LIFE ENABLE at the ESPARC Congress for Protected Area professionals in Sigüenza, Spain
The ESPARC Congress started in 1995 and, since then, it has consolidated as one of the main events to facilitate the exchange and dissemination of information between Protected Area professionals. Specifically, it targets public administration technicians dedicated to the planning and management of Protected Areas, although is open to the participation of all nature conservation professionals.
From May 22nd to 26th, EUROPARC Spain together with the Sustainable Development Office of the Castilla La-Mancha Chartered Community hosted the XXII ESPARC Congress in Sigüenza, Spain, under the theme “Territories of Life”.
The agenda included a highly technical component, workshops, information exchange, a marketplace, plenary sessions, and different field trips.
Workshops
The workshops featured a wide range of interesting topics, including:
- How to improve landscape connectivity and ecological restoration to increase adaptation capacities to climate change?
- How can we contribute to the objective of 10% strict protection in Spain through management experiences?
- How to ensure coherence between conservation objectives and tourism management in Protected Areas?
- How to face the challenge of rural depopulation and adaptation to climate change?
- How to move forward in connecting nature conservation with human well-being and health?
- How to improve communication of the role of Protected Areas in a context of global change?
Market place
The congress brought together 175 nature conservation professionals from all over Spain.
They had the opportunity to explore the experience market featuring 10 stalls, among which were spaces from EUROPARC Federation and EUROPARC Spain.
This was a great opportunity for EUROPARC Federation to spread the word about our projects, programmes and initiatives.
It was a pleasure to introduce the participants of the Congress to:
LIFE ENABLE and the European Nature Academy,
Healthy Parks Healthy People Europe
and the European Day of Parks.