EUROPARC Consulting news

Richard Partington, the new Chair of EUROPARC Consulting, offers some reflection on past activities and provides Federation members with a glimpse of future plans...

EUROPARC Consulting was created ten years ago with a purpose to offer a service for protected areas by providing advice, specialist expertise and knowledge as well as facilitating training and learning across the full spectrum of protected area work.

The work of EUROPARC Consulting over the past ten years has provided additional income for the Federation. Consulting is however not only about money. It is also about connecting people with great ideas and specialist knowledge of protected area management, of nature conservation, of working with businesses, of sustainable tourism, designing good communications, working with stakeholders etc etc. These experts are members of the EUROPARC Federation with direct protected area experience.

EUROPARC Consulting is a valuable asset for EUROPARC members to use. We match experts to projects and offer a reliable, cost effective and unique service. We work for members at discounted rates and our experience draws on the best people to do the job, large or small. Over the next few months a strategy and business plan will set out how EUROPARC Consulting will expand over the next five years and increase its annual contribution in supporting the Federation.

In these times of financial restraint it makes good business sense to use EUROPARC’s own in–house team for specific projects. Please give EUROPARC Consulting the chance to tender for your projects. Our efforts will benefit Europe’s protected areas of Europe and EUROPARC, their umbrella organisation.

Visit www.europarc-consulting.org or email wilf.fenten@europarc-consulting.org  

EUROPARC Consulting: Back to the Future

Interview with Richard Partington, new Chair of the EUROPARC Consulting board.

This month EUROPARC talks to the new Chair of EUROPARC Consulting, Richard Partington, whom many of you will already know, about what’s in store for EUROPARC’s consulting arm. The company was set up by the EUROPARC Federation ten years ago this year as a consulting business specialising in protected area management. It has two part-time members of staff but the team is extended by an exceptional network of experts in this field. EUROPARC Consulting offers a discounted rate for EUROPARC members and furthermore provides a proportion of the profits back to the EUROPARC Federation to help us keep up our good work.

Richard, perhaps you could start by introducing yourself to our readers. Tell us something about your background and yourself as an individual.

“My life in protected areas started in New Zealand, working in their National Parks and Reserves service. As part of the Ranger team I had tremendous ‘hands on’ experience working in wild and remote locations, including marine and coastal, alpine, native forests and geo-thermal areas of boiling mud and steam geysers! New Zealand was very important to me personally and professionally. My two daughters were born in New Zealand and, during these formative years, my egalitarian values and aspirations were set – that national parks and protected areas are for all people to enjoy and how could I best help this?

In contrast to New Zealand’s real ‘wilderness’ I had a wonderful opportunity to work in Europe’s largest navigable wetland –The Broads. Its then CEO, Aitken Clark, was a tremendous mentor and helped me not only develop the Countryside Service and build bridges between the land and water communities of interest, improve visitor information and facilities but he also introduced me to EUROPARC and its benefits of collaborative working, sharing expertise and knowledge.

Using practical experience to inform management decisions is something of a personal campaign. When I was Director for Visitor and Communication Services, at Exmoor National Park it was this philosophy that steered my work. Understanding the social and economic needs of local people and understanding how protected areas can help achieve a win, win situation is essential.

Using the experience of practical management and in depth knowledge of protected areas was something I was keen to take into central UK Government so a move to the Countryside Agency and later Natural England helped. Now my contribution to protected areas is through a mix of voluntary and freelance work - for EUROPARC Consulting, as a member of IUCNs World Commission on Protected Areas and as Chairman of the Exmoor Local Access Forum will mean that there will be little spare time!”    

You have just been elected Chair of EUROPARC Consulting. Perhaps you can tell us in your own words a little bit about the company and its relationship to the EUROPARC Federation?

“EUROPARC Consulting was set up as a sort of ‘in-house’ consultancy to help individual protected areas use the skills, knowledge and expertise of protected area professionals. The company has formal Articles of Association, its legal seat is in Regensburg and we have one Shareholder – the EUROPARC Federation. We have an excellent and extremely capable Managing Director in Wilf Fenten and he is supported by an Advisory Board of five which always includes the Federation President and its Director and three other volunteers. We are part of the Federation and have three aims: to provide good value expert consultancy services; to help raise the Federations profile and; to generate profits to contribute to Federation funds”

What are you looking forward to most about this position and what do you think you can bring to the company?

“Simply to increase our profile, make us better known, build the business and contribute to the Federation. For me it is a real privilege to be the current Chairman of the Advisory Board and I have a strong drive to carry on the valuable work started by its first Chairman, Aitken Clark.  My immediate goal is to develop our business model, minimise risks, identify challenges and maximise opportunities and set a course to achieve our medium and long term aspirations”.

EUROPARC Consulting is 10 years old this year. What have been some of the great successes in the life of the consulting company?

“The company was established following the work of a small EUROPARC working group or ‘funding commission’. Business has had grown steadily, originally under the guidance of Rachel Wieting and in recent years by Wilf Fenten, and we have worked in most member countries with a most impressive list of work and clients.  Measuring success is always difficult but one measure is the amount of money we have been able to pass to the Federation – EUR 85,000 since 2008. Other successes have to be the results of our work and how it has made a difference to people or places - too many to list here so I suggest you look at our web site to see the breadth of our work”.

What kind of service and expertise can EUROPARC Consulting offer protected area practitioners?

We can undertake any task, activity or project that falls within protected area management or policy work in any country or language – just ask us for free advice on how we can help!   Our strength is the EUROPARC network and we can offer learning seminars or workshops, advice on any topic, research and analysis, capacity building and learning amongst staff, local people or politicians to interpretation, communication, tourism and recreation strategies and visitor centre design.  Our specialities are ‘study visits’ and perhaps these are the best way for protected area practitioners to learn and be inspired and which are based closely on the EUROPARC ethos of sharing expertise and knowledge”.  

What message does EUROPARC Consulting have for the protected area practitioners and what in turn would Consulting like to learn/know from them?

“Across Europe, protected areas let hundreds of contracts every year for advice and services – EUROPARC Consulting seeks no favours but we would like to be asked to tender – we know our existing clients are very pleased with our service and we think our new clients will also be delighted.  Please come to us first and ask us to quote - remember we offer a tailor-made and flexible service, and we use EUROPARC experts who have commitment and real protected area know how.

Come to us for reliable, cost effective help from protected-area experts, EUROPARC Consulting.