The Environmental Agency of the Republic of Slovenia is delighted to host the 4th Bridging the Gap Conference: Responding to Environmental Change – from Words to Deeds, which will take place in Slovenia in Portoroz from 14 – 16 May, 2008. We look forward to welcoming representatives from many countries and European institutions to this exciting event in Portoroz. The conference is under the patronage of the President of the Republic of Slovenia Dr Danilo Turk. 

This conference will be the fourth in the series, the previous three Bridging the Gap events were in London 1998, Stockholm 2001 and Dublin 2004. It has been 10 years since first conference was organized. The activity emerged from out of an enthusiastic engagement of people who recognized the importance of joining forces with diverse actors (policy makers, researchers, experts) and thinking innovatively to solve environmental problems. While the conferences have been strongly led by countries, they have been substantially supported also from some European institutions (the EEA, DG Research, DG Environment and the Joint Research Centre) and sometimes also other organisations, such as WHO, have been involved. During 10 years “Bridging the Gap” has become a brand recognized and embraced by a wide network of people beyond the Eionet and EEA working in environmental research, assessment, monitoring and reporting.

• Need for urgent action
• Economic decision making 
• Communication between scientists, policy-makers, politicians and civil society

• Information gathering and sharing 
• Energy and the environment
• Sustainable consumption and production
• Adaptation to climate change 
• Biodiversity and ecosystem services