Coming conference on watermill biotope

Watermills and the source of their water supply are under threat in many countries across the world. Competing demands from different stakeholders (including conservation organisations, fishermen, public water supply companies, property developers and others) mean that watermill owners face demands to remove weirs and others forms of barrier used to impound water for the mill. In Europe, the European Union Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the EU Nature Directives (the Birds Directive and Habitats Directive) have both been used to justify the removal of water sources to mills.

Our next conference explores ways mill owners and those who volunteer at mills can both assess their “Watermill Biotope” (the unique combination of heritage building, water, soil, nature, economy and people which the mill site represents) and demonstrate its importance and value now and in the future.

We will be joined by Professor Dr. Elyze Storms-Smeets of Radboud University in the Netherlands who has led pioneering projects to assess the Watermill Biotope at a number of watermill sites in the Netherlands and other European countries. She will talk about her approach and methodology to assess the Watermill Biotope of a mill. There will be break-out room time to discuss the issues that face your mill, helping you start the process of assessing your Watermill Biotope.

You can find the link to the conference here.

Or here in text: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86350975498?pwd=r0R4TXJ0TBjMaQUfl03kViGQNPOghP.1

Vergadering-ID: 863 5097 5498
Wachtwoord: 592717