The European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas: Benefits for tourism, environment and communities
( Sassalbo, 03 February 2015 )Another year in a row "the Charter" proved to be an effective tool to assist Protected Areas in development and implementation of sustainable tourism strategies in their regions providing benefits for nature, people and local communities.
Reaching up the big number of 131 Protected Areas in Europe adopting the programme of the Charter, last week, to celebrate another year of successful candidatures, EUROPARC Federation with the kind support and host of the EU Member of the Parliament - Renata Briano, organized the 2014 Charter Award Ceremony.
The one-day event included awarding and re-awarding of 16 Protected Areas who worked very hard to earn that confirmation and finally celebration! It was a great opportunity to present the new "Charter Parks" to the community and further show how parks are effectively working with tourism businesses and tour operators across the network. In addition to that, it was also the ideal occasion for Charter parks to "meet in person" and share ideas on nature and sustainable tourism. The aim of these gatherings is to better understand and underline, through good practice examples, the role that the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism plays for tourism, environment and regional development.
The day started with contributions from our guest speakers; first in the order of the day, our council member Mr Paulo Castro introducing the future of the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas, followed by Mr. Micheal O’Briain, Deputy Head of the Nature Unit – Directorate General for the Environment European Commission speaking about tourism and biodiversity, Mrs. Ilona Lelonek, Policy Officer, Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry European Commission talking about tourism and businesses: the challenge of sustainability and concluded by the intervention of Mr. Olaf Holm director of one of the parks awarded this year (Parc Naturel regional de la Montagne de Reims) speaking on behalf of IPAMAC promoting the progresses of the Charter Part III methodology in France.
Today we count 131 Protected Areas sharing the same principles in conducting their tourism activities, in 16 countries. In fact, with the new awardees this year, three new countries from the Dinaric Arc region have joined the Charter family: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia. We gladly welcome them to our Charter Family!
The 2014 Parks Awardees are:
- Una National Park (BIH),
- Public Institution “Nature Park Medvednica” (HR),
- Public Institution Lonjsko Polje Nature Park (HR),
- Parc naturel régional Loire Anjou Touraine (FR),
- Parc naturel regional de la Montagne de Reims (FR),
- Parc naturel regional du Morvan (FR),
- Area Marina Protetta Torre del Cerrano (IT),
- Ente Parco Nazionale del Pollino (IT),
- Parco Nazionale dell`Alta Murgia (IT),
- Parco Nazionale Appennino Tosco Emiliano (IT),
- Parco Nazionale delle Colline Metallifere Grossetane (IT),
- PE ''Fruska Gora National park'' (SRB),
- Special Nature Reserve “Gornje Podunavlje”(SRB).
- Parks re-awarded: Sistema Parchi Oltrepò Mantovano (IT),
- Espacio Natural de Sierra Nevada (ES),
- Parque Nacional de Garajonay (ES)
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The photo library* of this event is available on our Flickr and Facebook page
*(being regularly updated as we receive more photos)
To download the speakers’ presentations please visit our EUROPARC library
