Council news
28.07.2011
Information on the final nominees for the EUROPARC Council election is now available. Please visit our Council Election 2011 pages for more information.
01.07.2011
The latest EUROPARC Council meeting took place on 16th-17th June in Schwerin, North Germany.
Council members, as well as representatives from the EUROPARC sections and working group chairs met in the Hotel Speicher am Ziegelsee, a former grain store, to discuss Federation governance as well as strategic issues.
To consolidate the good cooperation with Eurosite, its board members had also been invited and joined the EUROPARC Council for a meeting in the morning of the 16th. It was decided to formalise the collaboration between both organisations, a decision which was endorsed by the section representatives and working group chairs and which will be put to the rest of the membership at the General Assembly in September. Further details on the Councils’ decision can be found in a separate article in this newsletter.
A subsequent plenary session managed to lay the foundation stone for a new EUROPARC Strategy, which will now have to be built on by the Directorate over the next 12 months. In the afternoon participants had been invited to the Schaalsee Biosphere Reserve to learn about the flora, fauna and history of the area, followed by presentations and a discussion on UNESCO biosphere reserves in Germany and Europe.
EUROPARC would like to give particular thanks to the Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Consumer Protection, who generously sponsored the meetings and events. Special thanks also to the Schaalsee Biosphere Reserve who set up an interesting and educational programme for our delegation.
01.06.2011
EUROPARC Council meeting 25th March 2011
The first meeting of the year took place at the EUROPARC Headquarters in Regensburg. As usual for this time of year the agenda was focused on financial aspects of the NGO administration but also included project development, the EUROPARC conference 2011 and Council elections.
Council members have been actively representing EUROPARC at varying occasions, such as the Wild Europe Wilderness Working Group, the CAP seminar in Brussels, high level ministerial meetings in several countries, the Single Habitat Forum in the UK and the “Towards seventh environmental programme” conference in Brussels, to name but a few.
The Council approved application from the following new members, which we welcome to the Federation: Kozara National Park (BA), Millevaches en Limousin Regional Park (FR), Avesnois Regional Park (FR), Marais of Cotenin and Bessin Regional Park (FR), Mons d’Ardèche Natural Regional Park (FR), Living Rhine Association (FR), Haut-Languedoc Regional Nature Park (FR), Regional Agency Harz e.V. (DE), Giacomo Benelli (IT), Kurtuvenai Regional Park (LT), Environmental and Sea Regional Secretary (PT), Djerdap National Park (SP) and Natural Regional Park of Pilat (FR).
The Sustainable Tourism Working Group is now fully formed and will meet for the first time in May. A road map for the Ecosystems Working Group was adopted at the meeting; selection of a member representative for this group will take place after the Council elections in September.
The next meeting will be a joint meeting of the EUROPARC Council, sections and working groups and will take place on 16th June in Schwerin (DE). Part-funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Consumer Protection of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, the meeting will include a presentation and symposium on UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in Germany and Europe.
Download an abridged version of the Council meeting minutes
