Meeting Of the European Section of the OSG

The European Section of the OSG met in June 1994 at Otterpark Aqua Lutra in the Netherlands. Reports from each country are summarised. The eight main recommendations are: all European countries that have not signed the Bern Convention should do so urgently; 1995 will be the Second European Year for Nature Conservation and the otter could be a good mascot for sustainable land use within whole water catchments; lifting the Iron Curtain provides a great opportunity because of the immense biodiversity in eastern Europe; it will be more cost-effective to protect this biodiversity instead of destroying it for short-term economic gain only to spend vast sums trying to restore it later; tithe current low economic base in eastern Europe means that money sent from the West now will have a disproportionately large effect in the East, so now is the time to act; knowledge should be transferred between east (which have undisturbed ecosystems) and the west (which has technology and experience of good and bad laws and regulations); to this end, publications should be made available in English and Russian, the main scientific languages throughout Europe; and better coordination is needed between IUCN specialist groups.