Who we are
We are the European Society of Scientists and Experts for Nature Conservation (ESSENCE) – an informal organization of scientists, professional conservationists, but also amateur naturalists and all other experts who are ready to protect nature and possibly give their results available for the benefit of endangered nature anywhere in the world. Our society was founded as one of the many practical outputs that emerged from the international conference Nature Conservation in Practice, which took place as part of the zero year of the Ecofestival, ongoing from 14 to 17 June 2018 in Nitra, Slovakia. A number of of scientists, state and non-state conservationists, institutions and non-governmental organizations from four Central European countries – the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and Poland – took participation in its organization.
Our vision
To connect the scientific and conservation community across the states into one strong and reasonably interconnected whole, because we all have the same goal – the rational protection of our nature and biodiversity.
Our goals
- Together to stop the loss of biodiversity, at first at the European level and later also in the rest of the world
- Together to stop the uneconomic destruction of ecosystem services (e.g., extinction of pollinators, loss of land retention, degradation of agricultural land, unsustainable use of forests and water, ongoing eutrophication and pollution of ecosystems in general)
- Where it makes sense and it is still realistic without serious damage to the environment, to stop or at least slow down the spread of invasive species and, in particular, to pay attention to preventing their spread
- Mitigate the effects of climate change through appropriate interventions – in particular seek to retain water in the soil and landscape
- Reduce human environmental footprint through gradual and thoughtful steps
- Protect a humanity from himself
Our specific goals
- Encourage international cooperation between scientists, NGOs, state nature conservation and the commercial sector across Europe as much as possible
- Prepare and subsequently implement a comprehensive reform of nature protection on the basis of the latest scientific procedures
- To be a sufficiently active and flexible counterweight to inactive and inflexible organizations with a similar focus
- Name and share the most modern and proven methods of nature and environmental protection
- Formulate and then fulfill the challenges arising from conferences and congresses organized by our society
- Collaborate nationally and internationally with all other appropriate partners
- Share and prepare professional and educational materials for government organizations, NGOs, the commercial sector, aimed at protecting nature and the environment
- Organize a (Central)European congress entitled “Nature conservation in Practice”
- Prospectively organize the worldwide congress “Nature conservation in Practice”
- Create specialized sections, national and regional branches wherever necessary and thus at least partially replace the role of local (not yet existing or non-functioning) scientific societies or non-governmental environmental organizations
