News Update and Recent Work
Examples of EUROPARC Consulting’s work:
Communicating the Carpathians
Posted on: 29th July 2009
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.
