Finnland, Switzerland, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and the United States are just some parts of the world in which students have decided to join school strikes for climate justice.

Global strike for Future

By staying out of school on Fridays, students have decided to show what they think is the priority for their future. This Friday will be no exception. The protests are expected to culminate on March 15th with a Global Climate Strike in which students from over 71 countries are predicted to take part in. Are you one of them?

FridaysForFuture Map
www.fridaysforfuture.org

How did it all start?

All of that began with just one person – now the Nobel peace prize nominee – Greta Thunberg, the 16-year old activist who started the #FridaysForFuture movement.

She began protesting against the lack of action about the climate crisis outside the Swedish parliament last summer and continued to spread her message from then on. This year, Greta also spoke during the World Economic Forum in Davos, warning about urgent changes that need to be made, before the damage and effects of climate change become irreversible.

Part of the speech Greta Thunberg held at TEDxStockholm/ photo: /de.wikipedia.org/

Youth leading the way

The youth definitely recognized the urgency of nature preservation and their solidarity and passion for saving the environment soon captured everyone’s attention.

System change, not climate change!

System change, not climate change!  Seas are rising, so are we! are just some of the messages chanted by the students walking down the city streets, determined to urge the government to make the future of the planet a priority. Many criticized the movement pointing out that students should not be missing school for such protests. On the other hand, some of the teachers joined the protests emphasizing the valuable lesson of standing up for your rights as well as expressing the knowledge gained in schools. The support came from scientists as well.  Regardless of the approval, the protests are undeniably getting bigger, and the voices, louder.

The change starts with us, especially the youth. Raising awareness and introducing the concepts of active citizenship from a young age is therefore very beneficial. EUROPARC is promoting this through it’s Junior Ranger program aimed at young people aged 12-18 who are living within or close to the protected area. It encourages them to learn more about the world they live in, to respect nature and live in harmony with it. You can learn more about it and how to join here.

We need the change – now!

According to Center of Biological Diversity, we’re currently experiencing the worst spate of species die-offs since the loss of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. 

According to the UN, the cumulative level of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions grows with our standards of living, and there are also other links:

• The concentration of GHGs in the earth’s atmosphere is directly linked to the average global temperature on Earth;
• The most abundant GHG, accounting for about two-thirds of GHGs, is carbon dioxide (CO2), is largely the product of burning fossil fuels.

What is the role of protected areas in this situation?

In his article “We have an appointment with the future!” EUROPARC President, Ignace Schops, points out that nature conservation and rewilding efforts can work! Wolves and lynxes in protected areas in Europe, Pandas in protected areas in China, and tigers in protected areas in India. The keyword is “protected area”. In protected areas, species and habitats survive or suffer less.

(Periurban) Parks

Parks help build the resilience of our life-support system, that is nature (food, water, air production). Also, if you have a natural park in your city, you don’t have to drive for hours in order to enjoy nature on the weekends. However, they are much more than just a convenient part of our everyday life.

Beyond the protest

Youth Climate Strike points out that they are striking for Green New Deal, a transition to a 100% renewable economy, and for ending the creation of additional fossil fuel infrastructure. They also want the climate crisis to be declared as a national emergency, adding there are only 11 years left to avoid catastrophic climate change. Among other things, they point out that the world needs to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions by 50% by 2030, and 100% by 2050

What are your thoughts on this topic? Are you planning on joining the protest as well?

This year’s TransParcNet Meeting takes place from 11th until the 14th of June in Oulanka National Park, Kuusamo, Finland. It will focus on Management Challenges in Transboundary Parks.

Program details

You should arrive at Kuusamo on Tuesday the 11th and the programme will start on Wednesday morning the 12th. There will be two intense days both in a conference room and in nature and the meeting will end with a closing dinner on the 13th of June. On Friday the 14th you will either start your journey back home or join us to a post-trip to Paanajärvi National Park in Russia.

Venue

The meeting will be held at a wilderness hotel Basecamp Oulanka, Kuusamo, Finland and in Oulanka National Park.

Travel

Since Oulanka-Paanajärvi is situated on the edge of Europe, you need to take time to travel. We recommend you to come by plane firstly to Kuusamo or secondly to Oulu. There are one to two daily connections from Helsinki to Kuusamo and several connections to Oulu. Oulu is situated 220km from Kuusamo but there is a good three-hour-long bus connection from Oulu to Kuusamo. See the recommended timetables as an attachment. The shuttle will be organized between Kuusamo Airport, Kuusamo Bus Station and the venue.
If you wish to travel by train, one of the nearest train stations is also in Oulu. The bus station is situated right next to the railway station.
If you are planning to come by car, please find the route by using, for example, Google Maps.

There will also be an opportunity of joining a post-trip from 14th until the 16th of June in Paanajärvi National Park, Russia.

Getting to Paanajärvi National Park in Russia is not easy but is definitely worth the effort. Because of the border crossing formalities, long distances and bad condition of roads, it is impossible to organize a day-trip to Paanajärvi National Park. That is why the meeting will be held in Finland and visiting Paanajärvi NP is optional and organized as a post-trip.

Accommodation and costs

You will stay in a wilderness hotel right next Oulanka National Park. There is a restricted number of single rooms in the hotel.
Cost of accommodation per night per person:
• Single room 50e
• Double room 40e
Transboundary meeting fee will be announced at the time of registration.
There will also be an additional fee for the post-trip.

Registration

The registration will open at the end of March!

The deadline for registration is 28th of April 2019

Post-trip to Paanajärvi 14th to 16th of June

For a visit to Paanajärvi National Park in Russia, you need a Russian visa. We advise you to contact the Russian Embassy in your own country and start the process of applying a visa immediately. Unfortunately, Paanajärvi National Park cannot help you with the so-called Russian Tourist Visa Invitations. Please note that this trip requires long hours in a mini bus on quite bad gravel roads. We will visit the Paanajärvi Visitor Center in a small village of Pääjärvi before entering the national park. The accommodation in the park area is very basic with no electricity or running water. You get to feel the true wilderness around you and visit the most impressive sites of Paanajärvi National Park. There is a quota of maximum 20 persons for this trip. Please contact us if you are interested in attending the post-trip.

If you are interested in taking part and have any questions about planning your trip you can find all of the information here: TransParcNet Meeting 2019_invitation

Paanajärvi NP

Visit our TransParcNet page to learn more about the cooperation between Oulanka and Paanajärvi National Parks.

Every year, International Polar Bear Day draws attention to the challenges polar bears face in the warming Arctic. It reminds us of all the species endangered by climate change and global warming but also pushes us to find a way to help these animals.

According to WWF, global polar bear numbers are projected to decline by 30% by 2050.

Learn more

International Polar Bear Day is organized by Polar Bears International. They have prepared a lot of interesting contents for this day. You can join live sessions and “Ask me anything” session which will enable you to engage with experts and learn more about the bears. Take a look at the full schedule here!

Polar bear/ Pixabay

What can you do?

Whether you are looking for a complete lifestyle change, or just want to make small steps in bettering your relationship with nature you can try to do several things:

1) Reduce your carbon output (turning you thermostats down)

2) Drive less

3) Use energy efficient devices

4) Reuse and recycle

5) “Adopt a bear” – symbolic adoption of a polar bear will help real polar bears in the wild. By adopting a bear, you’ll support the research, education and action efforts.

6) Donate – The Polar Bear Fund supports small, meaningful projects that honour polar bears on an annual basis.

Polar bear/ Pixabay

Close encounters: bears vs. people

Recently, the Northeastern Novaya Zemlya archipelago faced a mass invasion of polar bears. They started entering homes and public buildings, and there were even signs of aggressive behavior. The question is who is the real intruder – the bears, or the people…

Russia’s World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said polar bears were being forced into villages because of climate change, explaining that due to the decrease of the ice cap, the animals were being forced to go ashore to search for food.

Read the full article here!

Did you know?

• The great white bear of the North is not actually white.
• Polar bears touch noses to ask to share food.

There are more surprising facts about these spectacular animals – take a look at the article and learn more about them!

Polar bear/ Pixabay

Raise awareness about the International Polar Bear Day. Use hashtags #InternationalPolarBearDay #PolarBearDay!

Sustainable Tourism: Monitoring & Managing visitors in Protected Areas

• 7th March 2019
• 15:00 CET
• Register here

With tourism visits in Europe growing at an unprecedented rate, and with nature destinations among the most visited places, we need to empower protected area professionals to manage tourism flows to deliver socio-economic benefits without compromising the conservation status of the destinations. How to balance the human impact that tourism can bring? Which methodologies are being used to assess visitors‘ flows and impact? How to allow managers of the Protected Areas to take strategic decisions and plan effectively tourism?

The identification of appropriate, cost-effective and low-impact models to manage tourism sustainably, remains an open challenge in many European protected areas. In this context, the INTERREG Central Europe CEETO project, which EUROPARC is a partner, aims at implementing an innovative governance system for tourism, based on a participatory planning approach.

In this webinar, we invited some of the CEETO partners to share some outcomes of their work: we will get to know some of the best – and cost-effective – tools to monitor tourist flows being used by protected areas. After learning the theory, we will get the practice insight, and discover how one of the most visited destinations in Germany is monitoring the impact of their visitors, and using the information collected to make better strategic decisions.

Finally, we will have a presentation by the Greek National Park that will host the Charter Network Meeting in April 2019, an international gathering of sustainable tourism experts and technicians from EUROPARC Sustainable Destinations, and hear the challenges they are facing since the Park has tripled its size.

Participation is free, but registration is needed! All participants are most welcome to share their views and direct their questions to the presenters. After the presentations, there will be a live Q&A.

From theory…

Case Study 1) Tourist flows in Protected Areas: an inventory of (the best) monitoring methods

by Diego Albanese, Federparchi – EUROPARC Italy

Tourism is an economic activity strongly driven by natural attractions, but the same natural features can be easily threatened and damaged by all the direct and indirect pressures linked to it. It is therefore essential for Protected Areas to have planning, management and monitoring tools, specifically designed to make tourism activities within protected areas sustainable and environmentally friendly.

In the CEETO (Central Europe Eco-Tourism) project, an inventory of the best and most innovative methods for monitoring tourist flows in Protected Areas has been drawn up, tools able to adapt to the needs of each Protected Area.  The methodologies identified are a mix of well-consolidated methods, which have been used for many years, and innovative methods, which are gaining importance and credibility in recent years. This inventory is addressed to managers of Protected Areas (local, regional or national public entities, competent agencies) and their stakeholders such as NGOs, research centres and universities or SMEs that might be interested in the interconnection between environmental and biodiversity conservation and development of sustainable tourism strategies.

Diego Albanese is the Scientific Coordinator of CEETO Project in Federparchi. He is an expert in sustainable tourism development of destinations, having a large experience in market analysis, elaboration of action plans and marketing strategies.

…to practice

Case Study 2) Monitoring visitors in the Southeast-Rügen Biosphere Reserve

by Katrin Hüsken, CEETO Project Coordinator, Biosphere Reserve Southeast-Rügen, Germany

The Biosphere Reserve Southeast-Rügen was established in 1990 and in 1991, with the recognition by UNESCO, included in the world network of the Man and Biosphere (MAB) programme. Sustainable regional tourism development has been, for a long time, a strong focus in the biosphere reserve and continues to be of great importance especially when looking at the visitor numbers of up to 6.4 million visitors per year (statistics 2017). Since 2012, the Biosphere Reserve has been working with the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas and is part of EUROPARC List of Sustainable Destinations, having renewed their commitment in 2018.

Watch the short film about the Southeast-Rügen Biosphere Reserve

Since her studies, Katrin was always focused on the topic of sustainable development. In 2013/2014, she worked as environmental consultant and coordinator of the national sustainable tourism label “ecolabel” in Luxembourg. Since 2017, Katrin is the project coordinator for the Interreg CEETO Project at the Authority of the Biosphere Reserves Southeast-Rügen.

Case Study 3) Tourists Flows in a protected area that tripled its size

By Serafeim Felekis, President, Tzoumerka, Acheloos Valley, Agrafa and Meteora National Park, Greece

When in 2015 the Tzoumerka National Park joined the EUROPARC network of Sustainable Destinations, the park covered around 860 square kms but in 2018, the Government decided to expand the area of the National Park. Now, it has tripled its size, ranging from th Acheloos valley to the famous region of Meteora, one of the most visited places in Greece. The over 20 monasteries standing on the top of steep sandstone rock pillars are recognized by UNESCO world heritage site since 1988 and attract thousands of tourist every year.

The increase of the National Park size brings new challenges: new stakeholders, a large area of agricultural land, many more obligations, and, certainly, a much higher number of visitors. In his presentation, Serafeim will explain how the Park is dealing with the change and why they have decided to host an International Sustainable Tourism Meeting in April 2019! By bringing together experts in Sustainable tourism and protected area professionals from across europe, they aim to gather good inputs for the challenges ahead.