EUROPARC Webinar: Healthy Parks, Healthy People Europe – connecting people and nature for a healthier and happier nature

Following the publication of the EU’s biodiversity strategy, the EUROPARC Federation is launching a new initiative to help realise the contribution of green health to Europe’s green recovery. The webinar will hear from those working in both Parks and Health sectors on this initiative, and how it contributes to the new approach to linking health and nature now needed in the COVID-19 era.

Healthy Parks Healthy People Europe is a programme developed by the EUROPARC Federation and built on the innovative practise gathered by the Health and Protected Areas commission over several years.

• Monday 29th of June
• 11:00 CEST

The webinar is free, but registration is needed. For all info and registration: https://healthyparkshealthypeople.gr8.com/

On June second the Seminar Dialogue 2020 was held online, about biodiversity, climate and Protected Areas toward 2030.

Following the successful experiences in 2017, 2018, and 2019 , the EUROPARC Federation and the Nature Unit of the DG Environment organised the “Seminar Dialogue 2020 – Partnerships for Biodiversity” on the 2nd of June 2020, titled ‘Biodiversity, climate and Protected Areas towards 2030’.

By bringing together representatives of the European Commission and Protected Areas professionals on an annual basis, the EUROPARC Federation aims to highlight the contribution of Protected Areas in implementing key European policies, raise awareness of managers about EU policy developments and provide the European Commission with clear insights about the challenges faced by professionals in the field.

This year, 40 participants met for an interesting debate about the role of Protected Areas and Natura 2000 in the new EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 and EU climate policies, in the framework of the EU Green Deal.

Due to the restrictions presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the meeting took place online.

See the agenda HERE

The European Commission presented several targets set in the biodiversity strategy:

• Legally protected a minimum of 30% of EU land and sea
• Strictly protect at least 10% of the EU Protected Areas
• Effectively manage all Protected Areas
• Develop a specific EU Nature restoration plan
• Bring nature back to agricultural land.
• Increase the quantity and quality of forests
• Restore and protect marine ecosystems
• Greening urban and periurban areas
• Ensure the full implementation and enforcement of EU environmental legislation

EUROPARC welcomes the commitment shown by the Commission and advocates:

• That the important role of Protected Areas needs to be recognized at national and regional level. Protected Areas are key players, contributing to achieving the wide biodiversity targets. Protected Areas are essential governing bodies for nature conservation and for integrated landscape management. They are laboratories of innovation and active promoters of sustainable development practices. Those are crucial to complement the Natura2000 network. Therefore, we welcome the vision for a transnational, coherent and integrated EU network of Protected Areas.
• That the new terminology used (strict protection, effective areas based conservation) has to be clarified.
• That adequate financial support must be provided to increase or extend the number of Protected Areas
• That Innovative governance models for Protected Areas should be explored

All this info and much more can be found in our report:

Read the full report HERE

It was a successful and productive exchange. We would like to thank again the DG ENV Nature Unite and DG CLIMA for this opportunity.

EUROPARC met DG Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius for an online meeting discussing a wide range of topics.

President Ignace Schops and Executive Director Carol Ritchie met DG Environment Commissioner Sinkevicius on the 18th of June – online.

In a fruitful and productive meeting we discussed the role of protected areas in the implementation of the Biodiversity Strategy 2020, some of the impacts of COVID-19 on parks and the possibility of opening small grants to look at post-COVID impacts, the need for new and innovative capacity building to equip Natura 2000 managers to deliver more effective outcomes and the Healthy Parks, Healthy People Europe programme, that is about to be launched.

Commissioner Sinkevicius accepted the invitation to speak at the EUROPARC Conference 2020 ONLINE (subject to his availability) and reiterated DG Environment’s view of the EUROPARC Federation as a valued and important stakeholder and the expertise in our network. We spoke too of the value of Regional and Nature parks, where sustainable development meets nature conservation and the contribution and recognition they need to fully contribute to reaching the 30% role of protected areas in Europe as a pillar of the Biodiversity Strategy 2030.

EUROPARC expressed our willingness to represent the needs of our members, in DG environment processes and structures, as well as bring the models and practice from parks to better action for the Biodiversity Strategy and implement European policy.

The Finnish concept of National Urban Parks (NUP) is promoting biodiversity in urban areas.

Urbanisation is a mega trend all over the world. Living in an urban environment offers benefits for residents such as more employment opportunities and higher incomes, and for businesses lower input costs or greater opportunities for cooperation and innovation. But this rapid urbanization has many negative effects, a decline in biodiversity due to habitat loss and fragmentation being one of them. The Finnish concept of National Urban Parks (NUP) is promoting biodiversity in urban areas.

The foundation of the first national city park in Sweden 1995 has raised the debate in Finland on how to build cities in a more sustainable way, protecting nature and green spaces. The Ministry of the Environment in Finland has identified several problems in the context of urban areas:

• Urban structure dominates urban planning instead of ecology
• Building causes irreversible changes in urban natural and cultural heritage and identity of cities
• Urban sea and lake bays as well as wetlands are being filled and built, thus changing the shorelines, reducing biodiversity and blocking the views and access of people
• Most people want to live in an urban environment that has easy access to a green area.

As a result the Finnish National Urban Park (NUP) concept, a tool for promoting sustainable urban planning was implemented. The concept was taken as part of the Land Use and Building Act, which came into force on 1.1.2000.

Porvoo national urban park

National urban parks as part of the Finnish biodiversity strategy

National Urban Parks (NUPs) were created as a tool and method to promote biodiversity. National urban parks are not conventional protected areas, but rather aim to ensure a continuum from natural habitats to heavily modified parks by setting limitations to urban planning.

They include areas that are important for the conservation of biodiversity in urban environments. The green infrastructure within an urban park must be extensive and undisturbed, creating ecological corridors that encourage species to migrate. Ecological corridors must continue to lead uniformly from the center to the outskirts of towns, to the natural areas or to the countryside.

Urban parks and nature areas on the outskirts of cities are often particularly species-rich habitats.

The first Finnish National Urban park was established in 2001 in Hämeenlinna and now Finland has a network of 9 NUPs. All NUPs in Finland have one or more protected areas, Natura 2000 sites, old growth forests or even marine, lake and river ecosystems.

Finnish National Urban Parks

The main principles of the Law

• Preparation: The municipality applies, and the Ministry of the Environment decides.
• Ownership: Landowners in NUP can be municipalities, state, public entities and private.
• Protection: By land use plans and different Acts
• Management plan: The values of a NUP are managed by a management plan drawn up by the municipality and approved by Ministry of the Environment.

Kotka national Urban park

Challenges

They were faced with different challenges during the stages of applying and managing National Urban Parks.

At first, it was difficult to get all municipal politicians to get to understand that the protection of natural- and cultural heritage is, in fact, the essential tool for the sustainable development of the city. For some cities, the preparatory process (5-10 years) took too long. During that period, the city’s political decision makers might have changed, and the new ones were not committed to preparatory work and goals.

Lessons learnt

The preparation and decision-making process according to the “bottom-up” approach, the application of the “Let all flowers bloom” strategy and the technical criteria chosen to complement the legislation were rated as good and successful.

For municipal decision-makers and residents, it is a learning process about the importance of urban nature and the need to integrate ecological considerations into urban planning.

Indirect economic benefits from the new status, for example in the tourism sector, require long-term marketing.

Participatory planning involving municipalities and regional authorities, local residents and NGOs was essential in the various phases of application and management of the National Urban Park.

Read the original case study on Finnish National Urban Parks: a tool for promoting biodiversity in urban areas. And find further information about NUPs here.