Section news
01.12.2011.
Nordic-Baltic Section: Successful autumn seminar held in Finland
Metsähallitus hosted this year’s autumn seminar, “Labour of Love – Volunteering for Parks”, in Tikkurila just outside the Finnish capital city. On October 5-7, 35 parti cipants put their wise heads together and shared experiences from the Nordic and Balti c countries, the UK, Russia, Germany and Italy. An inspiring meeti ng indeed!
As it turned out, the existence of volunteering in protected areas varies quite a bit between the represented countries – and especially within our own section. In Iceland for instance, there is a full-blown and very popular 11 week programme, whose 200 international volunteers significantly contribute to and complement the work of the Umhverfisstofnun Environment Agency rangers every summer. At the other end of the spectrum, countries such as e.g. Sweden, there is great potential, need and interest in establishing conservation volunteering programmes, but so far only a few and small scale initiatives have been realised. Other Nordic and Baltic countries seem to fall somewhere in between these two.
So how should a volunteering programme be set up? Well, from what we learned, there are many ways of doing it. In some places it makes sense for a governmental agency to run a programme, while in another an independent NGO would be more suitable, or why not a collaboration between the two? The presented cases pointed to the fact that every country probably needs a different solution to suit their needs and context. In this regard, we had great input also from participants from outside the section: Bettina Soethe from EUROPARC Germany and Anita Prosser, BTVC, gave us insights into the broad scopes and many activities of their volunteering programmes in Germany and the UK respectively.
In addition Claudia Alessandrelli and Francesca Giannetti who run Inachis, a small NGO consisting of four volunteers (themselves and two colleagues) and Lidia Krinova, from EcoCenter Zapovedniks in Russia, showed that even very slim organisations can make wonders.
Many hands-on and useful pieces of advice were exchanged during these days. Furthermore, many more excellent presentations were given in addition to those mentioned here. All are available on our webpage, together with a report by Liisa Kylliäinen, a summary of the results, photos, links and more .
More photos can be found on the Nordic Baltic Flickr pages.
One interesting outcome of the evaluation was that participants would like to see volunteering as a part of all EUROPARC Nordic-Baltic section seminars! It was suggested that, no matter the theme of a seminar, there is always some task that needs doing and to work on it together would truly add to the experience exchange. It could be anything from clearing trees during a seminar on meadow management, to working on texts for the hosting organisation’s protected area brochures at a communication seminar. This is certainly an idea that the secretariat will consider and pass on to future seminar organisers.
Labour of Love – Volunteering for Parks was excellently organised and the section secretariat would like to extend their most grateful thanks to Lasse Lovén and his colleagues at Metsähallitus: Liisa, Annukka and Katja!! Thank you also to Metsähallitus and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency for supporting the event.
Author: Lena Malmström, Nordic-Baltic Section Coordinator
07.11.2011.
Deputy Director of the Agency for Nature Conservation and Landscape Protection takes on presidency of EUROPARC Czech Republic
The EUROPARC Federation took some time out this month to meet the new president of the EUROPARC Czech section, Michael Hošek. Michael has been working for the Agency for Nature Conservation and Landscape Protection (ANCLP CR) of the Czech Republic for 11 years. He will be taking up the post of president of the section for the next three years and will also be representing all EUROPARC sections on the EUROPARC Council this year.
Michael, welcome to the EUROPARC Federation and congratulations on your presidency of the Czech section. When did you start working for the Section and why did you get involved?
The ANCLP CR plays a central role in nature conservation in the Czech Republic. Among other things it is also responsible for the administration of 24 Protected Landscape Areas (all together covering about 15% of the territory). ANCLP CR is therefore an important member of the EUROPARC Federation at the national level. As Deputy Director, I am in charge of international relations including the active involvement in EUROPARC and its Czech section. I have been supporting these activities since 2008 not only as a task, but also as an activity that I believe is profitable for all participants.
Please tell us a bit about your background?
I graduated as an ecologist with a special focus on landscape revitalisation. However I do not find my university education as important as my experience in practical nature conservation. I gained a lot of knowledge and practical experience during my employment, i.e. when I was responsible for proposing Natura 2000 sites for habitats in preparatory stages, and when I was the head of ANCLP CR regional administration in the Eastern Bohemia region. I have led the division responsible for all obligations rising from the Nature Directives, monitoring of biotopes and habitats, managing the Nature Conservancy Information System etc since 2005. I also guarantee ANCLP CR participation in the Consortium of the European Topic Centre on Biodiversity in which the Agency is a partner.
What do you hope for the Czech section during your presidency? How will you take the section forward?
The Czech Section is the smallest section but nevertheless quite active (e.g. transboundary cooperation). There are certainly advantages, mainly at the national level, but there is now a necessity to cooperate more with our partners abroad. Therefore we are now in the preparation of a proposal to establish a new international EUROPARC section for the protected areas of central Europe. This activity will improve our cooperation with neighbouring countries and also relates to the current discussion about the role of the sections within the Federation. Their role is very important, on one hand regarding the representation and coordination of members from large countries, on the other hand to support cooperation between members in specific regions throughout the Europe.
You are also the section representative this year. What do you hope for EUROPARC and the EUROPARC sections?
In this period of economic crisis, effective mutual discussion and cooperation is vital, also for the EUROPARC Federation itself. So, I hope that the sections remain strong in their activities and that they fortify their involvement in the Federation, particularly supporting the activities of the directorate.
To be honest, I have not been that involved at Federation level with EUROPARC in recent years, but I know the structure and activities of the Federation quite well. Therefore I hope that this is not a major disadvantage and that I can use my experience to work towards our joint goals.
01.09.2011
Minimum impact in Italian protected areas: increasing the sustainability of man-made waste
Reducing the footprint of man within Italian protected areas is the objective of an agreement recently signed by the company Minimum Impact and Federparchi - EUROPARC Italy.
Minimum Impact promotes products with low environmental impact, especially biodegradable and compostable tableware, under the brand name Mater-Bi ®. The company’s strategic mission is the improvement of integrated systems for collecting rubbish and recycling municipal waste.
Federparchi - EUROPARC Italy has always been committed to the improvement of living conditions for people, including the conservation of biodiversity. In particular the organisation does this with regards to climate change adaptation and through research and safeguarding ecological balance. Thus the organisation also seeks the gradual reduction of the ecological footprint of the local population and visitors in protected areas.
Together, Minimum Impact and Federparchi - Italy EUROPARC are promoting more sustainable eating in Italian parks through the introduction of the brand Mater-Bi ® in these areas. The aim is to significantly reduce the non-recyclable waste produced by tourists and residents and to increase the collection and treatment of Municipal waste and the percentage of organic urban waste, for the production of quality compost. Minimum Impact is offering a 20% discount on items purchased on-line through its website www.minimoimpatto.it until December 31, 2011.
02.08.2011
Celebrating the European Year of Volunteering in Italy
2011 was proclaimed by the European Union Council “The European Year of Volunteering "(EYV2011). This was also the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the UN decision, which decreed "a high level of value and care of the public for volunteers and their contribution to society". International initiatives taking place during the IYV2011 aim at the "creation of a comprehensive strategy to promote, recognize, facilitate and support volunteering in order to realize its full potential, valuing the progress made so far and to develop an agenda of European and international policies volunteering". Federparchi encourages the appreciation and support of these important activities.
Federparchi itself is following its own advice and considering the great importance that the theme has for protected areas it has organized and is taking part in many current and future projects on this topic. Two of these are listed below:
From 2nd to 6th May, a delegation from Federparchi represented Italian protected areas in the "Training of volunteer coordinators" held in Romania in Rodna Mountains National Park. Also attending were representatives of NGOs and protected areas from Germany, Spain, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia and the United Kingdom. The event was organized in the framework of the GRUNDTVIG funded project Volunteer Management in European Parks, coordinated by EUROPARC Germany, of which Federparchi and the EUROPARC Federation are partners. The project aims to highlight the extraordinary opportunities for parks arising from volunteer activities and to initiate an exchange of ideas and best practices for the more effective management of volunteering – a phenomenon that is widespread in Italy, and in many other European countries. A cost / benefit analysis has shown that volunteering in protected areas is a great support to the management and maintenance of the parks. It is also an effective way to disseminate and promote the protected area.
"Volunteers: Nature needs you" was the theme chosen by EUROPARC for the European Day of Parks 2011. Federparchi celebrated the event with a conference on May 25th at the Centro Studi Valerio Giacomini Migliarino in San Rossore, Massaciuccoli Regional Park. During the meeting Italian experiences in volunteering were analysed with a dual objective: to develop a strategy to launch structured volunteering programmes within protected areas; and to create conditions which facilitate the use of volunteers in parks.
For more information about the activities that Federparchi is undertaking for the EYV2011 please contact Francesca Cacciacarne
02.08.2011
Networking for Nature Conservation
A German nationwide project is currently in operation that investigates possible networking strategies between overlapping national parks, natural parks and biosphere reserves in the country. The project runs between November 2010 and June 2013.
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) calls for a global network of efficiently managed and ecologically holistic systems of protected areas on a national and regional scale. In Germany protected areas of different categories are often situated next to each other or even overlapping, national parks are surrounded by nature parks; nature parks border biosphere reserves etc. The main objective now is to transform this status of coexistence into a systemic cooperation and this is where the project comes in.
Nine representative regions will be investigated within the project. Within each of these regions two different categories of protected areas are collaborating with each other, e.g. natural park - national park, natural park - biosphere reserve. These newly created alliances schedule and implement mutual measures in field such as wildlife conservation and biotope protection, environmental education, regional development or ecologically compatible tourism. One important objective of the project is to monitor and evaluate these alliances and collect ‘best practice’ models.
The project kicked-off with a workshop in March 2011, where experts and representatives from 19 participating national parks, natural parks and biosphere reserves took part in an intense exchange of experience. The outcomes were a variety of indicators capable of benchmarking the collaborations between different types of protected areas, which help identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. These will contribute to the creation of an objective framework for a functional system of protected areas that overlap.
EUROPARC Germany, the umbrella organisation of the German National Natural Landscapes, is responsible project management. National Natural Landscapes is the brand under which all German national parks, biosphere reserves and nature parks are united. The project is financially supported by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).
Contact: Kerstin Emonds (Project Coordinator)
01.06.2011
Inwertsetzung von Naturschutzmaßnahmen in den Schutzgebieten der Nationalen Naturlandschaften
In den Schutzgebieten der Nationalen Naturlandschaften werden wichtige ökosystemare Leistungen gerade im Hinblick auf Biodiversität und Klimaschutz erbracht. Allerdings erfahren diese positiven Effekte bisher kaum eine Wertschätzung und Honorierung. EUROPARC Deutschland e. V. entwickelt für dieses Defizit Lösungen. Mit Mitteln des Bundesministeriums für Umwelt Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit fördert das Bundesamt für Naturschutz das erst kürzlich gestartete Erprobungs- und Entwicklungsvorhaben (E+E) „Inwertsetzung von Naturschutzmaßnahmen“ unter dem Dach von EUROPARC Deutschland.
Ziel des Projektes ist es, für den freiwilligen Kompensationsmarkt im Emissionshandel sogenannte „Produkte“ für CO2-Ausgleichsmaßnahmen in den Schutzgebieten der Nationalen Naturlandschaften (NNL) zu entwickeln. Unter „Produkten“ verstehen wir Zertifikate, die über das Treibhausgasspeicherpotenzial von Naturschutzmaßnahmen Auskunft geben. Darüber hinaus sollen geeignete Vermarktungsstrukturen aufgebaut werden.
Durch die Vermarktung von CO2-Zertifikaten können in den Nationalen Naturlandschaften zusätzliche Naturschutzprojekte unabhängig von öffentlichen Geldern finanziert und umgesetzt werden. Außerdem wird das Image der Schutzgebiete durch diese Investitionen nachhaltig gesteigert. EUROPARC Deutschland e. V. ist es ein Anliegen, dass alle Dienstleistungen, die durch die Nationalen Naturlandschaften bereitgestellt werden, Wertschätzung finden. Wir verstehen die monetäre Inwertsetzung als einen Teil davon. Es gilt nun jene Kontexte zu ermitteln, in dem die monetäre Inwertsetzung ein adäquates Mittel ist.
Das Gelingen des Vorhabens ist von der Kooperation verschiedenen Partnern und von einer transparenten Kommunikation abhängig, daher freuen wir uns auf ihre Beteiligung und Anfragen.
Author: Jan Schünemann, EUROPARC Germany
01.06.2011
EUROPARC Nordic-Baltic Section seminar: Ecosystem services in Protected Area Management
Every seminar or conference planning phase has its shaky moments. This one too: Some weeks, not long ago, came the last day of registration and our lists were nearly empty. I won’t bore you with the details, let’s just say that all of a sudden we were almost overbooked and our main concern was to find enough bikes for everyone who wanted to go bird watching!
Once in Kristianstad, it was evident already from the start: with a group like this, it was going to be a very good seminar. There were park managers, senior advisers, students, representatives from governmental agencies, consultants and more, coming mainly from the Scandinavian and Baltic countries, but also from Serbia, Romania, Belgium, Vietnam and China. Everyone with their own professional experience and input to the discussions on ecosystem services.
Location, location, location
The meeting venue was one of the cornerstones of seminar. Kristianstad Vattenrike is a Biosphere Reserve and by definition a place where nature and human society interact very closely. The newly inaugurated nature interpretation and visitors centre is located less than 10 minutes walk from the city centre - you see it as you arrive at the railway station. Since the very outset, the management of Kristianstad Vattenrike has been based on the ecosystem approach.
In the first presentation, Sven-Erik Magnusson, Coordinator of the Biosphere Reserve and Head of the Biosphere Office, explained how the Biosphere Reserve was initiated and we were given a real life example of how the ecosystem services concept can be implemented in management. Lisen Schultz, researcher from Stockholm Resilience Centre, who has studied the process in Kristianstad Vattenrike and other protected areas worldwide, then helped us to pinpoint the keys to successful management of ecosystem services, particularly underlining the importance of acknowledging and building on the work of local stewards.
The various field sessions were intended to highlight the interactions between these stewards and the ecosystem services they help provide. Following group discussions and lunch, we therefore visited Lennart Waldemarsson, a farmer most actively involved in maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services in the lakeshore meadows at Håslöv. The pleasure of enjoying good food is certainly an important service provided by ecosystems! In the evening, we enjoyed a fantastic meal created from what the local ecosystem provides in terms of grown or wild berries, plants, vegetables and meats.
The last day started with a sunny and pleasant bird watching tour for the early risers, followed by a session on the economic valuation of ecosystem services by environmental economist Åsa Soutukorva. This is an interesting but complicated topic and, afterwards, many participants stated that they would like to learn more about it. There was an inspiring talk on sustainable empowerment platforms by John Higson, an entrepreneur who does not shy away from big projects based on local participation and many stakeholders.
Time to hit the seashore!
At the Tvillingabodarna eel fishing cabin on the Baltic Sea Coast, we were served excellent food and entertained well. A presentation on the Fish&Save project to safeguard the red-listed eel, and thereby the livelihood of the local fishermen was given. A case that showed how the management of a resource or species, particularly one such as the eel that moves between habitats and ecosystems, requires the involvement of stakeholders on different levels, from local to international.
This and many other topics and questions that arose during these inspiring days showed that there is interest and material enough for several more seminars.
The Nordic-Baltic Section secretariat would like to thank all participants, presenters and guides for your interested and analytical input. Thanks to them it was a very inspiring seminar.
The programme, presentations and evaluation are available on the Section’s website. A full report will be ready in June/July.
Gallery
