Memorandum of Understanding – ENOS and EUROPARC
ENOS was established as a not for profit organisation in 2013 and, two years later, it was first introduced to EUROPARC members during the General Assembly. Since then, regular exchanges have been maintained between both associations with some directorate staff attending ENOS biennial Conferences and members from ENOS attending ours. ENOS Chairman François Beauchard and the Commissioner Antoine Le Bellec presented a case study in the workshop on “Sports in nature. Is it fit for purpose?” held at the EUROPARC Conference 2017 in Portugal. At EUROPARC Conference 2018 ENOS has been in charge of organising the workshop “Outdoor Sports in Protected Areas: a tool for social inclusion”.
On September 18th, 2018, during the annual Conference celebrated at Cairngorms National Park in Scotland, EUROPARC Federation and the European Network of Outdoor Sports signed a Memorandum of Understanding looking forward to strengthening their relationship. Furthermore, the objectives of this agreement are to mobilize ENOS and EUROPARC networks to promote the practice of responsible outdoor sports in Protected Areas, minimize their environmental impact and to work for the local implementation of the ENOS Charter that EUROPARC fully endorses.
After the signature of this agreement, a mixed Task Force composed of members from ENOS and EUROPARC to progress will be appointed and an online consultation with all members from both associations will be conducted to identify their priority lines of work. Furthermore, both parties agree, within their available human and financial resources, to work together on the implementation of the following priority activities:
1. GOOD CONDUCT Promote a Charter/Code of Good Conduct in Protected Areas aimed at outdoor sports practitioners;
2. HEALTH Communicate the benefits of practising outdoor sports for global health and well-being;
3. TRAIL DESIGN Give guidance in order to improve trail design that meets the objective of the offering; healthy trails for all segments of society, especially elders, children and people with difficulties, whilst minimising environmental impacts and practitioners conflicts;
4. EVENTS Provide advice and expertise on outdoor sports massive events organisation in Protected Areas to minimise negative impact;
5. CARRYING/HOSTING CAPACITY Develop the concept, share case studies, in order to provide both Protected Areas managers and Outdoor Sport Events organisers with data and tools to better estimate the carrying/hosting capacity of a Protected Area;
6. CAPACITY BUILDING Work and make available tools to build capacity on Outdoor sports in Protected Areas and related issues;
7. OTHER key activities of mutual interest and concern that are jointly defined and agreed by both Parties.