Council

The EUROPARC Council is elected every four years by the EUROPARC Federation’s General Assembly composed of our membership. Six Council members and the President are directly elected by EUROPARC members. Furthermore, the Council invites up to five co-opted members who have an advisory role within the Council.

The current EUROPARC Council and President were elected during the online General Assembly on the 6th of October 2024.

EUROPARC’s work is overseen by the its Council and President. They bring a wealth of experience and expertise to bear on the work of the Federation and also represent EUROPARC across Europe. They monitor that EUROPARC is functioning well and focus on the strategic direction of EUROPARC.

All members of the Council perform their duties honestly and free of charge.

Get to know our Council members here:

EUROPARC Council Members 2024-2028:

EUROPARC President

Michael Hošek (CZ)

Marta Múgica (ES)

Elliott has worked in landscape, conservation and rural development roles for over 25 years.  He recently moved to work as the Director of Parks Services at the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.  Before this, he worked for 13 years as the Partnership Manager for the Forest of Bowland National Landscape.

Elliott originally qualified with BSc. Environmental Science and MSc. Rural and Regional Resources Planning (with European Rural Development). Born and raised in Scotland, Elliott has now made his home with his family in north-west England, on the edge of the Forest of Bowland National Landscape.

Elliott has been active within EUROPARC Federation since 2018 with specific involvement in the Atlantic Isles Section and the Nature, Regional and Landscape Parks Taskforce. Within the UK, he has been a trustee on the National Landscapes Association since 2023 and has been a board member on range of regional partnerships, including the Northern Uplands Nature Partnership and a LEADER Local Action Group.

João Cardoso de Melo (PT)

João will take on the role of treasurer. With a postgraduation in executive management, at Lisbon Business Scholl, and a degree in landscape architecture by Évora

University, João dedicates is career to nature conservation and biodiversity and worked in the private sector as consultant for 10 years. Since 2010 he is responsible for the ecological infrastructure management at Cascais Municipality, with experience in the planning and execution of conservation and ecological restoration projects, engaging volunteers, promoting nature tourism, involving the management of multidisciplinary teams. Is actual research focus being landscape planning and fire risk, nature conservation and visitor’s impact, nature base solutions, invasive species and habitat management. Since 2016 he is engaged with EUROPARC, in 2018 as member of the sustainable agriculture commission, being currently the chairman.

Lidia Bai (IT)

Lidia Bai has a humanistic education with classical studies and a degree in philosophy. She worked in the corporate sector of a national bank and subsequently held positions in public administration dealing with culture, tourism, gender equality, agriculture. She was elected Mayor of her city twice. In the last ten years she has been President of the Colline Metallifere National Park, which is a member of the UNESCO Global Geoparks Network and she was an official member of the EGN Coordination Committee.

She is currently a member of the Board of Federparchi, the Italian section of the EUROPARC Federation.

During her experience in a National Park made up of small communities, she gave priority to the enhancement of natural and cultural heritage through bottom-up participation processes. Sustainability was the main theme of the work, in agriculture, in landscape planning processes and in green economy planning. In this context, the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas has proven to be an extraordinary tool, with the achievement of phase 3.

 

Matti Tapaninen (FI)

Matti is a Senior Specialist at Metsähallitus Park & Wildlife Finland. He is a geographer with over 26 years of experience in nature conservation. Matti began his career in sustainable tourism development and has since held roles as a planning officer, Park Director, and regional manager. He has worked internationally in areas such as consulting, Transboundary Cooperation, sharing best practices, and representing Finland and Europe in the Convention on Biological Diversity. Throughout his career, Matti has frequently collaborated with EUROPARC, including through the EUROPARC Nordic-Baltic Section, the Healthy Parks Healthy People Europe Commission, and the Management Effectiveness Commission.

Sabrina Caire (FR)

To be updated soon.

The position of Internal Auditor is elected by our members. The internal auditor is invited to attend Council meetings.

James Stuart – Internal Auditor

James joined EUROPARC as Internal Auditor in the autumn of 2023. His first career was in the British Army including two operational tours which followed on from studying Oceanography at Southamption University. After retiring from the military he moved into sports leadership which quickly linked with tourism, writing the first Marine Tourism Strategy for Scotland. This was followed by a roles leading a Contract Research Organisation and Entrepreneurial Scotland and in 2017 James became the Convener (Chair) of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park. He now has a portfolio of interests including; Non-Exec advisor to Scottish Forestry, Chair of the Governance (Audit) Committee at the Lakes District National Park, Chair of the Ethical Contributions Board for SMEEF, CEO of a Welsh Sports Governing Body, Chair of a Further Education College Group and other project work as a consultant.