and the challenges of their protection were also the subject of the keynote speech by the special guest of the conference, Paul Rooney from Hope University in Liverpool, founder of the Sand Dune and Shingle Network initiative.
The educational and social component is also an important element of the dune conservation programme. The natural environment is our common good and in order to protect it effectively, everyone must have a basic knowledge of it and feel responsible for it. At the same time, activities related to the protection and restoration of habitats often arouse strong emotions among the public. For this reason, the authors of the LIFE for Dunes PL project are planning a series of meetings with social stakeholders in the coming months, starting as early as April, to ensure that the actions taken are understood and supported by local communities as well, especially in relation to the removal of invasive species, including artificial plantings of shrubs not naturally found in the dunes:
‘One of my friends once said that if people are not aware of the value of the ecosystem, they can be satisfied even with palm trees growing on the Polish coast,’ said dr M. Lazarus. ‘But it is our role, the role of scientists, to educate the public and show the value of natural habitats and the natural species that can be found on the coast.’
On the last day of the conference, the participants visited Hel to see the renaturalised dune areas in the Natura 2000 area. They also visited the Professor Krzysztof Skóra University Marine Station.
You can read more about the project here: New Project under the LIFE Programme: LIFE for Dunes PL | Projects
We also encourage you to follow the project's Facebook profile: Life for Dunes PL | Facebook and YouTube channel: LIFEforDunesPL - YouTube.
As part of the latest edition of the European Commission's LIFE programme, scientists from the University of Gdańsk will also be involved - as strategic contractors - in the LIFE Pom GOZilla.PL project. As part of the project, the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Gdańsk will conduct pilot studies on the management of bio-waste fractions, while the Faculty of Economics and the Faculty of Management will organise the University of Gdańsk Competence Centre for local governments. We have written more about the project here: University of Gdańsk as strategic contractor in the LIFE Pom GOZilla.PL project | News - University of Gdańsk.
