Keynotes and Workshops

Keynote Speakers

Ignace Schops

Ignace Schops © Don MacMonagle

In between presiding over the EUROPARC Federation, Ignace finds time to be the Director of the Belgian NGO Regionaal Landschap Kempen en Maasland (RLKM), full member of the EU chapter of Club of Rome, Goldman Prize Winner, Ashoka Fellow, Climate Leadership Corps.

Protected Areas in a Changing Environment – Are Protected Areas passive passengers of climate change or drivers of sustainability?

Our own President will reflect on his wide ranging work in climate change and sustainability campaigning to consider how Protected Areas can respond to a planet in the grip of a climate change crisis.

Jonny Hughes

Jonny Hughes, Scottish Wildlife Trust

Jonny is Chief Executive of the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Scotland’s largest environmental charity. The Trust owns and manages 120 Protected Areas and wildlife reserves ranging from small urban sites to large upland landscapes. Jonny is also a member of the global IUCN Council and in recent years has become a champion of the concept of Natural Capital, co-founding the first World Forum on Natural Capital which took place in Edinburgh in 2013 to widespread acclaim. A second World Forum will take place in Edinburgh on the 23-24th of November 2015.

Protected Areas and a Changing Economy – Are Protected Areas the new natural asset bankers?

Jonny will challenge the view the environment can be managed in a separate silo from the economy. Jonny will argue that it is poor economic decision making that has caused the environmental crisis we face today, and it is this broken economics we need to fix if we are to reverse ecological degradation. What role should Protected Areas play in an emerging economic system which seeks to incorporate the invisible values and benefits which Natural Capital provides?

Alberto Arroyo Schnell

Alberto Arroyo Schnell, WWF

Senior Policy Advisor – Biodiversity,WWF European Policy Office

Alberto focuses his activity on European biodiversity policy and Protected Areas, and coordinates WWF’s European Network on biodiversity related issues. He is also the Chairman of the European Habitats Forum, which assembles 25 leading European nature conservation organisations working on European nature conservation.

Protected Areas in a changing policy framework. EU Biodiversity Policy: what are the challenges and opportunities?

Protected Areas operate with a policy framework at a global, European, national and regional level. Yet these policies vary according to political circumstances, and even sometimes can be contradictory. The European level can be seen sometimes far away for practitioners, but often determines the future and present action for nature conservation. How can we navigate nature conservation and sustainable development through this policy maze?

Dr Laura Meagher

Dr Laura Meagher

Laura has spent over 25 years working in the US and the UK with and within research and education institutions, along with industry and government, focussing on strategic change. She has frequently catalysed and facilitated novel initiatives, often multi-sector, inter-institutional and/or interdisciplinary, so is keenly aware of challenges, issues and practical mechanisms.

Protected Areas- The change from within: How can people in Protected Areas manage with seemingly endless organisational change?

For many Protected Areas, agencies and institutions, organisational change is almost ever present. Mergers between organisations and departments, cuts in budgets, staff losses all seemingly imposed by unseen politicians and bureaucrats. How can any management system respond effectively and indeed how can individuals cope in such a changing world?

Workshops

Monday 26th October 2pm – 4pm

EUROPARC workshops are an excellent opportunity to get new ideas and learn from your colleagues working in similar Protected Areas issues across Europe. This year we have handed workshops over to members and sections with particular expertise and knowledge to bring you examples from their areas. The 2 hour workshops will be in English and will focus on topics with practical solutions. Although case studies will be presented the workshops are intended to be lively interactive discussions looking at real life examples from parks and how Protected Areas are coping with the changing world!

Workshop 1

Young people in Protected Areas: Taking the lead for Nature – “You will never change if you don’t work with young people”, said one participant at the 1st EUROPARC youth conference in Hungary 2013. Young people are our future and in this workshop we bring the results of the 2nd event the Youth camp in Spain in 2015. We will consider mentoring and youth leadership programmes and how you can get young people more involved in the work of your Protected Area. This workshop will be led by EUROPARC.

Workshop 2

Professional development for Protected Area management – Do we really know what competencies we need to manage Protected Areas and how to identify the training needs of our staff? Pro Park (Romania) have been working on a BfN funded project to develop training needs analysis in 23 Eastern Europe countries and capacity building plans for Protected Area staff in 2 pilot countries and one region. Their experience might help you to understand how to manage and develop staff competencies for efficient Protected Area management. This workshop will be led by ProPark Foundation for Protected Areas, EUROPARC member from Romania.

Workshop 3

Seeds of Growth: Multi-functionality of agriculture in Protected Areas – Working with the agriculture sector in and around Protected Areas is good for biodiversity and for sustainable economic development. Examples from France will show how they reconcile the management of agriculture and the Protected Areas showing how “agroecology” can work and the development of local brands and agri-tourism enterprises bringing economic benefits. Workshop led by EUROPARC France.

Workshop 4

The Nature of cooperation: Managing Protected Areas in partnership – Examples from the transboundary parks across the Central Eastern European region will reflect on how working in partnership and a share of international experience has brought benefits to the management of their areas. What makes a good partnership work? What are the strengths and challenges that EUROPARC members can learn from the transboundary experience? Workshop led by EUROPARC Central Eastern Europe section (CEE), moderated by Handrij Härtel and Martin Solar.