News Update and Recent Work

Examples of EUROPARC Consulting’s work:

Here in the Yorkshire Dales (see picture 1) autumn slips into winter; not with the arrival of crisp snow and crystal frosts, but a bluster of storm winds and vicious rain slashing the last of the orange leaves from nearly bare branches. Suddenly the mood changes: nights are dark, Christmas tunes play in the shops - reminding us that the year is speeding towards its end. All of this creates a mood of reflection after the constant whirl of activity that swept us through a busy 2009.

Organising seminars for EUROPARC Atlantic Isles on our own doorstep underpinned the year. The rolling green lowlands of Oxfordshire hosted a session on the role of protected landscapes in delivering health and well-being outcomes. Recently the dramatic venue of the Dynamic Earth Centre, nestling below the craggy outcrops of Edinburgh alongside the new Scottish Parliament building, analysed the development of landscape management programmes from targets and physically measurable outputs towards holistic, longer-term policy outcomes.

From events stimulating discussion of Europe-wide current thinking amongst landscape professionals to practical training events enabling protected-area practitioners to see management policies being implemented on the ground. Wilf Fenten, Director of EUROPARC Consulting, and his team hosted a group from Ukraine around the Bavarian Forest and Šumava National Park. Experts from the teams of three leading protected-area organisations shared their experience on many aspects of communication, interpretation and community engagement amongst these fantastically varied flora, fauna, life and landscapes. But it was not all earnest learning. Our Ukrainian colleagues even staged a Hutsul wedding with a glorious Hutsul bride and Wilf Fenten as groom. Hope it wasn't for real ... (picture 2).

The Training Champions programme also gathers pace, confidence and strength from within the group of dedicated practitioners; working together with two committed EUROPARC Consulting trainers to gather experiences of management planning and sustainable tourism for their own protected areas. A new intake of protected-area practitioners also joined a lively, interactive session in Slovakia, providing an enriching professional experience to take away and share with colleagues in their home protected areas.

Now is a time to review, re-energise and focus on the year to come. It's all too easy to forget during the constant pressures of organising the years work the individuals who both contribute to and participate in them. There are ongoing flurries of activity, logistical hiccups concerning travel, accommodation, facilities and programming. Ludicrous hold-ups with bureaucracy, frantic phone calls and faxes - and that's just for getting visas!

Nearly upon us the deadline for the next set of applications from the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism, which in 2009 welcomed another 17 successful applicants. All the troubles and the logistical issues quickly fade. What we here at EUROPARC Consulting remember from all these events are the very special people who work within our protected areas. We are all aware that the mood has changed with the altered financial circumstances of countries resulting from the banking crisis. Many staff, particularly from the Carpathian eco-region find budgets cut, jobs lost or insecure, wages delayed and the future uncertain both politically and financially. But are they downhearted? Yes, probably - but will that stop their enthusiasm and commitment in continuing to work for the benefit or the special places they represent? Of course not.

Everyone who works in landscape conservation knows that much of such work can be poorly rewarded, with a heavy workload. Yet the quietly dedicated work continues even under these troubled circumstances. There are always plenty of eager, bright and intelligent participants willing to travel hundreds - sometimes thousands - of kilometres to take up training opportunities, gain new professional skills, exchange insights and network with colleagues. This has been one of the noticeable factors in the established groups such as the participants in EUROPARC Consulting's Training Champions programme - a brilliant example of transboundary and inter-country networking. An effective way to spread knowledge and experience at low cost, and most of all a excellent way to maintain morale and support. (See picture 3 - training seminar in action.)

From the comfortable viewpoint of our offices in the U.K. these resourceful and uncomplaining individuals challenge us to look to new ways to support their tireless work on behalf of treasured landscapes. Many of these countries have over the last century endured far bleaker times than these, which doubtless helps them continue, knowing that things will improve.

We have no doubt that the resourcefulness and ingenuity of the designated-landscape family will find ways to continue moving forward into another challenging year protecting our vulnerable and precious places.

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Kaarst landscape in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (UK)Photo: Hilary Fenten

The beautiful Vanatori Nature Park in Romania was the venue for the third Training Champions training module in September 2009. This marked the mid-point of a six-module series designed to equip protected-area managers in the Carpathians Eco-region with the tools to manage better this wild, mysterious and stunning region. It is just one element in a wider to effort to deliver the commitment to significantly reduce the loss of biodiversity by 2010 (photo 1).
 
The trainers-to-be came together in the village of Varatec, on the borders of the Park, for an intensive few days focusing on the development of sustainable tourism, management planning concepts and training/ communication skills (photo 2). The Nature Park also provided a further important theme – how to integrate natural, cultural and spiritual values into protected-area management. Its many monasteries, set in the forested landscape and over 600 years of the monastic way of life make it one of Europe’s most important spiritual and cultural sites (photo 3).

Grigore Baboianu, Governor of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, was a welcome guest, and gave a compelling account of the importance of the Delta and, in particular, of the importance of monitoring. This set the tone for the early sessions on monitoring of management plans and monitoring of tourism as part of sustainable protected-area management. Later sessions covered community and stakeholder involvement, training and communication skills, Natura 2000 requirements and environmental education. A day in the field, led by Sebastian Catanoiu, revealed the rich values of this Park, ranging from the serene and atmospheric monasteries to reintroduction of the awesome European bison (photo 4). There is fantastic potential for sustainable tourism development but also some challenges to link the natural and cultural heritage effectively.  

Overall, this was an intense and worthwhile experience, judging by the positive feedback of participants, who, as they get to know each other better, are starting to gain significant networking benefits as well as direct benefits from the training.  Having said that, we were all very aware of the resource problems faced by our Romanian hosts, and recognise that securing basic resources is a fundamental requirement for protected area managers.  We all look forward to the next event, in Poland, in the spring of 2010.

Keith Buchanan, Rosie Simpson and the EUROPARC Consulting team

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View over the Vanatori Nature Park (Romania)Photo by Keith Buchanan

Twenty Ukrainian protected-area staff see in practice what they have experienced so far in theory

From Tuesday, 21st July, to Sunday, 26th July 2009, Richard Gunton and Wilf Fenten from EUROPARC Consulting led a study tour to the Nationalpark Bayerischer Wald (Bavarian Forest National Park), Germany, and Sumava National Park), Czech Republic. The study tour programme completed a further stage in the current training programme for three protected areas in Ukraine.

One of the broad learning objectives from study tour was to find out what makes for successful communications in a protected area (PA) and what is transferable from one PA to another.

It certainly took determination and commitment to travel at high-summer temperatures of above 30 degrees C along roads of differing quality for well over 1000 km in order to take part in that study programme. Yet the group of Ukrainian protected-area practioners from Uzhansky National Nature Park, the Carpathian National Nature Park und the Gorgany Nature Reserve seem to be totally unfazed by the strain and vicissitude of long-distance coach travel.

After an long three-hour wait at the EU border in Slovakia and a massive traffic jam wait around Budapest for another three hours the group arrived at their destination just before midnight on Tuesday, 21st July.

Despite the exhausting journey the day before, the group assembled, as it did every day of the study tour, early for breakfast so that we could depart in good time for a visit to the Bavarian Forest Visitor Centre Hans Eisenmann Haus. We were welcomed by the National Park director, Ltd. Forstdirektor Karl Friedrich Sinner, and shown an audio-visual introduction to the National Park history, its purposes and duties. The video had virtually no text and very little commentary. It was almost totally visual, appealing to the senses and an emotional reaction to the presented landscape.

Not that all the images shown were pretty. On the contrary, the camera often lingered over vast areas of dead trees, victims of the dreaded bark beetle which has changed so much the way this particular national park and its Czech neighbour looks.

The afternoon was taken up by a visit to the offices of the EUROPARC Federation. The Federation team had prepared an excellent presentation of the Federation's work and provided also a taste of local cake with some much needed coffee. The day ended, as did every day of the tour, with an hour-long feedback session.

The morning of the next day was taken up by a walk to the summit of Lusen (1373 m) which is surrounded by a totally devastated landscape which, between 1995 and 1997, suffered from a large-scale bark beetle attack which killed hundreds of hectares of conifer forest. It was then that the Bavarian Forest decided to leave everything uncleared and just try and make sure that the bark beetle would not escape the core area?- or natural zone, as it is now called. Very controversial - with many implications for forest use, tourism, interpretation and education.

Because the route through the natural zone (category 2, ostensibly no human intervention) is very popular indeed there were many interpretation panels along the route, and even large-scale artwork. Not a "wilderness" in the eyes of our UA guests. Lively discussions about the nature of wilderness and the intrusion of visitors. Some liked the panels, others did not at all and worried about their pristine wilderness in UA.

In the afternoon the group went to the DE/CZ border where there are several open crossings for walkers and cyclists. Very popular. The areas of both national parks are treated as one huge area thus opening thousands of square kilometres to people. On the CZ side one local entrepreneur made sure that a small section of the Iron Curtain was preserved. Of great historical interest.

Perhaps the highlight of the whole study tour: a visit to the Haus der Wildnis (House of Wilderness), the National Park Centre Falkenstein. It meant again an early start showing that the group seemed to have boundless energy and enthusiasm. Most days the programme lasted 10 hours, yet the group remained engaged and active.

We arrived by coach and met Forstamtsrat Reinhold Gaisbauer who took us through a generously planned and huge animal enclosure for prehistoric oxen (Aurochs) and horses (Przewalski Horses) as well as wolves and lynx. The route then led us to the Centre itself which, when we arrived, made people gasp. The Centre is green, very modern, and fitted out in a way which, for many of our group, was "a dream come true". Wolfgang B?uerl, very charismatic and largely responsible to the shape the Centre has taken, showed us round. The group seemed to hang on every word from his lips. Rarely have I seen such attention paid to a guide.

After having viewed a 3D film in the hi-tech cinema together with an audience of 50 to 60 children we understood why they say, "Catch 'em young and you create an audience for the future". Another quotation we heard was "You only see what you know" (Goethe).

As in the Hans Eisenmann Haus, the guiding principle was little text, little commentary, as much as possible visual. No buttons to press (that would be too quick) but lots of levers to shift and drawers to open. Everything of high quality to reflect to high quality of the landscape. The Centre was built by local people and most of the materials and fittings were sourced locally. The excellent food centre only served local food in season. Several people were literally moved to tears by the Centre which is truly a centre of excellence.

The final day saw another early start to visit the Wildniscamp (Wilderness Camp) where the Bavarian Forest, in exchange with national parks world-wide, has erected a series of huts, wigwams and yurts from Mongolia to the United States, from Siberia to Chile. "Nature protection and cultural conservation go together." Here young people come for a few days, stay in these authentic dwellings, learn about other cultures and are asked questions like "What do I really need for living? If everybody lived like me we would need at least 2 1/2 planets to survive." However, several members of the group felt that this accent on "foreign" culture was to the detriment of the conservation of the local culture. They would be reluctant to do this in UA.

The final event of the tour was a meeting with the mayor of the local community of Bayerisch Eisenstein. It gave the group an excellent opportunity to rehears again most of the arguments they had been discussing all week. The final feedback session then drew all topics together and went back on the various events and topic of the whole programme.

It was generally agreed that both the venues and the programme had been an unqualified success. Despite the clear differences between protected areas in Ukraine and other parts of Europe there was much to be learned from each other.

Because of the study tour's success, the leaders from the three protected areas plus EUROPARC Consulting and Dr Ivan Ivanenko from the State Agency for Protected Areas were keen to make sure that this would not be the end of the exchange of expertise. They therefore prepared and signed a Letter of Intent committing themselves to more international cooperation. This letter was the delivered to the Bavarian Forest National Park Administration, in the hope that its director will also sign.

As we departed to our home countries we hoped that the commitment and enthusiasm we experienced in the group will help us to keep a lively exchange going and build on the relationships, even friendship, which were formed on this memorable study tour.

Wilf Fenten
EUROPARC Consulting

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Motorway traffic jam around BudapestVasyl Kyslyak

The last bastion of Europe’s biodiversity, and its geographical heart – the Carpathians – span Ukraine, Romania and the Czech Republic. Staff of the protected areas of these remarkable mountains are fighting to save a rich heritage in the face of intense development pressures.

WWF International’s Danube Carpathian programme, funded by the Norwegian government, is helping them through a multi-pronged project to protect the sustainable use of natural resources. As part of this, EUROPARC Consulting are delighted to be building communications capacity in three Ukrainian protected areas.

In late April a small team took a journey of a thousand kilometres starting and ending in Lviv, looping through Trans-Carpathia’s bright and fresh springtime landscape and returning via the incredible rocky boulder fields of Gorgany and the mountain town of Yaremche. They met and talked with over 20 staff in the Uzhansky and Carpathian National Nature Parks, and Gorgany Nature Reserve.

Despite facing many challenges including lack of infrastructure and resources, staff were enthusiastic about communicating the high value of their landscapes – and eager to be a part of the international family of protected areas. Uzhansky National Nature Park Director Vasil Kopach summed up their ambitions: “We want to look with a fresh eye, and learn from both the good practice and the mistakes made elsewhere. We know we have a wonderful resource here, but local people often don’t feel benefits from the park at the moment.”

EUROPARC Consulting are concentrating on building a strategic communications approach for the areas, which will deliver practical, authentic and highly effective two-way communications.

Want to help? If you work in communications within a protected area – particularly if your area is strictly protected and closed to the public, or if you have found ways to communicate on a small budget - and you’d like to share your experiences and link with a Ukrainian colleague through the project, please contact EUROPARC Consulting (wilf.fenten@europarc-consulting.org).

Lucy Galvin, Nicky Rowbottom and Wilf Fenten, EUROPARC Consulting.

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Spring in the UkrainePhoto by Vasyl Kyslyak

 A hot Saturday evening in Brussels. Five tired figures shuffle silently along the busy streets towards the hotel. Not for them the Brussels nightlife and the razzmatazz of a club. A shower, a cool drink, a nice meal and then a good night’s sleep – that’s what is needed. After two full days of looking at evaluation reports, discussing endlessly the strength and weaknesses of some protected areas, the members of the EUROPARC Evaluation Committee are heading for their well-earned rest. This year has been particularly tiring. Seventeen protected areas had applied for the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism. Several others, already Charter parks, had to apply for a re-evaluation after five years.

Over the last ten years, the European Charter has proved itself to be a very practical tool for helping protected areas to focus on the sustainable development and the management of tourism, taking account of the needs of the environment, the local population and the local tourism businesses. By looking carefully at all three aspects the Charter makes great demands on the applicants, on the EUROPARC Consulting verifiers who evaluate the applications and on the EUROPARC Evaluation Committee which meets once or twice a year. The Committee members are drawn from many different areas of tourism in order to make sure all aspects are covered. The president of the Committee is director of one of Europe’s most beautiful protected areas, the Parco delle Alpi Marittime. Other members represent a leading tourism consultancy, one of Germany’s largest tour operators, the EUROPARC Federation and a Spanish protected area. EUROPARC Consulting who implement and oversee the whole Charter application process also provide the secretariat for the Evaluation Committee.

And why all this effort? Everyone is aware what benefits tourism can bring to protected areas. However, there is always the danger of loving our protected areas to death. They can become so popular that people kill the very thing they are coming to see. Local authorities, often through not caring enough, let developments happen which, ultimately, destroy the beauty but also the money-earning assets of these priceless landscapes.

So if we can have a process which looks carefully at all aspect of tourism and helps making it sustainable, then we are planning for our future and our children’s future. No wonder, then, that enthusiasts like the members of the Evaluation Committee sacrifice – without pay – a good number of days every year to read and appraise thoroughly the evaluation and re-evaluation reports from existing and prospective Charter areas. They then meet and assess in often passionate debates whether or not to award or re-award the Charter.

When the decision has been taken it brings to an end the first stage of a process which has often taken many years to get this far. However, the work is still not over. The Charter is not an eco-label but a process-oriented methodology that must be used and applied in order to initiate and assist the process of sustainable tourism planning which then can lead to sustainable development, step by step.

So, whilst those tired Committee members made their way slowly back to the hotel, there were already people in other parts of Europe preparing the next application. And when the next meeting of the Evaluation Committee comes round, the whole process starts all over again. Exhausting? Perhaps. Worthwhile? Most certainly.

If you would like further information on the European Charter and its implementation please contact Wilf Fenten at wilf.fenten@europarc-consulting.org or Petra Dippold at pdippold@europarc.org.

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Members of the EUROPARC Evaluation Committee hard at workEUROPARC Consulting

The Carpathian Mountains: for many the last bastion of largely unspoiled biodiversity in Europe‘s geographical heart. At the pivotal point of these mountains lie several Ukrainian protected areas where colleagues are working hard to save a rich heritage in the face of intense development pressures.

In April, a team from EUROPARC Consulting (photo 1) met with protected-area practioners in the Uzhansky and Carpathian National Nature Parks, and Gorgany Nature Reserve. as part of the WWF Danube Carpathian programme which offers support through a multi-pronged project to protect the sustainable use of natural resources.

These protected areas are an extraordinary repository of globally important flora, fauna and landscape, with a dizzying variety of scenery from mixed-growth forests and alpine meadows to beautiful karst peaks (photo 2). Traditionally, the lack of infrastructure and utilities, difficult trans-border crossings and little tourism development have protected much of this natural beauty. However, rapidly changing lifestyles and an emerging economy mean that economic development will increasingly impact on these areas.

Just one example: Bukovel, right next to one of Ukraine’s most important protected area, is a popular ski resort. It is undergoing major development (photo 3) and will soon have 278 km of runs and 35 lifts, making it one of the 20 largest ski resorts in the world. The main approach to Bukovel goes right through the national park. There will be great pressure to widen the road significantly, which would undoubtedly harm the protected area.

The current approach to conservation often consists of regulations imposed by government agencies. However, this is being reappraised as the need to move towards integrated and negotiated sustainable partnerships for regional small-scale development is rapidly recognised. Protected-area managers are facing up to these rapid cultural changes and the threats and opportunities they present through a process of in-depth analyses and forward-looking action plans.

Despite facing many challenges including lack of infrastructure and resources, the protected-area practioners we met were enthusiastic about communicating the high value of their landscapes – and eager to be a part of the international family of protected areas.

The EUROPARC Consulting Team
Wilf Fenten/Lucy Galvin/Nicky Rowbottom/Anne Webster

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The EUROPARC Consulting team in Gorgany NRPhoto by Nicky Rowbottom

EUROPARC Consulting's involvement in the Carpathian Eco-region continues vigorously. This time, the village of Szarvasko, on the edge of the Bükk National Park in Hungary, was the venue for the second of the Training Champions seminars. The Training Champions Programme, supported through the WWF "Protected Areas for a Living Planet Programme", is designed to develop the skills of a core group of trainees from protected areas in the Carpathian Ecoregion, particularly in training and communication, management planning, sustainable tourism and community involvement. This is being achieved through a series of training events led by two programme leaders from EUROPARC Consulting, Rosie Simpson and Keith Buchanan, supported by guest trainers.

The Öko-Park pension proved a homely and comfortable venue for the ambitious programme. It aimed to introduce the concept and principles of sustainable tourism in protected areas and develop experience of how this can be applied in practice; review and develop thinking on protected area management planning; evaluate approaches to training and communications for protected area management. Included were sessions on training nature guides, involving local businesses and communities in developing tourism, software for management planning and adaptive management, in addition to the core training elements.

Assisting the programme leaders at this event was Jacques Decuignières. Jacques has a background in rural development for many years as Head of Tourism in the Luberon Parc Naturel Régional, France, before working independently on sustainable tourism and sustainable development.

Participants contributed through plenary and group discussions, oral reports, giving presentations and through providing written records of sessions and feedback. The group also developed ideas and material to use after the course. For example, they identified current visitor management problems and discussed their experience and options for addressing these. Other material produced included: impacts, benefits and challenges of tourism in protected areas; selecting the right communication methods, and Top Tips for Powerpoint presentations. The event CD circulated to participants includes presentations and training materials produced by the course leaders, the guest presenter and participants.

Fourteen participants from 7 countries in the Carpathian Region took part in the event which ran from the 21st to the 25th April. Escape from the training room was allowed, however, and an excellent field visit to the Szilvasvarad valley and the Bükk Plateau took place on the middle day. On this visit many issues in relation to visitor management and sustainable tourism were explored. Also included was a presentation and discussion with a stakeholder from the Carpathian Hiking Club.

Feedback from participants was very good and positive (well done to Andras Schmotzer and Janos Baczur for making the local arrangements) and all involved are looking forward to the next event in the series, to be held in Romania in September. EUROPARC Consulting is continuing is close involvement in Eastern Europe and would love to hear of other initiatives going on there.

Keith Buchanan, Rosie Simpson and Wilf Fenten, EUROPARC Consulting GmbH

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EUROPARC Consulting trainers in action in HungaryEUROPARC Consulting

Supporting an engaging, effective process to help safeguard a unique place

EUROPARC Federation’s consultancy, EUROPARC Consulting, is particularly delighted to have been engaged to carry out a significant comparator study on a much cherished and world-famous area of the UK. The Lake District World Heritage Project is seeking UNESCO World Heritage Site inscription for the English Lake District as a Cultural Landscape.

The spectacular Lake District area of North Western England is considered by many to be the place where some of the first seeds of nature conservation were sown. In very early accounts of journeying through the area, travellers describe the wildness of the landscapes, the extremes of the weather and the rough, hardy nature of the inhabitants as a source of terror and danger. Later, as well-regarded artists and poets began to examine more closely the awe-inspiring variety of the scenery, they began to view the landscape as a “frame” within which the drama of man's life events could be framed. And as others began to travel in the footsteps of the famous poets, painters and authors they too came to value these landscapes: as locations for refreshment of the soul, invigoration of the body, and as places for reflection inspired by natural beauty.

The Romantic movement and its followers broadcast images and descriptions of these special places to a national and world-wide audience through artistic endeavour, and this audience claimed an spiritual affinity with those wild places, thus developing an interest in their protection.

An example of this is the 19th Century struggle referred to by landscape historians as “the battle of Thirlmere”. In 1876 plans were laid to dam Thirlmere lake in a scheme to feed the water-hungry factories and cities of the industrialised North of England. Those who lived in and around the lake wanted it left untouched, those in the cities demanded the resources, and, most interestingly, those who had no ownership rights or formal connection with Thirlmere felt they too had a right to an opinion on the plans. Whilst we think nothing today of expressing our views on environmental issues in other parts of the world, this was a very novel idea 133 years ago. Recognising the uniqueness of the early awareness of landscape quality together with the desire to conserve it has led to the need for an examination of the facts against a broader measure.

EUROPARC Consulting offered the services of an expert team with a remarkable range of skills and experience. Many people love the English Lake District, from craggy mountain-tops to calm lakesides – but are they more important than just being a favourite place to visit? Are there similar properties already inscribed on the World Heritage List? Are there others that might be nominated in the future – and could they conflict with the proposed Outstanding Universal Values of the Lake District? A trio of vastly experienced and committed experts from EUROPARC Consulting will contribute to the undertaking a comparative analysis of the property in relation to similar ones, whether or not on the World Heritage List, at both international and national levels.

The team's analysis will consider and explain the significance of the nominated property in this broader context, and determine if, in their view, there is room on the World Heritage list for the English Lake District. Those who feel this treasured place has had a world-wide impact on landscape perceptions and the development of the conservation movement will await the outcome of the study with interest.

Our team can be your team too. In fact, we already are! As the wholly-owned subsidiary of the EUROPARC Federation, EUROPARC Consulting can be called upon for anything from small one-off projects to ambitious on-going programmes. Why not call upon our extensive, customisable expert team?

Wilf Fenten:   wilf.fenten@europarc-consulting.org
Anne Webster:  info@europarc-consulting.org
Tel: +44 (0) 1729 860003
EUROPARC Consulting GmbH,
U.K. contacts: The Shaws, Selside, Settle, North Yorkshire, BD24 0HZ

EUROPARC Consulting is working ever harder to increase further the great success of the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas. The Charter has been developed by the EUROPARC Federation, Europe’s umbrella organisation for protected areas, so that its protected area members can make a real contribution to sustainable development by generating best practice in the management of tourism in their area.

Verifiers working for EUROPARC Consulting and protected areas

In February 2009, EUROPARC Consulting invited a number of already established trainers and new trainees to the Isle of Vilm in the German Baltic Sea, for a series of intensive training seminars. Participants soon got to grips with the Charter, its principles and application. Step by step, trainers and trainees worked their way through the intricate process of examination and evaluation. Thanks to their engagement, commitment and enthusiasm EUROPARC can now rely on several more verifiers to carry out the important work for the Charter. All new verifiers are totally committed to their task and will soon be able to put their new knowledge into practice.

Another important aim, apart from training new verifiers and offering a refresher course for old hands, was to review the different aspects of the evaluation process of the Charter and its related documents. The seminars and workshops were financially supported, organised and coordinated by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) in cooperation with the EUROPARC Federation. To all of them our thanks.

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Dusk on the Isle of Vilm, Baltic Sea, GermanyEUROPARC Consulting