Life on the Edge: Greening the city boundary.

Periurban parks contributing to Environmental, Climate Change, Urban, Health and other EU policies

• 10th May 2019
• 11:00 CEST
• Register here

While living in a city has many advantages, it can be harsh sometimes with problems of pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss, or other environmental issues which affect health and overall well-being. Located in the outskirts of cities, Periurban Parks are multi-functional spaces that provide natural solutions to tackle all these issues. In this interactive webinar, you will hear about the important role Periurban Parks already play in some EU environmental policies and their place in many others.

This webinar is a taster of the EU Green Week 2019, this year with the theme “TAKE THE INITIATIVE! Applying environmental legislation“. Our special guests will share how policy is being implemented – and their main challenges and conquers – from 2 very different periurban parks.

In this interactive webinar, participants will be able to join in with their own video camera, share examples from their parks and direct their questions to the invited guests.

Teresa Pastor, EUROPARC expert in the periurban agenda, will introduce the webinar and shed light on the “Periurban Natural & Rural Parks: Their place in the EU Policies”, a Position Paper EUROPARC is about to release.

From an industrial Park…to a social project: the Nord Milano Park

The Parco Nord Milano (North Milan Park) was established in 1975, covering 780 hectares of an area that has been the center of Milan’s industrial district and its heavy steel industry.  The park was founded to convert and re-qualify those areas, over a period of gradual deindustrialization and outsourcing of manufacturing processes. The park combines woodlands and agricultural areas.

Parco Nord Milano

From an industrial camp to a social project, the park is an active promoter of social integration, developing many projects with minorities and refugees from the region. To promote healthier food habits and aiming to increase awareness and boost engagement, the park created “community vegetable gardens” and work frequently with schools and families. They are also actively working with local partners to develop health activities in the park and promote recreational sport.

Riccardo Gini is the Director of Parco Nord Milano, in charge of a PA of 40 employees and as many collaborators. Within its functions, he has always dealt with the planning and coordination of the Parco Nord construction operations. Riccardo is an agronomist and apart from agricultural projects, he has worked in the redevelopment of natural spaces and the Urban Rehabilitation Programs.

Monsanto, a Forest Park inside the European Green Capital 2020

Monsanto Forest Park is a Forest installed in Lisbon’s Council in 1934, with ca 1000 ha and covered with a very diverse flora. Despite being a Periurban Park was already considered by many as an Urban park. Not as a result of any change in its concept, simply because it was swallowed by the city expansion and its satellites. Surrounded by a growing population, the park is challenged to find creative solutions with trail systems and infrastructure, to minimise impacts on biodiversity, and maneuver visitor flows.

Monsanto Forest Park, Lisbon, Portugal

Fernando will tell us about their biodiversity strategy and green infrastructure, but will also show us what it means, for the only forest park in Lisbon, to be inside “The European Green Capital for 2020”. What measures are changing? What is the role of the park within the city green strategy?

Fernando Louro Alves is Forester Engineer Senior Advisor in the Lisbon City Council, serving in the Management Division of the Monsanto Forest Park, from the Department of Green Spaces. Apart from his degree in Forest Engineering specialized in management of natural resources, Fernando has training in Landscape Architecture and holds a Masters in regional and urban planning.

How to join?

Between the 29th April to 5th May, hundreds of young Europeans are gathered in Brussels, enjoying the European Youth Week. Every two years, the European Commission (DG EAC with the cooperation of other DGs), organises a week full of conferences, workshops, and networking activities specially dedicated to youth. This year, with the theme “Democracy and me”, participants will be challenged to think and commit to new ways to influence decisions and be active in society.

What nature does for you – What you can do for nature

Nature and biodiversity were among the main topics discussed by the young participants over the past days. To spark engagement for nature among participants, DG Environment organised a participatory workshop, on the 30th April. The almost 50 participants were challenged to consider “What nature does for you” and commit on their own future actions for nature. To inspire them, young volunteers with experiences in nature conservation projects were invited to share their experience – and Leonardo Cerno was one of the guests. This is his story.

Leonardo, the (young) voice of the Prealpi Giulie Nature Park

Leonardo has witnessed almost twenty-five springs in the Julian Alps. Since his childhood, he was only to be found outdoors… a tendency that obviously grew after he joined the Junior Ranger programme in his park. The Prealpi Giulie mountains seeded him a wish to work for nature and to have a positive impact in the development of his region, of is so-called home.

Junior Rangers in the Prealpi Giulie Nature Park © Leonardo Cerno

The last years of Leonardo´s life were shared between classrooms, exams (he is studying natural sciences), and projects in the Park. After he reached the 18-year limit of the Junior Ranger programme, he kept engaged with the Park´s activities and, together with other colleagues from across Europe, formed the first generation of the Youth+ programme. 

Currently, Leonardo organises workcamps and several activities for schools and volunteers in the Park, and is also a member of the local civil protection. Not to mention Leonardo is also an excellent guide… those that know the mountains by heart.

Leonardo Cerno, Prealpi Giulie Nature Park, Italy © Luca Deganutti

Youth, committed for the Future

Meanwhile, Leonardo and some of his young mates who shared the same passion for the mountains established the first Youth Advisory Board in the region. Young people the local municipalities are now connected and organised to start playing a proactive role in the regional activities, local governance structures, and in the work of the Park.

Participants of the Workshop “What nature does for you – What you can do for nature”, at EU Youth Week 2019, European Parliament, Brussels

Well, but let´s go back to Brussels, during the workshop Leonardo shared his experienced and introduced the EUROPARC Youth Manifesto project, – which has precipitated a series of interesting questions in the ongoing activities, told us Leo:

It was a great experience and I had a lot of questions from participatins about the Junior Ranger and Youth projects, but many more about the Youth Manifesto! So I am convinced the interest is raising, and we should continue our work!

What needs to be done to address the biodiversity crisis to save the planet?

In the afternoon, a second session organised by DG Environment took place. This time the focus was on understanding what is being done – and what needs to be done – to halt biodiversity loss.

Leonardo joined this session too, this time to share the Nat2Care Project, an INTERREG project between Italy and Slovenia with the aim to improve the conservation status of 3 protected areas across borders. Interesting is the focus given to citizen engagement initiatives envisaged in the project to promote awareness raising and personal involvement.

Micheal O’Briain, Deputy Head of Unit, Nature Protection Unit in DG Environment, and moderator of this session, closed with an important remark to the European Union, and the importance of networking and cooperating – as problems are similar all across Europe, we need to connect and share our experiences.

We want to hear from you too. Tell us how you are engaged in the activities of your Park, how your park is giving opportunities to young people. Share them with #EUROPARCyouthmanifesto or send them to youth @ europarc.org.

The EU Youth Week is still running! You can follow live some of the events and check the full programme here.

Welcome to the EUROPARC Sustainable Tourism Partners’ Award.

Tourism is one of the main economic drivers of Europe’s rural areas. EUROPARC has long recognised the need to ensure we have a thriving, living, working landscapes that support nature and people. Tourism, therefore, has to be developed and managed along with sustainable principles, if we are to ensure a positive future. Parks and Protected Areas are at the core of the natural and cultural assets of an area and are often the main reason for visiting.

However to be a Sustainable Destination, depends on businesses, community, and municipalities all working to that common purpose.

In these STAR Awards, EUROPARC seeks to celebrate, champion and acknowledge the effort and investments made by tourism businesses to be more sustainable and help care and protect their natural and cultural heritage.

To be less impactful on the environment in which the businesses reside, to work alongside the park, and to play a supporting role in the community are all the excellent actions of “Charter Partners”.

EUROPARC, therefore, invites all current Charter Partners and Tour Operators to apply for the awards in order to highlight the sustainable action being done which are Good for Nature, Good for People and Good for Business.

>>>> Download the Guidelines for Candidates <<<<

English – Guidelines for candidates

Spanish_- Instrucciones para los candidatos

Italian – Linee guida per i candidati_2019

French – Directives destinées aux candidats

Eligibility

The Star Awards is open to all Sustainable Business Partners or Tour Operators who have a current validated partnership (under Charter Part II or Charter Part III) with a park or protected area, itself currently awarded by EUROPARC. If you are unsure of your eligibility please contact your Park for further information.

Categories

We really want to learn of your experiences and share your stories, so we have endeavoured to ask questions in different areas in which you may contribute to the Sustainable Destination. We have tried to make the questions as intuitive as possible to answer. There are 3 categories you can choose from:

Apart from the 3 voluntary categories, there is one compulsory category- Contribution to Conservation, which each applicant must complete. Contribution to Conservation will appear at the beginning of each category. You need only fill in the questions once, if you choose to apply for multiple categories.

As this is a fundamental of the Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected areas, we are asking you to tell us about your direct actions or contributions for habitats and species of your protected area.

The Application Process

We invite you to apply in as many categories as you like. Using the only form in either French, Italian. Spanish or English.  The deadline for entries is 21st June.

APPLY in ENGLISH (French, Spanish and Italian Versions are also available)

Building My Community

• English (preview the questions)
• French (preview the questions)
• Spanish (preview the questions)
• Italian (preview the questions)

Reducing the Impacts on the Environment

• English (preview the questions)
• French (preview the questions)
• Spanish (preview the questions)
• Italian (preview the questions)

Communicating the Values of my Park and my Business 

• English (preview the questions)
• French (preview the questions)
• Spanish (preview the questions)
• Italian (preview the questions)

These will be assessed by an in-country jury and a representative from EUROPARC. The best from each country, in each category, will be adjudicated by an international jury who will select the overall winner in each category.

These will be announced at the EUROPARC Charter Award Ceremony 2019. A local handover ceremony can be arranged for each winner, but winners will be invited to attend the award ceremony at the European Parliament in Brussels, in late November/early December 2019.  (Date to be confirmed)

The winner in each category will go to a public vote, where the overall winner will receive, along with a representative from the park or Protected Area with which they are a partner, a free place at the EUROPARC Conference 2020.

For more information please contact: sustainable.tourism @ europarc.org.