EAI NEWS
Training seminar on apps and new media
The programme for our next training seminar
'Apps and the use of new media in protected landscapes' has been published. It will be held in Leeds on 21st March.
Interesting and innovative examples of the use of apps and new media technology from across the protected landscape family in fields including tourism, environmental education, digital payback and biodiversity monitoring will be explored. As ever at EAI events there will be a European dimension, and colleagues from Belgium and Germany will be joining us.
For further details please view the
programme and
registration form.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Volunteering
As part of the EU Grundtvig project
Volunteer Management in European Parks, a training seminar for new volunteer coordinators is being held in Palma de Mallorca, Spain from 18th - 22nd March. The UK's allocation of places has been exceeded and several applicants are on a waiting list.
Opportunities for learning exchanges are still available to volunteer coordinators, so if you could benefit from learning from another park - either by visiting or hosting a colleague from another European protected area, please get in touch.
The project is also trialling new guidelines for quality in volunteer management in protected landscapes. These are available
here. We would welcome members' feedback so that they can be further refined.
Sustainable tourism
A further meeting of EAI's sustainable tourism network will take place in the spring on the subject of green certification. A report from the last meeting of EAI's Charter Network in October is available
here.
Young rangers
The
project group is meeting again on the weekend of 15th - 17th February in Seahouses and Berwick in the Northumberland Coast AONB.
For more details on any aspect of the EAI work programme or how to participate, please contact Richard Blackman.
FEDERATION NEWS
Latest on EUROPARC - Eurosite merger
The first meeting of the new Organisational Development Committee took place on 11th January 2013, which was followed up by a joint communiqué from both organisations to their memberships.
EAI supports wholeheartedly the creation of a new organisation and is keen to see progress made towards this goal. The EAI Board has also produced a paper on the potential role of Sections in the new organisation, with the aim of encouraging discussion about how the Sections could contribute to its success. This can be requested from
EAI's Development Adviser.
40 Years of the Federation
2013 marks the 40th anniversary of the
EUROPARC Federation and a number of events are being planned to mark the occasion, including around the European Day of Parks. More details to come in the next E-News.
Alfred Toepfer Natural Heritage Scholarships
This year, EUROPARC will again be awarding three
Alfred Toepfer Natural Heritage Scholarships to young nature conservationists. Deadline for receipt of applications is
26th April 2013.
POLICY NEWS
Irish Presidency
The Republic of Ireland assumed the Presidency of the Council of the European Union at the beginning of January. Information on EU policy developments in the environment can be found on the Presidency
website.
PROTECTED AREA PUBLICATIONS
IUCN's Parks Journal
The latest edition of IUCN's
Parks Journal contains a comprehensive article on the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas, written by colleagues from the Charter network.
Sustainable Use of Regional Funds (SURF)
The SURF Nature Interreg project, which finished at the end of 2012, has produced a number of useful
publications on the sustainable use of regional funds.
The value of Wetlands
To coincide with World Wetlands Day on 2nd February the Ramsar Secretariat, together with the TEEB Office and others, published a
report on the global importance of wetlands.
