EUROPARC Youth Manifesto launched at EUROPARC Conference 2018!

The EUROPARC Youth Manifesto was launched today (21 September ) to over 400 delegates at  EUROPARC Conference 2018, in Aviemore – Cairngorms National Park. 

Young people are keen to be involved in the decision making processes when it comes to sustaining the rural landscape. All summer young people from across Europe have been working together to put together their vision on the most important aspects of living, learning and working in protected areas and rural communities and this Manifesto offers practical ways for change.

Young people just want to be heard and entrusted to help protect and conserve their local environments.

explained Laura Peters, the Youth Representative on the EUROPARC Council, adding, “we want to be involved in helping to make thriving, sustainable communities with training and job opportunities so that we can remain in our local areas and not lose touch with our cultural heritage. This Manifesto must be the catalyst to making that happen in Scotland and across Europe”

Grant Moir CEO of the Cairngorms National Park Authority agrees, “Young people are the future of the national parks and protected areas we have in Europe; they are the decision-makers of tomorrow. This Manifesto is a both a challenge and a source of inspiration for decision makers in protected areas and rural communities to find ways to engage with their local youth and listen to their ideas.”

The EUROPARC Youth Manifesto

In spring 2018 a group of youth from across seven countries gathered to create the EUROPARC Youth Manifesto, a document that shall draw the attention of Protected Areas, environmental organisations and rural communities to the challenges of their youth  – inspiring them to meaningfully engage with young people in their area for tackling those challenges together.

The EUROPARC Youth Manifesto points out the main challenges young people face living, learning and working in rural communities and Protected Areas, but above all aims to inspire and encourage decision-makers, public authorities and managers to take the first step towards practical involvement of young people. The youth is ready to do their bit, keen to engage in exchange to learn and work for in partnership with those governing our rural and Protected Areas:

Get inspired by the EUROPARC Youth Manifesto…