The plenary meeting and the EUROPARC conference will be held in the Czech Republic for the first time in the 34 year history of the EUROPARC Federation. The medieval town of Český Krumlov, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, will be hosting the event from 26-30 September.
The main theme of the EUROPARC 2007 conference will be Trans-European co-operation in nature and landscape protection, which is expressed by the conference motto “Nature – Bridging Borders”.
European Charter for Sustainable Tourism
The Europarc Federation has just awarded its European Charter for Sustainable Tourism to six Andalusian natural parks, raising the total number of certified parks in the region to 12. Certificates will be awarded in the afternoon of 29 September during Europarc’s plenary meeting.
New parks
Europarc’s Charter for Sustainable Tourism will be awarded to the natural parks of Sierra Maria-Los Velez (Almeria), La Breña y Marismas del Barbate (Cadiz), Sierra de Cardeña y Montoro (Cordoba), Sierra Magina (Jaen), Sierra de las Nieves (Malaga), and Sierra Norte de Sevilla.
The six Andalusian parks that have already been awarded the charter are those of
Alcornocales (Cadiz/Malaga), Sierra de Grazalema (Cadiz/Malaga), Sierra Nevada (Granada/Almeria), Sierra de Aracena y Picos de Aroche (Huelva), Sierras de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas (Jaen), and Doñana (Huelva-Cadiz-Seville).
About Europarc
Founded in 1973, Europarc is a non-governmental organisation with 370 members managing over 400 protected areas throughout Europe. Its main objectives include
promoting good practice in the management of protected areas, facilitating the establishment of new protected areas, raising the profile of protected areas as a vital means of safeguarding many of the continent’s most valuable natural heritage assets, and thereby to increase support for their future protection, and influencing the future development of public policies and programmes, especially with the European Union, to the benefit of protected areas’ objectives.
