The Active Tourism Coalition, bringing together 15 European organisations representing active travel, has addressed Apostolos Tzitzikostas, European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism, to highlight the strategic role that Active Tourism can play in the future of European tourism.

Active Tourism refers to tourism based on accessible physical activity for mobility, recreation and leisure, including cycling, walking and hiking. It enables visitors to experience destinations at a human scale, with low environmental impact, high social value and strong connections to local landscapes, cultures and communities. The sector already demonstrates significant economic relevance, with cycling tourism generating an estimated €44 billion annually in Europe in 2012, and adventure travel representing a global market of around one trillion US dollars in 2025.

The Coalition underlines that Active Tourism offers a concrete and scalable solution to strengthen Europe’s tourism competitiveness, reinforce Brand Europe and address unbalanced tourism flows. It calls for Active Tourism to be positioned at the heart of European tourism policy through four key priorities.

• First, the Coalition urges European and national institutions to recognise Active Tourism as a cornerstone of sustainable tourism. This includes integrating cycling, walking and hiking into destination mobility strategies, multimodal transport planning and last-mile solutions, as well as investing in monitoring the social, environmental and economic impacts of Active Tourism.
• Second, the Coalition recommends establishing Active Tourism as a flagship of Brand Europe by showcasing Europe’s natural landscapes, cultural heritage and extensive long-distance route networks, such as EuroVelo, Greenways, E-Paths and GR footpaths. This positioning should be supported by open and high-quality data integrated into European tourism data hubs, alongside recognition of relevant certification schemes and training programmes.
• Third, the Coalition highlights the need for integrated governance frameworks that bring together local communities, destination management organisations, tourism operators, non-governmental organisations, land managers, transport operators, media and outdoor sport organisations. Such cooperation is essential to deliver Active Tourism that protects natural and cultural landscapes while supporting local economies and communities.
• Finally, the Coalition calls for Active Tourism to be prioritised in the next Multiannual Financial Framework (2028–2034), with dedicated investment in long- and short-distance cycling routes, including EuroVelo, hiking trails and cross-border tourism infrastructure.

Wallonie Tourism | Photo: EuroVelo

The Active Tourism Coalition has expressed its readiness to support the European Commission in developing these priorities and to engage in further dialogue on how Active Tourism can strengthen the resilience and competitiveness of Europe’s tourism sector, enhance its international brand and contribute to more balanced and sustainable tourism development. As Laurianne Krid, Chief Executive Officer at the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF), underlines:

Active tourism should be the cornerstone of the European Sustainable Tourism Strategy. By encouraging tourists to move through regions by bike or on foot, it supports healthier lifestyles, low-carbon travel, and stronger local economies.

For more information, please contact Agathe Daudibon, EuroVelo and Cycling Tourism Director: a.daudibon @ ecf.com

EUROPARC is pleased to welcome National Park Shar Mountain in North-Macedonia as a new member of our network of Protected Areas. Located in one of the most remarkable mountain regions of Southeast Europe, the park is renowned for its spectacular landscapes, rich biodiversity, and strong links to traditional land-use practices.

Since its proclamation, National Park Shar Mountain has been working steadily to strengthen nature conservation while engaging local communities and managing growing visitor pressure. Below, the park shares its key priorities, achievements, and future ambitions.

Conservation Priorities: Protecting Habitats and Reducing Pressures

The main conservation priorities of National Park Shar Mountain focus on:

• Protecting valuable habitats and species
• Promoting sustainable forest and pasture management
• Reducing human pressures on sensitive mountain ecosystems

Like many large mountain Protected Areas, the park faces ongoing challenges. These include scattered waste, illegal dumping sites, unauthorized logging, and illegal constructions. Addressing these pressures is a core part of the park’s daily work.

Over the past four years, significant progress has been made. Ranger patrols have been established, cooperation with inspection bodies and local authorities has improved, and targeted actions for prevention and monitoring are now in place. Together, these efforts support the gradual restoration of affected areas.

Restoring Forests and Building Ecological Resilience

One of the park’s most important achievements is its work on forest habitat restoration.

Through targeted restoration measures, preventive management, and strengthened field monitoring, degraded forest areas are beginning to recover. These actions are improving forest structure and increasing ecological resilience, helping ecosystems better withstand future pressures.

Although challenges remain, these steps represent meaningful progress toward long-term and effective conservation in the Shar Mountain region.

North Macedonia, Sharr Mountains National Park, Pozharane village, autumn forest (c) Shar Mountain NP

Working with Local Communities and Traditional Livelihoods

The Shar Mountain region is closely connected to local communities, including farmers and shepherds who depend on traditional land use.

National Park Shar Mountain actively engages local people through:

• Consultations and dialogue
• Joint field activities
• Awareness-raising initiatives on sustainable land management

The park recognises that issues such as illegal waste disposal, unauthorized logging, and unregulated construction are long-standing and complex. Therefore, its approach combines education, cooperation, and enforcement, aiming to build shared responsibility and encourage gradual behavioural change.

By working closely with residents, the park seeks to balance nature conservation with social and economic realities.

Managing Visitors and Supporting Sustainable Tourism

(c) Shar Mountain NP

Visitor management is a key challenge in mountain Protected Areas. In National Park Shar Mountain, one of the most pressing issues has been unregulated motor vehicle use, particularly off-road driving.

To address this, the park is:

• Defining permitted vehicle routes
• Improving signage and on-site information
• Increasing ranger supervision
• Running awareness campaigns on responsible behaviour

At the same time, the park actively supports sustainable tourism, including hiking, guided nature experiences, and environmentally responsible local tourism services. This approach helps protect fragile habitats while allowing visitors to enjoy the park safely and responsibly.

Monitoring, Research, and Cooperation for Better Management

Effective conservation relies on strong data and cooperation. In National Park Shar Mountain, monitoring and research play a central role in management decisions.

Information collected through ranger patrols, forest and biodiversity monitoring, and mapping of illegal activities has directly influenced enforcement priorities and planning. In addition, regular dialogue with municipalities, inspection services, NGOs, research institutions, and local stakeholders has strengthened coordination and compliance.

These collaborative efforts support adaptive management and contribute to steadily improving conservation outcomes across the park.

A Strong Addition to the EUROPARC Network

National Park Shar Mountain brings valuable experience, commitment, and perspective to the EUROPARC network. Its focus on habitat protection, community engagement, sustainable tourism, and cross-sector cooperation reflects shared European values for Protected Area management. Furthermore, Shar Mountain is engaged in transboundary cooperation work, which is why we, at EUROPARC, are warmly welcoming the Protected Area to join us for the one and only Transboundary Parks Programme.

We warmly welcome National Park Shar Mountain and look forward to continued collaboration in support of nature conservation and people across Europe.

(c) Shar Mountain NP

Celebrating International Day of Education with an example of co-creating education together with young people

International Day of Education

As a network passionate about Protected Areas, we also recognise that what happens outside their boundaries plays a decisive role in shaping interest, understanding, and protection within them. This is where education and youth work play an important role, creating bridges, helping others connect their behaviour with the natural world and building support for nature conservation.

For the International Day of Education 2026, UNESCO chose to highlight “The power of youth in co-creating education”, showcasing how young people are active partners and making education more sustainable, relevant and inclusive. Our EUROPARC Youth Representative Michelle Herrmann, shares with us a story of a youth-led initiative from the Swabian Alb Biosphere Reserve.

The power of youth in co-creating education: an example from the Swabian Alb, Germany

Wastefulness and the overuse of natural resources are among the major challenges of the 21st century, particularly in industrialised countries, where average households already consume more resources than the Earth can regenerate. In the Swabian Alb Biosphere Reserve, Germany, three motivated young students set out to address this issue by engaging the next generation in a creative and hands-on way.

Rather than focusing solely on discussion and appeals for behavioural change, the young instructors chose an alternative approach: giving discarded materials a second life and highlighting their hidden value. In cooperation with RegiNa e.V., they organised a two-day workshop in which waste materials were transformed into playable music instruments.

The project involved 20 pupils aged nine to ten from the Gemeinschaftsschule in Münsingen. On the first day, the children learned about resource use and waste generation and reflected on the value of everyday items that are often quickly discarded. During the Christmas holidays, they collected materials from their homes that could potentially produce sound. On the second workshop day, the instructors guided the children in building a variety of instruments from these materials, while also encouraging them to realise their own creative ideas. Together, they constructed and tuned banjos, percussion instruments and even a bottle piano.

In the next phase of the project, the children will learn a piece of music using their self-made instruments and present it to their classmates at the school’s summer celebration in July. The workshop not only raised awareness of resource efficiency but also inspired the children, who were surprised by the sounds and rhythms that can be created from “waste” with a little imagination and openness.

Are you interested in more innovative youth-led projects? Check out EUROPARC’s Knowledge Hub Youth section to see case studies of other Protected Areas working together with young people.

The project was financially supported by the bw-Stiftung.

We are pleased to warmly welcome AlbNatyra as a new member of the EUROPARC Federation. AlbNatyra is a leading Albanian non-governmental organisation dedicated to nature conservation, sustainable land use, and community engagement, with a strong focus on Shebenik National Park and surrounding protected areas.

For more than two decades, AlbNatyra has worked at the intersection of biodiversity protection and local livelihoods, supporting protected area management, empowering local communities, and ensuring that conservation efforts remain socially inclusive and culturally meaningful. Their work aligns closely with EUROPARC’s mission to connect people, nature, and place across Europe.

Below, we introduce AlbNatyra’s work through a short interview that highlights their experience in youth engagement, sustainable grazing, protected area management, and wildlife conservation.

Engaging Youth in Conservation at Shebenik National Park

What strategies have been most effective in motivating local youth to participate in conservation activities within Shebenik National Park?

(c) Albnatyra

Our most effective strategies have focused on hands-on learning and creating a strong sense of belonging. Through summer schools, citizen-science expeditions, and outdoor workshops, young people gain practical skills in biodiversity monitoring while developing a direct connection with the landscape.

We also collaborate closely with teachers and schools so that conservation activities become part of a continuous learning process rather than isolated events. In addition, involving young people in community discussions has increased their motivation, ownership, and long-term engagement in conservation.

Supporting Shepherds and Sustainable Grazing

What challenges do shepherds currently face, and how does AlbNatyra help ensure that grazing remains both sustainable and culturally important?

(c) Albnatyra

Shepherds today face shrinking grazing areas, increased interactions with wildlife, and changes in traditional pasture management caused by forest succession and limited institutional support. These pressures threaten both livelihoods and long-standing pastoral traditions.

AlbNatyra addresses these challenges by facilitating dialogue between shepherds and the Regional Agency of Protected Areas (RAPA), documenting traditional ecological knowledge, and promoting management measures that keep key pastures open. Through meetings, field visits, and awareness activities, we support grazing practices that balance conservation needs with cultural heritage.

To help keep pastoralism attractive to younger generations, we have also supported several shepherds with eco-tourism training and provided photovoltaic panels to improve living conditions in mountain areas and enable them to host visitors.

Strengthening Park Management and Decision-Making

(c) Albnatyra

You are heavily involved in supporting the implementation of Management Plan measures and METT assessments. Can you describe a specific instance where your support made a measurable difference?

We provide continuous training for rangers and have established a Volunteer paMonitoring Group that helps identify gaps in patrol coverage and emerging habitat threats. Each year, we assess the implementation of the Shebenik National Park Management Plan and review progress made by RAPA.

By offering practical, targeted recommendations, our support has contributed to improved enforcement, increased operational efficiency, and stronger alignment with priority conservation measures outlined in the Management Plan.

(c) Albnatyra

Wildlife Monitoring and Stakeholder Collaboration

What recent monitoring findings or stakeholder discussions have had the greatest influence on conservation actions in the park?

One of the most significant recent findings has been the confirmed presence of the Balkan lynx in the Shebenik core zone, alongside increased activity of other key species such as roe deer, wolves, and bears. These results provided strong evidence for the importance of maintaining quiet zones and limiting harmful infrastructure development.

Discussions with RAPA, local guides, and community members have also highlighted concerns related to riverbed extraction and pasture degradation. These stakeholder insights have guided our advocacy efforts, improved seasonal patrol planning, and shaped targeted awareness activities.

Looking Ahead

AlbNatyra’s commitment to evidence-based conservation, community participation, and protected area excellence makes them a valuable addition to the EUROPARC Federation. We look forward to collaboration, knowledge exchange, and joint initiatives that strengthen protected areas across Europe.

Welcome to the network, AlbNatyra!

(c) Albnatyra