Paris, 29 November 2004


EFITA newsletter / 186 / European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment


Call for papers: EFITA / WCCA 2005 Joint Conference
+ The 5th Conference of the European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and Environment and
+ The 3rd World Congress on Computers in Agriculture and Natural Resources
Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal, 25 - 28 July 2005
See: http://www.agriculturadigital.org/efitaandwcca2005


WCCA 2005 Joint Conference

Sessions / workshops

Organiser

ICT Adoption

Ehud GELB

Agricultural Ontology Service with AFITA/EFITA

Johannes KEIZER (FAO)

Traceability and geo-traceability

Michel DEBORD

A Model Driven Approach to Agricultural Systems

Petraq PAPAJORGJI (IFAS)

session on Decision Support Systems and Modelling: Environment and Scientific

Clive RAHN and Caroline PARKER

GPS in Agriculture

Denis BOISGONTIER

ICT for crop protection

Iver THYSEN and Guy WAKSMAN

Dairy and Animal Production Systems

Vasco Fitas CRUZ

ICT / Fruits et Vegetable Productions

Jean-François SAMIE

Internet Services

Iver THYSEN

Information Systems and Databases

Mick HARKIN


Contact: Jose BOAVENTURA
e-mail: jboavent(a)utad.pt


First International Conference on Health and Biodiversity - COHAB 2005
23-25 August 2005 - Galway, Ireland
This important global event aims to provide an international forum for scientists, professionals, policy makers and stakeholders to address the issues linking ecosystem health, human health, biological diversity and international development.

The ecosystem approach to human health recognises the need for integrated public health policies and development programmes that view the protection of ecosystems as an important part of achieving their objectives. COHAB 2005 will highlight the importance of wild species, habitats and ecosystems to international development, and will promote systemic approaches that address population health in the context of ecosystems and the services they provide.

Themes to be covered at the conference include:
* the importance of biodiversity to agriculture, fisheries, forestry, human and animal nutrition and food security,
* the value of biodiversity to drug discovery,
* biodiversity and ecosystem services,
* pathogen pollution and the ecology of infectious disease,
* biodiversity in ethnomedicine and traditional knowledge,
* the value of wild species as sentinels of ecological health and as models in medical research.

A special session of COHAB 2005 will discuss policy options for addressing the health problems posed by biodiversity loss.

COHAB 2005 is being organised by the Moore Group in association with the Centre for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, the Consortium for Conservation Medicine, the Secretariat to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Environment Programme, the World Conservation Union and other international partners.
See: http://www.cohab2005.com
Contact: Conor KRETSCH
E-mail: info(a)cohab2005.com


Frutic05: Information and Technologies for Sustainable Fruit and Vegetable Production
12-16 September 2005 - Montpellier, France
The fruit and vegetable production segment has undergone major structural changes during recent years due to new consumer expectations. The same evolution towards increased security levels and higher quality has also been noticed in the wine production segment. The specificity of fruits and vegetables (including grapes dedicated to wine) makes production constraints even stronger than for other agricultural products. Frutic05, dedicated to "information and technologies for sustainable fruit and vegetable production", will present how these tools can boost sustainable fruit, vegetable and wine production. Frutic05 is the 7th fruit, Nut and Vegetable Engineering Production engineering symposium.
See: http://www.frutic05.org


EU: The common agricultural policy explained
See: http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/publi/cap_en.pdf


EEA unveils first digital map of Europe's changing landscapes
The first digital map of the multiple changes that have occurred in Europe's landscapes since 1990 was unveiled today, enabling policy-makers to draw lessons from how their decisions in areas such as agriculture and transport are impacting on the region's finite land resources and the wider environment. The European Environment Agency (EEA) presented today the results of its Corine Land Cover (CLC) 2000 project at a high-level event in Brussels for representatives from several European Commission Services - including regional policy, agriculture, research and environment - the European Space Agency and the EEA's current and prospective member countries. Using a common methodology, CLC2000 provides the first standardised survey of Europe's land cover for the year 2000 and of the changes that happened over the decade since the first CLC was undertaken in the late 1980s. Both products are publicly available at no cost through the EEA's web site. CLC2000's combination of geographical breadth and local detail is unmatched by any other land cover information programme in the world. The project already covers 30 countries and the number is expected to expand in 2005. The EEA has produced CLC2000 from IMAGE2000, a satellite imaging programme undertaken together with the European Commission's Joint Research Centre. Aerial photos and near-ground imaging were also used. From IMAGE2000, experts from across Europe have produced detailed maps showing 44 different land cover types, such as 'continuous urban fabric', 'pasture' and 'non-irrigated arable land'. CLC2000 is available at http://dataservice.eea.eu.int, where illustrative maps highlighting the changes between 1990 and 2000 in selected areas can also be found. IMAGE2000 data can be accessed from http://image2000.jrc.it.


Firm up!!
One morning, as his wife was preparing breakfast, Bob walked up behind her, pinched her butt, and said, "You know if you firmed this up, we could get rid of your girdle".
She replied with a mean look.
The next morning, Bob woke her up with a pinch on the breast and said, "You know if you firmed these up, we could get rid of your bra".
At this, she reached down, grabbed his penis, and said, "You know if you firmed this up, we could get rid of the postman, the gardener, the pool man AND your brother".
Contact: Mick HARKIN
E-mail: harkin(a)iol.ie


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