Short and sweet | ENA Mini-Courses have come to an end!

Published on:

With a concluding Online meeting which took place on the 15th of March, ENA Mini-Course Participants have officially come to an end of their ENA journey, which started on the 31st of January.

Throughout the five Mini-Courses they have had a chance to focus on competence-based applied learning for marine and forest ecosystems, core communication skills, inclusive stakeholder engagement and governance practices, policy frameworks and more.

This has been a great opportunity for them to connect with their peers and exchange ideas, as well as learning connected to the management challenges and opportunities they face in their everyday work.

The Mini- Courses were incredibly interesting, providing additional knowledge and new visions for the future, said one participant.

The Mini-Courses have been delivered by the ENA Trainee Trainers, selected from the 1st intake of the ENA participants, with the support of an expert team of ‘Trainee-Buddies’. We are super proud and grateful for their excellent work in spreading their experiences and skills acquired during their time in the Academy.

We hope that the new networking connections made within the European Nature Academy will continue for a long time and result in some exciting collaborations.

The ENA team wishes all of our participants lots of success in their future endeavours.

The European Nature Academy seeks to empower Nature Professionals by providing them with the necessary skills, knowledge and attitudes to tackle the various management challenges they encounter in their work.

Learn more about the LIFE ENABLE project here!

If you want to evaluate your competencies, make sure to utilise the Individual and Group Training Needs Analysis Tools that were created as part of the project.

Apply now for EUROPARC’s Star Awards 2024!

STAR Awards 2024

Published on:

Welcome to the EUROPARC Sustainable Tourism Partners’ Award.

Tourism is one of the main economic drivers of Europe’s rural areas. EUROPARC has long recognised the need to ensure we have a thriving, living, working landscapes that support nature and people. Tourism, therefore, has to be developed and managed along with sustainable principles, if we are to ensure a positive future. Parks and Protected Areas are at the core of the natural and cultural assets of an area and are often the main reason for visiting.

However to be a Sustainable Destination, depends on businesses, community, and municipalities all working to that common purpose.

In these STAR Awards, EUROPARC seeks to celebrate, champion and acknowledge the effort and investments made by tourism businesses to be more sustainable and help care and protect their natural and cultural heritage.

To be less impactful on the environment in which the businesses reside, to work alongside the park, and to play a supporting role in the community are all the excellent actions of “ECST Partners”.

EUROPARC, therefore, invites all current Charter Partners and Tour Operators to apply for the awards in order to highlight the sustainable actions being done which are Good for Nature, Good for People and Good for Business.

>>> Download the Guidelines for Candidates <<<<

Guidelines for candidates – ENGLISH

Instrucciones para candidados – SPANISH

Linee guida per i candidati – ITALIAN

Directives destinées aux candidats – FRENCH

Eligibility

The Star Awards is open to all Sustainable Business Partners or Tour Operators who have a current validated partnership (under ECST Part 2 or ECST Part 3) with a park or protected area, itself currently awarded by EUROPARC. If you are unsure of your eligibility please contact your Park for further information.

Categories

We really want to learn of your experiences and share your stories, so we have endeavoured to ask questions in different areas in which you may contribute to the Sustainable Destination. We have tried to make the questions as intuitive as possible to answer. There are 4 categories you can choose from:

The Application Process

We recommend that you only apply to one category. There are already transversal criteria that all categories must meet. It is better that you select the category in which you feel strongest and that you document it well.

Using the online form in either French, Italian, Spanish or English.  The deadline for entries is 31st May.

APPLY in ENGLISH (French, Spanish and Italian Versions are also available)

Please apply here

These will be assessed by an international jury together with EUROPARC representatives. The best from each category will be adjudicated by an international jury who will select the overall winner.

These will be announced at the ECST Award Ceremony 2024. Winners will be invited to attend the award ceremony at the European Parliament in Brussels, in late November/early December 2024 (Date to be confirmed).

The overall winner will receive, along with a representative from the Protected Area with which they are a partner, a free place at the EUROPARC Conference 2025 or at the ECST network meeting 2026.

Group of Specialists on European Diploma for Protected Areas annual meeting

Published on:

What is the European Diploma for Protected Areas

The European Diploma for Protected Areas is a prestigious international award granted since 1965 by the Committee of Ministers (Foreign Ministers of each Member State) of the Council of Europe. It recognises natural and semi-natural areas and landscapes of exceptional European importance for the preservation of biological, geological and landscape diversity, which are managed in an exemplary way.

About the meetings and the role of EUROPARC Federation

The Group of Specialists on the European Diploma for Protected Areas annual meeting took place from 20 to 21 February 2024 in Strasbourg and was attended by EUROPARC Federation’s Executive Director.

Our Executive Director Carol Ritchie is a member of the Group of Specialists on the European Diploma for Protected Areas, the body that advises the Committee of Ministers, whether an area in question is of exceptional European interest.

2024 Annual Meeting CoE EDPAs

At the meeting, the Group discussed the consequences of the cessation of the membership of the Russian Federation to the Council of Europe and of the freeze of the technical cooperation with Belarus.

There was also the opportunity to reflect how the monitoring of the European Diploma can contribute to the achievement of the Strategic Plan of the Bern Convention and to examine the findings of on-the-spot appraisal visits to seven Protected Areas.  Lastly, discussion revolved on the several sites requiring particular attention, and planning the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the European Diploma in 2025.

It was great to see EUROPARC members both in the Group of Specialists and amongst the 66 Diploma sites across Europe (after the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian sites) .

It was especially heartening to see and hear the presentation from Sierra Nevada National Park, Spain, as it made its new application for the Diploma. It is an award that not only looks at the assets of a site but at how they are managed and has high political significance and visibility.

Looking forward to the 60th anniversary

EUROPARC would encourage members across Europe to consider making such an application, especially as the Diploma reaches its 60th anniversary next year. It would be an ideal time to shine a spotlight on the great work being done by Protected Areas to protect our nature in all it is glorious diversity.

For more information

European Diploma holding areas

The EU Parliament adopted the Nature Restoration Regulation

Published on:

An historic decision from the European Parliament

After a long process started in 2020 with the approval of the EU Biodiversity Strategy and the Commission’s proposal for a Nature Restoration Law presented in June 2022, the EU Parliament formally adopted the trilogue agreement on the proposed new EU Regulation on the 27th of February.

EUROPARC welcomes the decision of the EU Parliament. Michael Hošek  – EUROPARC President stated:

 It is an extraordinary commitment that comes at the right time to put back nature at the core of EU political agenda.

Nature restoration, to be implemented at scale across Europe, will require massive investments over the coming decades: an estimate of €8.2 billion, according to IIEP report.

The EU Nature Restoration Law, aims to restore degraded ecosystems in all member states, with a target to restore at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030 and all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050. Member states will also have to adopt national restoration plans detailing how they intend to achieve these targets.

Role of Protected Areas

We anticipate a crucial role will be played by Protected Areas across the EU, as priority for restoration will be given to Natura 2000 sites until 2030.

We also expect Protected Areas to inspire processes for restoration planning and implementation in wider landscapes.

For this EUROPARC will continue to develop tools, methods and explore opportunities to support restoration planning and implementation within Protected Areas, in particular through capacity building and the development of innovative financing methods.

Next steps

The final step in the legislative process is for the agreement to receive the formal approval of Member States, which is expected to take place in March or April this year.

For more information:

To the EC official page To the #RESTORENATURE campaign website Text of the adopted Nature Restoration Regulation