EUROPARC webinar in Spanish “Los bosques Mediterráneos en la encrucijada del Cambio Climático”

• 23rd of June 2020
• 11:30h CEST
• Register here

Next tuesday June 23rd, we will host the #EUROPARCwebinar “Mediterranean forests in the crossroads of Climate Change” in Spanish language. In this event we will learn more about the characteristics of Mediterranean forests, why they are especially vulnerable to #climatechange effects and what management measures can improve their #climatechangeadaptation . Participation is free, previous registration needed.

El próximo 23 de Junio celebraremos el webinario “Los bosques Mediterráneos en la encrucijada del Cambio Climático”. En este evento aprenderemos acerca de las características de los #bosques Mediterráneo que los hace especialmente vulnerables a los efectos del #cambioclimatico y sobre medidas de gestión que pueden mejorar su #adaptacion al dicho cambio. La participación es gratuita e inscripción previa es necesaria.

An international approach: Partner wanted for a youth engagement project!

Jackie Wragg is the Youth Engagement Officer with Moors for the Future and South West Peak Landscape Partnership in the UK. In 2018 she started the survey “The Natural World and Me” about youth engagement. She is now looking for another project on an international level to partner up with in order to bring an international link to the survey and future analysis.

About the survey

In her role as youth engagement officer Jackie developed an anonymous survey for young people aged 11 to 18. The survey can be completed on PC or smartphone/tablet and takes participants around 10 minutes to complete. The aim is to gather data that measures:

• level of connectedness to nature
• level of understanding of ecosystem services
• appreciation and attitudes towards environmental issues
• the participants likelihood to take a number of different positive actions towards the environment/their connection to nature

The survey has been ongoing since 2018 and allows the monitoring of the impacts of a range of engagement measures, resulting in a deeper understanding of the audience (in terms of youth engagement) and also allows measurements on impacts of the different youth engagement activities employed. Through the survey, Jackie can find out which of the programmes are most effective and in which areas they achieve the most and best results.

The data is a useful resource to support a wide range of research questions. As the survey started in late 2018 it is already possible to look at temporal trends that could illustrate the growing awareness of, and concern about issues of environment and sustainability amongst young people.

An international approach

Now Jackie is looking for an international partner so data can be collected from a similar project across international borders. This way there are more opportunities to utilise the data, make comparisons and to observe differences in responses of young people to engagement measures made.

What would be wonderful is to pair up with another project delivering similar outcomes to ours in youth engagement who would like to try and include some of their audience in the survey. This may or may not require translation and we could discuss that if a project did want to get involved. – Jackie Wragg

Results and potential

There have been 326 responses from July 2018 to February 2020. Due to the current situation regarding COVID-19, engagement activities are of course on hold. However the aim is to gather post-engagement responses once the engagement activities in Protected Areas resumes.

Is your protective area interested in participating the project? Feel free to contact Jackie Wragg for additional information.

Contact:

Jackie Wragg, Youth Engagement Officer with Moors for the Future and South West Peak Landscape partnership in the UK, here she runs two EUROPARC Junior Ranger Groups in the Peak District National Park.

Jackie.Wragg(at)peakdistrict(.)gov.uk

The EUROPARC Conference is the event of the year for those working in Europe’s Protected Areas and Natura 2000 sites.

Due to the challenges arising from covid-19 this year’s EUROPARC conference will now be ONLINE!

International cooperation and connection is more important than ever, so we want to ensure we provide this opportunity to bring members together, albeit virtually!

Our new future: How ready are you?

EUROPARC CONFERENCE 2020, will be an innovative 2 day ONLINE event on the 8th AND 9th of September. After we have looked at the value of nature across multiple sectors of society at EUROPARC Conference 2019, in 2020 we will look to the future… We will be exploring, what skills and capacities protected areas need, to implement the 2030 biodiversity strategy, in the post COVID-19 world. We will bring you an interactive online experience, to connect with colleagues from across Europe and bring you the best of EUROPARC networking, in these challenging times.

DETAILS and registration will be available at the beginning of JUNE: So SAVE THE DATE!

The conference originally scheduled for  27-30th October, Neusiedler See – Seewinkel National Park Austria, will now take place in MAY 2022.  We will gather then, to consider Communicating in the 21st Century? Question your mind set! Perhaps even more important as we will have absorbed the implication of a post-COVID world, and indeed will be in year one of what will be by then the new EUROPARC strategy.

The EUROPARC conference in May 2022 in Austria, will also incorporate the Transparcnet meeting so will have an emphasis on transboundary cooperation and communications.

This year’s General  Assembly of 2020 will also be ONLINE and will take place at the originally scheduled date of 27th October. More details will follow.

So EUROPARC members have the following to look forward to

• September 8/9th 2020 EUROPARC conference . Our New Future: How Ready Are We?
• October 27th EUROPARC General Assembly
• October 2021 EUROPARC conference . Location TO BE ANNOUNCED IN SEPTEMBER!!
• May 2022 EUROPARC conference Communicating in the 21st Century? Question your mindset! Neusiedler See – Seewinkel National Park Austria,
• We will also have an Autumn conference in 2022  in conjunction with the NaturAdapt climate change and protected areas, project.

This year’s World Environment Day focusses on biodiversity. On this World Environment Day 2020: we need Protected Areas to battle the ongoing biodiversity loss.

In 1972 the United Nations General Assembly designated June 5th as World Environment Day. Governments, businesses, celebrities and citizens are engaged to focus their efforts on a pressing environmental issue. This year’s theme focusses on Biodiversity. All over the world, you can participate in online events to celebrate World Environment Day here and check out #ForNature.

Nature provides us with food, fresh water, air for us to survive and thrive. We are depended on it for our survival as it provides us with the essential infrastructure that supports life on Earth and human development. This means, that to take care of ourselves we must care for nature. Biodiversity is an essential part of this life system. If we want to secure a healthy life on our planet, we need to secure biodiversity.That is why it is Time For Nature.

Currently, nature is pushed to its limits. Through deforestation, encroachment on wildlife habitats, intensified agriculture and our influence on a changing climate, we are accelerating biodiversity loss. With this, Earth’s ecosystems on which we depend will collapse. However, if we listen to nature now, we can change the tide.

World Environment Day 2020: We need Protected Areas!

EUROPARC has been advocating on nature’s behalf since its very start. We recognize that we need to give space to nature to secure our own livelihoods. In an ever urbanised Europe, Protected Areas provide green spaces that counter the high level of biodiversity loss we are currently experiencing.

Now more than ever, we need Protected Areas as drivers of biodiversity, as all life on this planet is founded on it.

EUROPARC welcomes, the European Commission’s recognition on the importance of Protected Areas in its new biodiversity strategy. Member States will be in charge of designating  Protected Areas and strictly Protected Areas and will define conservation objectives and measures for all Protected Areas. Here, EUROPARC Federation and its members should have a key role to play to provide our expertise to our own Member State in order to ensure a participative and representative process. We urge the commission to listen to offer adequate support in order for this ambitious plan to work.

EUROPARC will contribute to support the work of Protected Areas, to harmonize and improve their management in order to collectively recover and restore the conservation of Nature in Europe. Together we can, and must, combat biodiversity loss and secure a healthy planet for future generations.

Have a look at our knowledge hub for helpful resources on a wide range of topics.