Advanced methods for the management of natura 2000 areas

ADVANCED METHODS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF NATURA 2000 PROTECTED AREAS ADRIAWET 2000 PROJECT TRAINING PROGRAMME

SUMMARY 1 ABSTRACT - ITALIANO 7 2 ABSTRACT - SLOVENO 13 3 INTRODUCTION 19 3.1 Workshops 21 3.2 Study visits 24 4 STUDY VISIT TO THE NEUSIEDLER SEE NATIONAL PARK, AUSTRIA 27 4.1 The Neusiedler See National Park 28 4.2 Visitor centres 29 4.3 Rural development 30 4.4 Visitor program 30 4.5 Third sector enterprises involvement and private-public partnerships 32 5 STUDY VISIT TO THE DONAU AUEN NATIONAL PARK, AUSTRIA 37 5.1 The Donau-Auen National Park 38 5.2 Visitor centres 41 6 STUDY VISIT TO THE EBRO DELTA NATURAL PARK, SPAIN 45 6.1 The Ebro Delta Natural Park 46 6.2 Visitor centres 48 6.3 Third sector enterprises involvement andprivate-public partnerships 51 6.4 Compensation measures 60 6.5 Communication activities 60 6.6 Highlights 60 7 TRAINIG SESSIONS 63 8

8.1 8.2

WORKSHOP “MARKETING AND FINANCIAL TOOLS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF PROTECTED AREAS” Marketing tools for the management of protected areas Financial tools for the management of protected areas

67 68 73

9 WORKSHOP “MANAGEMENT PLANNING PROCESS AND IMPLEMENTATION” 83 9.1 The RSPB management planning process 84 9.2 The Miramare nature marine reserve tools 98

4

10 WORKSHOP “PARK BRANDING AND LABELLING” 109 10.1 Methodological approach 110 10.2 Best practice: the dolomiti bellunesi national park 120 11 WORKSHOP “PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS, PRO-BIODIVERSITY

BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT OF PROTECTED AREAS” 127 11.1 Public-private-partnerships (PPPS) 128 11.2 Fieldfare international LTD 130 11.3 Renewable energy 131 11.4 Ecotourism 132 11.5 Monitoring outcomes 133 11.6 Lessons learnt from PPP 134 12 WORKSHOP “SOCIAL ECONOMY AND PROTECTED AREA MANAGEMENT” 137 12.1 Methodological approach 138 12.2 Best practice: Il Mosaico social cooperatives consortium 141 13 WORKSHOP “COMMUNICATION, INTERPRETATION AND

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN PROTECTED AREAS” 147 13.1 Questions 148 13.2 Why? … the meaning 148 13.3 What? which goal? 150 13.4 How? the method 151 13.5 Conclusion 157

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1

ABSTRACT ITALIANO

Questa pubblicazione contiene i contributi raccolti durante il programma formativo per gli operatori dei siti Natura 2000, realizzato nell’ambito del progetto AdriaWet 2000.

Il programma è stato realizzato con lo scopo di trasmettere le conoscenze tecniche necessarie per la gestione integrata della aree protette. Il termine “integrato” si riferisce ad un modello di gestione che ha tra i suoi obiettivi il coordinamento e la programmazione congiunta con gli attori, le politiche e le misure per la protezione e lo sviluppo sostenibile del territorio.

AdriaWet 2000 ha identificato le tematiche strategiche per il raggiungimento di questi obiettivi ed ha, quindi, organizzato una serie di workshop di approfondimento nei quali sono stati coinvolti alcuni tra i più importanti esperti a livello nazionale ed internazionale.

I partner di progetto hanno avuto, ancora una volta, la possibilità di confrontare le loro esperienze per rafforzare la rete transfrontaliera e, soprattutto, arricchire il loro bagaglio di conoscenze in relazione ai seguenti punti: comunicazione e interpretazione ambientale, marchi di qualità dei parchi, economia sociale, partnership pubblico-private a supporto delle attività d’impresa, marketing e sistemi di finanziamento delle aree protette, servizi ecosistemici, gestione efficace e pianificazione.

Al fine di consolidare quanto appreso durante il percorso formativo, sono state implementate delle azioni dirette sul campo; queste hanno compreso la realizzazione di due visite studio a tre importanti istituzioni di livello internazionale per quel che riguarda la gestione integrata delle aree protette.

Queste azioni di mobilità hanno offerto ai partecipanti l’opportunità di osservare soluzioni innovative sia dal punto di vista organizzativo e gestionale che della collaborazione con le realtà territoriali verso la promozione e sviluppo di un modello condiviso e partecipato.

Mercoledì 23 ottobre 2013

Marchi d’area ed aree protette Lucia Naviglio, consulente libero professionista nel campo dell’ecologia applicata e della tutela dell’ambiente con esperienze specifiche nelle aree protette.

Ha lavorato nello stesso settore tematico presso: Università di Roma La Sapienza Parco Nazionale d’Abruzzo, dove era responsabile del Servizio Scientifico Ambientale Enea, dove ha coordinato progetti nazionali e internazionali relativi agli strumenti volontari per la sostenibilità e all’utilizzo del Marchio del Parco Contenuti: I concetti di qualità e qualità ambientale Generalità sui marchi e approfondimenti sul “Marchio del Parco” Strumenti per la gestione del marchio del Parco Strumenti volontari della sostenibilità utili come riferimenti strategici per la gestione del Marchio del Parco: Agenda 21 locale, Certificazione ambientale (norma ISO 14001 e regolamento EMAS), Carta Europea per il turismo sostenibile Ecolabel e vari disciplinari utilizzati per l’ecoturismo, il disciplinare del Ministero dell’Ambiente per i servizi turistici Esperienze di utilizzo del Marchio del Parco in Italia e all’estero Enrico Vettorazzo, Parco Nazionale Dolomiti Bellunesi (Ufficio Divulgazione e Ricerca) Contenuti: Esperienze sull’uso del marchio delle aree protette 8

Advanced methods for the management of Natura 2000 protected areas - AdriaWet 2000 project training programme

Giovedì 24 ottobre 2013

Economia sociale e gestione delle aree protette Luca Fontana; Vice Presidente Consorzio Il Mosaico e Presidente Cooperativa Thiel Contenuti: La sperimentazione: Il modello di inclusione sociale sviluppato dal Consorzio Il Mosaico e la gestione di un’area protetta Luca Fazzi; Professore associato - Università degli Studi di Trento - Dipartimento di Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale Contenuti: Il modello teorico e la rilettura della sperimentazione: Inclusione sociale Inserimento di persone svantaggiate: quali modalità sono percorribili per scongiurare l’ipotesi di uno stato assistenzialista? approccio innovativo nella gestione dei beni pubblici e nello specifico delle aree protette

Martedì 3 dicembre 2013

Come avvicinare la natura all’uomo - La comunicazione, l’interpretazione e l’educazione ambientale nella gestione delle aree protette Gregor Torkar; Ricercatore presso il Laboratorio per la ricerca ambientale, Università di Nova Gorica Contenuti: Comunicazione, interpretazione e educazione ambientale nella gestione delle aree protette Aree protette come fornitori di esperienze: attrazioni, servizi turistici, eventi, packaging delle risorse delle aree protette Analisi del Programma di educazione ambientale comune al progetto AdriaWet 2000

Venerdì 14 febbraio 2014

Strumenti finanziari per la gestione delle aree protette James Hardcastle; Programma Globale IUCN sulle Aree Protette - Ginevra Contenuti: Il bilancio economico e finanziario delle aree protette Strumenti finanziari per i manager della are protette Autofinanziamento Best practice/case of success

Giovedì 27 febbraio 2014

Strumenti di marketing per la gestione delle aree protette Stefano Ravelli, project manager presso la Federazione Trentina della Cooperazione Contenuti: Sviluppo turistico delle destinazioni minori (coinvolgimento degli shareholders, marketing)

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Giovedì 27 febbraio 2014

Partnership pubblico-privato a sostegno delle attività d’impresa per la conservazione e valorizzazione della biodiversità Paul Goriup, Fieldfare International Ecological Development plc, BioFare International Investments Ltd Contenuti: private-public partnerships individuazione di attività di impresa, strumenti ed opzioni di finanziamento per produrre benefici economici e ambientali di lungo termine sul territorio best practice ed esperienze di successo

Venerdì 3 ottobre 2014

Elaborazione ed implementazione dei piani di gestione Vivienne Joanna Booth - Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) Contenuti: Il workshop approfondirà le fasi dell’intero processo di pianificazione della gestione delle aree protette: dalla raccolta delle informazioni e dei dati alla formulazione degli obiettivi fin agli strumenti di gestione, i meccanismi di feedback e monitoraggio che garantiscono l’efficacia del modello di gestione e il raggiungimento del massimo benefit dal punto di vista della conservazione. Viene illustrato il modello RSPB utilizzato nel Regno Unito ed ipotizzate soluzioni che possono adattarsi alle aree protette partner di progetto.

Saul Ciriaco e Carlo Franzosini - Riserva Naturale Marina di Miramare Contenuti: Standardizzazione dei piani di gestione (ISEA) Laboratorio hand-on con MIRADI (software per la redazione del piano di gestione)

Visita Studio al Parco Naturale del Delta dell’Ebro - 18/22 Febbraio 2014 Parc Natural del Delta de l’Ebre Departament d’Agricultura, Ramaderia, Pesca, Alimentació i Medi Natural Direcció General del Medi Natural i Biodiversitat Av. Catalunya, 46 - 43580 Deltebre - 43580 Deltebre - Spain Tel. 977 48 21 81 | Fax 977 48 13 92 Contenuti: Introduzione al Parco Naturale e al Delta del Ebro: le relazioni tra il Parco e la comunità locale - Francesc Vidal, Direttore del Parco Il programma educativo del Parco - Xavier Abril, responsabile per le relazioni pubbliche La Carta Europea per il Turismo Sostenibile: sette anni di esperienza e collaborazione tra il Parco e i portatori d’interesse locali: successi e fallimenti, punti di forza e debolezza dello strumento - Xavier Abril, responsabile per le relazioni pubbliche ed esterne, e Gina Fornós, responsabile per la ECST Visita in barca al Delta dell’Ebro e visita alla Laguna di Garxal - David Mauri, guida del Parco 10

Advanced methods for the management of Natura 2000 protected areas - AdriaWet 2000 project training programme

Gestione e monitoraggio della flora e della fauna del Parco - Toni Curcó, biologo e PhD in botanica, e Nati Franch, biologa e ittiologa Incontro con i portatori d’interesse locali nel settore turistico (imprese, Casas rurales, servizi di ospitalità) nel quadro della ECST: meeting con le associazioni coinvolte e i fornitori di servizi turistici nell’area del delta - Ramon Vidal, Nòmada Viatges-L’Escola del Parc, Ignasi Ripoll, SEO/BirdLife, Josep Bertomeu “Polet”, Natura i tradicions Polet, Joan Capilla, Hotel Algadir del Delta Visita all’Ecomuseo - Centro Informative ed Interpretativo Visita alle Els Ullals de Baltasar Visita al Centro Ittico del Parco - Josep Maria Queral, responsabile del centro Incontro con SEO/BirdLife, esperienze gestionali della Riserva Naturale del Riet Vell Ignaci Ripoll, responsabile della Riserva.

Visita al MonNaturaDelta, Centro visite ed interpretativo sulla cultura del sale - Josep Culvi, responsabile di MonNaturaDelta.

Visita Studio al Parco Nazionale di Neusiedlersee e al Parco Nazionale di Donau-Auen - 12/16 Maggio 2014 Nationalpark Neusiedler See - Seewinkel Informationszentrum & Ökopädagogikzentrum Hauswiese 7142 Illmitz - Austria Tel.: +43 2175 3442 Contenuti: Incontro con lo staff del Parco: la gestione, gli strumenti per l’auto-finanziamento, la promozione e l’offerta turistica, le attività interpretative ed educative, il “Programma Visitatori”, le offerte speciali per le famiglie, ecc.

Kurt Kirchberger - Direttore e Alois Lang - Dipartimento Pubbliche Relazione & Ecoturismo Incontro con le imprese del terzo settore coinvolte nella gestione del Parco: le partneships pubblico-private (Fondazioni, associazioni di volontariato, partner promozionali, imprese fornitrici di servizi) Nationalpark Donau-Auen GmbH - National Park Society 2304 Orth/Donau, Schloss Orth - Austria Tel.: +43 2212 3450 Contenuti: Incontro con lo staff del Parco: introduzione, documenti di lavoro e basi giuridiche, gestione dei visitatori, attività educative condotte dai ranger, gestione dell’area, promozione, tour guidato alle mostre/esposizioni - Matthias Kuhn Incontro con l’amministrazione forestale Viennese e discussione aperta con i rappresentanti Incontro con le organizzazioni partner (Nationalpark-Institut), visita ad una struttura per l’educazione ambientale, incontro e discussione aperta con lo staff per l’educazione ambientale.

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POVZETEK SLOVENŠČINA

V publikaciji so zbrani prispevki izobraževalnega programa projekta AdriaWet 2000, ki je bil namenjen upravljavcem območij Natura 2000. Aktivnosti izobraževalnega programa so prispevale k izmenjavi izkušenj in znanj, potrebnih za celostno upravljanje zavarovanih območij. Izraz celostno, »integrated«, se nanaša na model upravljanja, katerega cilja sta tudi koordinacija in načrtovanje, ki aktivno vključujeta akterje, politiko, varstvene ukrepe ter trajnostni razvoj območja.

V okviru projekta AdriaWet 2000 so bile identificirane strateške tematike za dosego zastavljenih ciljev. Organiziran je bil niz izobraževanj, na katerih so sodelovali strokovnjaki, priznani tako na državnem kot mednarodnem nivoju. Partnerji projekta so lahko ponovno primerjali svoje izkušnje in tako prispevali k utrditvi čezmejne mreže, predvsem k obogatitvi znanja na naslednjih področjih: okoljska komunikacija in interpretacija, znamke kakovosti parkov, socialna ekonomija, javno-zasebno partnerstvo, ki podpira poslovne storitve, marketing in sistemi financiranja zavarovanih območij, ekosistemske storitve, učinkovito upravljanje in načrtovanje.

Z namenom krepitve znanja, pridobljenega tekom izobraževanj, sta bili izvedeni dve strokovni izobraževalni ekskurziji na območju treh, mednarodno priznanih institucij s področja celostnega upravljanja zavarovanih območij. Udeleženci so na ekskurzijah spoznali inovativne rešitve tako iz organizacijskega in upravljavskega vidika kot tudi iz vidika sodelovanja z »realnostjo« območja z namenom promocije in razvoja skupnega modela sodelovanja.

Izobraževanja:

Sreda, 23. oktobra 2013

Znamčenje zavarovanih območij Lucia Naviglio, samostojna svetovalka na področju uporabne ekologije in varstva okolja z izkušnjami na področju zavarovanih območij.

Delala je že za sledeče ustanove: Univerza La Sapienza v Rimu Narodni park Abruzzo, kot odgovorna za znanstveno okoljsko službo Enea, kjer je koordinirala državne in mednarodne projekte na področju prostovoljstva, trajnosti in znamk parkov.

Vsebina: Pojem kakovosti in okoljske kakovosti Splošno o blagovnih znamkah in podrobnosti o “Blagovni znamki parka” Orodja za upravljanje blagovne znamke parka Prostovoljska orodja za zagotovitev trajnosti v zavarovanih območjih: lokalna Agenda 21, okoljski certifikat (standard ISO 14001 in pravilnik EMAS), Evropski Certifikat za trajnostni turizem v zavarovanih območjih Znak za okolje (Ecolabel) in razni pravilniki s področja ekoturizma; pravilnik italijanskega Ministrstva za okolje za turistične storitve Izkušnje glede uporabe Blagovne znamke parka v Italiji in v tujini Enrico Vettorazzo, Parco Nazionale Dolomiti Bellunesi, Ufficio Divulgazione e Ricerca (Urad za obveščanje in raziskovanje)

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Advanced methods for the management of Natura 2000 protected areas - AdriaWet 2000 project training programme

Vsebina: Izkušnje glede uporabe blagovne znamke v zavarovanih območjih

Četrtek, 24. oktobra 2013

Socialna ekonomija in upravljanje zavarovanih območij Luca Fontana, Podpredsednik Konzorcija Il Mosaico in Predsednik zadruge Cooperativa Thiel Vsebina: Primer dobre prakse: model socialnega vključevanja, ki ga je oblikoval konzorcij Il Mosaico in upravljanje zavarovanega območja Luca Fazzi, redni profesor - Univerza v Trentu - Oddelek za sociologijo in socialne študije Vsebina: Teoretični model in analiza primerov dobre prakse: Socialno vključevanje Vključevanje socialno zapostavljenih oseb - kateri so najustreznejši načini?

Nov pristop k upravljanju javnih dobrin, predvsem pa zavarovanih območij.

Torek, 3. decembra 2013

Kako približati ptice in naravo ljudem - Komunikacija, interpretacija in izobraževanje pri upravljanju zavarovanih območjih Gregor Torkar, raziskovalec Laboratorija za raziskave v okolju, Univerza v Novi Gorici Vsebina: Komunikacija, interpretacija in okoljska vzgoja pri upravljanju zavarovanih območij Zavarovana območja kot vir izkušenj: atrakcije, turistične storitve, dogodki, paketi Analiza projekta AdriaWet 2000

Petek, 14. februar 2014

Finančna orodja za upravljanje zavarovanih območij James Hardcastle, Globalni program za zavarovana območja pri IUCN - Geneva Vsebina: Ekonomska in finančna bilanca zavarovanih območij Finančni instrumenti za upravljanje zavarovanih območij Samofinanciranje Primeri dobre prakse/uspešni primeri

Četrtek, 27. februar 2014

Marketinški pristopi pri upravljanju zavarovanih območij Stefano Ravelli, Projektni vodja pri Federazione Trentina della Cooperazione Vsebina: Turistični razvoj manjših destinacij (s sodelovanjem deležnikov, marketing)

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Četrtek, 27. februar 2014

Javno-zasebno partnerstvo za podporo zasebni iniciativi ter ohranjanju in vrednotenju biotske pestrosti Paul Goriup, Fieldfare International Ecological Development plc, BioFare International Investments Ltd. Vsebina: Javno-zasebna partnerstva Določanje poslovnih storitev/dejavnosti, instrumentov in finančnih rešitev za zagotavljanje dolgoročnih ekonomskih koristi in koristi za naravo, ki so primerne za določeno območje in regijo

Torek, 3. oktober 2014

Izdelava in izvajanje načrtov upravljanja Vivienne Joanna Booth - Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) Vsebina: Delavnica je zajemala celoten proces načrtovanja upravljanja zavarovanih območij, od začetnega zbiranja podatkov, določanja ciljev in orodij upravljanja, do pridobivanja povratnih informacij (feedback), vse z namenom zagotavljanja čim bolj učinkovitega načina upravljanja v korist varstva narave.

Delavnica je temeljila na RSPB-jevem modelu upravljanja, ki se uporablja v Angliji, in njegovo možnost prilagoditve na zavarovana območja, vključena v projekt.

Saul Ciriaco, Carlo Franzosini - Naravni morski rezervat Miramare Vsebina: Standardizacija načrtov upravljanja (ISEA) Praktična delavnica za pripravo načrta upravljanja s programska oprema MIRADI

Strokovni izobraževalni ekskurziji: Strokovna ekskurzija v Španijo - obisk Naravnega parka na delti reke Ebro: 18. - 22. februar 2014 Parc Natural del Delta de l’Ebre Departament d’Agricultura, Ramaderia, Pesca, Alimentació i Medi Natural Direcció General del Medi Natural i Biodiversitat Av. Catalunya, 46 - 43580 Deltebre - Spain Tel. 977 48 21 81 | Fax 977 48 13 92 Vsebina: Splošna predstavitev naravnega parka in delte reke Ebro: odnosi med parkom in lokalno skupnostjo - Francesc Vidal, direktor parka Vzgojno-izobraževalni program parka - Xavier Abril, odgovoren za stike z javnostmi Evropska listina za trajnostni turizem »European Charter for Sustainable Tourism« (v nadaljevanju ECST): izkušnje parka, povezane z ECST, ki so jih pridobili tekom prvih 7 let sodelovanja parka z lokalnimi deležniki ter poudarjene prednosti in slabosti - Xavier Abril, odgovoren za stike z javnostmi, in Gina Fornós, odgovorna za ECST Voden ogled - plovba po delti reke Ebro in ogled lagune Garxal - David Mauri, vodič parka 16

Advanced methods for the management of Natura 2000 protected areas - AdriaWet 2000 project training programme

Upravljanje in monitoring flore in favne parka - Toni Curcó, biolog in doktor na področju botanike, in Nati Franch, biologinja in ihtiologinja Srečanje s sodelujočimi društvi in turističnimi ponudniki na območju delte (podjetja, »casas rurales«…), ki so vključeni v ECST - Ramon Vidal, Nòmada Viatges-L’Escola del Parc, Ignasi Ripoll, SEO/BirdLife, Josep Bertomeu “Polet”, Natura i tradicions Polet, Joan Capilla, Hotel Algadir del Delta Obisk Eko muzeja - informacijskega in interpretacijskega centra Obisk Els Ullals de Baltasar Obisk Ihtiološkega centra - Josep Maria Queral, vodja centra Srečanje s španskim partnerjem zveze BirdLife International SEO/BirdLife, upravljavske izkušnje Naravnega rezervata Riet Vell - Ignaci Ripoll, vodja rezervata.

Obisk MonNaturaDelta, Center za obiskovalce in interpretacijo solinarske kulture Josep Culvi, vodja centa

Strokovna ekskurzija v narodna parka Neusiedler See-Seewinkel in Donau-Auen, Avstrija: 12. -16. maj 2014 Nationalpark Neusiedler See - Seewinkel Informationszentrum & Ökopädagogikzentrum Hauswiese 7142 Illmitz - Austria Tel.: +43 2175 3442 Vsebina: Srečanje z osebjem parka: upravljanje, orodja za samofinanciranje, promocija in turistična ponudba, interpretativne in izobraževalne aktivnosti, »program za obiskovalce«, posebne ponudbe za družine, itd.

Kurt Kirchberger, direktor parka in Alois Lang, Oddelek za stike z javnostmi & Ekoturizem Srečanje s podjetji tretjega sektorja, ki so vključena v upravljanje parka/ki sodelujejo pri upravljanju parka: javno-zasebna partnerstva (Fundacije, prostovoljna združenja/ društva, promocijski partnerji, podjetja, ki nudijo storitve) Nationalpark Donau-Auen GmbH - National Park Society 2304 Orth/Donau, Schloss Orth - Austria Tel.: +43 2212 3450 Vsebina: Srečanje z osebjem parka: predstavitev narodnega parka, naravovarstvena prizadevanja, delo z obiskovalci, izobraževalne aktivnosti, ki jih vodijo nadzorniki, upravljanje območja, promocija, vodeni ogledi razstav, lastništva, organizacijske sheme in financiranja - Matthias Kuhn Srečanje s predstavniki mesta Dunaj, Zvezne gozdarske uprave, srečanju je sledila diskusija Srečanje s partnerskimi organizacijami (nacionalni park-Inštitut), obisk objekta za okoljsko izobraževanje, srečanje in razgovor z osebjem, ki dela na področju okoljske vzgoje in izobraževanja

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3

INTRODUCTION

The present book contains contributions collected during the training program for operators of Natura 2000 sites. The training is intended to convey the technical knowledge required for the integrated management of protected areas. The term “integrate� refers to a model of management which has among its objectives the joint coordination and programming with the actors, the policies and measures for the protection and the sustainable development of the territory.

AdriaWet 2000 has identified a number of strategic issues for achieving these objectives and has implemented a series of in-depth workshops in which some of the leading experts of national and international importance were involved. The project partners have once again been able to compare their experiences for strengthening the cross-border network but, above all, to enrich their knowledge in relation to the following topics communication and environmental interpretation, park labelling, social economy, public-private partnerships in support of business activities, marketing and financing systems of protected areas, ecosystem services and management effectiveness & planning .

In order to strengthen what was learned during the training course, direct experiences in the field were carried out; these included the organization of two study visits to three really important institutions at an international level with regard to their experience in the integrated management of protected areas. These mobility actions offered the participants the opportunity to observe organizational, managerial and innovative solutions and of stimulating collaboration with the realities of the territory towards a shared model of development and promotion.

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Advanced methods for the management of Natura 2000 protected areas - AdriaWet 2000 project training programme

3.1

WORKSHOPS

Wednesday, October 23rd, 2013

Area Brands and Protected Areas Lucia Naviglio, a freelance consultant in the field of applied ecology and environmental protection, with specific experience in protected areas.

She has worked in the same thematic area for: University of Rome La Sapienza; Abruzzo National Park, where she was Head of the Environmental Science Department; Enea, where she coordinated national and international projects related to voluntary instruments for sustainability and the use of the Park Brand.

Contents: - The concepts of quality and environmental quality; General information about trademarks and insights on the “Park Brand “ - Tools for managing the Park Brand - Voluntary instruments of sustainability as a useful reference for the strategic management of the Park Brand: Local Agenda 21, Environmental Certification (ISO 14001 and EMAS), the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism - Eco-label and various product specifications used for ecotourism, the Ministry of Environment for tourist services specifications - Experiences of using the Park Brand in Italy and abroad Enrico Vettorazzo; Belluno Dolomites National Park (Office of Promotion and Research) Contents: - Experiences concerning the use of the protected areas trademark Thursday, October 24th, 2013

Social Economy and Management of Protected Areas Luca Fontana; Vice President of the Consortium Il Mosaico and President of the Thiel Cooperative Contents: - Experimentation: The model of social inclusion developed by the Consortium Il Mosaico and the management of a protected area Luca Fazzi; Associate Professor - University of Trento - Department of Sociology and Social Research Contents: - The theoretical model and the re-reading of the experimentation: either Social inclusion or Insertion of disadvantaged people: what methods are feasible in order to avert the possibility of a welfare state? An innovative approach to the management of public assets and in particular of protected areas?

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Tuesday, December 3rd, 2013

How to draw Nature close to Mankind - Communication, Interpretation and Environmental Education in the Management of Protected Areas Gregor Torkar; Researcher at the Laboratory for Environmental Research, University of Nova Gorica Contents: - Communication, interpretation and environmental education in the management of protected areas - Protected areas as providers of experiences, places of interest, tourist services, events, packaging the resources of protected areas - Analysis of the Environmental education program common to the AdriaWet 2000 project Friday, February 14th, 2014

Financial Instruments for the Management of Protected Areas James Hardcastle; representative of the IUCN Global Programme on Protected Areas Geneva Contents: - The Economic and Financial budget of protected areas - Financial instruments for managers of protected areas - Self-financing - Best practices / success stories Thursday, February 27th, 2014

Marketing Tools for the Management of Protected Areas Stefano Ravelli, project manager at the Trentino Federation of Co-operation.

APT Valsugana Scarl president Contents: - Development of minor tourist destinations (involvement of shareholders, marketing) Thursday, February 27th, 2014

Public-Private Partnerships in support of Corporate Activities for the Conservation and Promotion of Biodiversity Paul Goriup; Fieldfare International Ecological Development plc, BioFare International Investments Ltd Contents: - Private-public partnerships - Identification of corporate activities, instruments and financing options for producing long-term economic and environmental benefits on the territory - Best practice and success stories

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Advanced methods for the management of Natura 2000 protected areas - AdriaWet 2000 project training programme

Friday, October 3rd, 2014

Management Planning Process and Implementation Vivienne Joanna Booth; Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) Contents: The workshop focused on the phases of the management planning: - collecting data, setting objectives, management tools, - feedback and monitoring practice aiming to reach the goals.

The RSPB model is illustrated and adapted to the PPs’ protected areas.

Saul Ciriaco and Carlo Franzosini - Miramare Natural Marine Reserve (Italy) Contents: - management plans standardization (ISEA) - Hand-on MIRADI (software developing management plans)

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3.2

STUDY VISITS

Study visit to Spain Parc Natural del Delta de l’Ebre 18th - 22nd February Parc Natural del Delta de l’Ebre Departament d’Agricultura, Ramaderia, Pesca, Alimentació i Medi Natural Direcció General del Medi Natural i Biodiversitat Av. Catalunya, 46 - 43580 Deltebre - Spain Tel. 977 48 21 81 | Fax 977 48 13 92 Contents: - Introduction to the Natural Park and the Delta of Ebro: relationship between the park and the local community - Francesc Vidal, Park director - The Park educational program - Xavier Abril, responsible for the public and external relations - The European Charter for Sustainable Tourism: seven years of experience and collaboration among the Park and local stakeholders: success and failures, strength and weakness of the tool - Xavier Abril, responsible for the public and external relations, and Gina Fornós, responsible for the ECST - Boat visit of the Ebro Delta and Visit to the lagune dil Garxal - David Mauri, guide of the Park - Managing and monitoring flora and fauna in the Park - Toni Curcó, Biologist and PhD in botany and Nati Franch, Biologist and ichthyologist - Meeting with the local tourist stakeholders (enterprises, Casas rurales, accommodation services) in the framework of the ECST. Meeting associations involved and tourist service supplier in the Delta - Ramon Vidal, Nòmada Viatges-L’Escola del Parc, Ignasi Ripoll, SEO/BirdLife, Josep Bertomeu “Polet”, Natura i tradicions Polet, Joan Capilla, Hotel Algadir del Delta - Visit to the Ecomuseum - Information and interpretation Centre - Visit to the Els Ullals de Baltasar - Visiting the fish centre of the Park - Josep Maria Queral, responsable of the centre.

- Meeting SEO/BirdLife, managing experience of the Nature Reserve of Riet Vell - Ignaci Ripoll, responsible of the Reserve - Visit to MonNaturaDelta, Interpretation and visitors centre of the salt culture - Josep Culvi, responsable of MonNaturaDelta

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Advanced methods for the management of Natura 2000 protected areas - AdriaWet 2000 project training programme

Study visit to Austria National Park Neusiedlersee and National Park Donau-Auen 12th -16th May 2014 Nationalpark Neusiedler See - Seewinkel Informationszentrum & Ökopädagogikzentrum Hauswiese 7142 Illmitz - Austria Tel.: +43 2175 3442 Contents: - meeting the management and the staff of the Park - Kurt Kirchberger - Director and Alois Lang - Department Public Relations & Ecotourism.

Topics: management, self-financing tools, touristic promotion, tourist offer, educational and interpretation activities, the so called “Visitor Programme”, special offer for families, etc.

- meeting enterprises of the third sector which are involved in the Park management, private-public partnerships (Foundations, voluntary associations, enterprises supplying services, Promotion partners) Nationalpark Donau-Auen GmbH - National Park Society 2304 Orth/Donau, Schloss Orth - Austria Tel.: +43 2212 3450 Contents: - meeting the Park staff and management. Meetings in English Topics: introduction, working paper and legal background, visitor management, ranger education, management on the area, promotion etc.). In case of remaining time - guiding tour through the exhibition - Matthias Kuhn - meeting the Viennese forest administration and talks with representatives - meeting the partner organization (Nationalpark-Institut), visitation of a facility for environmental education, meeting and discussion (mainly about environmental education) with the staff

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STUDY VISIT TO THE NEUSIEDLER SEE NATIONAL PARK, AUSTRIA

4

STUDY VISIT TO THE NEUSIEDLER SEE NATIONAL PARK, AUSTRIA

Nationalpark Neusiedler See - Seewinkel Informationszentrum & Ökopädagogikzentrum Hauswiese A-7142 Illmitz - Austria e-mail: info@nationalpark-neusiedlersee-seewinkel.at

4.1

THE NEUSIEDLER SEE NATIONAL PARK The AdriaWet 2000 partners met the Park management, the Director Mr. Kurt Kirchberger and the Public Relations and Ecotourism Department responsible Mr. Alois Lang, at the Visitors and Educational-Information Centre.

The Neusiedlersee Park was founded in 1993. It is a cross-border Park between Austria and Hungary, representing an important zone for biodiversity, because of the crossbreed of Pannonian, Alpine and Mediterranean species. Thanks to its outer belt of reed thicket and salt pools, which periodically dry up, its small beaches, and its surrounding meadows and common pastures, the Neusiedlersee has a naturalistic and landscape relevance which makes it interesting to birdwatchers.

The Park, important bathing establishment since 1930, and first biological University station since 1950, is now part of Natura 2000 areas.

The fifty per cent of its surface is a high-level protected zone, which means there isn’t any human exploitation. The protected area is divided into seven more areas, everyone with its own, specific biotope: Apetlon-Lange Lacke, with saline lakes and pasture land; Illmitz-Hölle, separated by the lake by natural bank and small reed belt; Sandeck-Neudegg, bordering on the Nature Zone, with periodically flooded meadows and richly structured reed belts; 28

Advanced methods for the management of Natura 2000 protected areas - AdriaWet 2000 project training programme

Waasen-Hanság, the last saline lakes in the eastern zone of the Park; Zitzmannsdorfer-Wiesen, located between the north-east shore of the lake and the vineyards; National Park Ferto-Hansag, the Hungarian part of the Park, divided into the wet zone of Neusiedl lake and the steppe and pasture land zone.

During the tour the group visited: Waasen-Hanság observation and information point; Andau Bridge, with the Path of Remembrance, on the Austro-Hungarian border; Tadten Information Centre; Fertő-Hanság Visitors Centre (Hungary) to the South of the Neusiedlersee river, in the highest protected zone of the Park (Naturzone); Fertoujlak Educational-Information Enterprise, former Esterhazy property; Apetlon and Sandeck observation centres, where is also a zone for the restocking of the white donkey.

In the Park nature environment and human activities are well connected and the Park itself is a good tourist opportunity for local communities.

The management of the natural area mainly focuses on the species and habitats conservation requirements. The main work is carried out on maintaining grassland and pastures and controlling the growth of the reeds. This work is done even with farmers by grazing the reeds with cattle herds.

As in other nature reserves and parks, educational programs play an important role but they are economically supported by the government.

The strength points of this protected area are: Unique environment; High level of biodiversity; Presence of population of some rare species; Good interaction between conservation management and stakeholders; The management of the Park mainly focuses on conservation.

The weak points: All Park activities depend on public funds; There is no relevant income from activities carried out by the Park (tourism, hunting).

4.2

VISITOR CENTRES The Visitors centre is high attractive, and visitors could experience the presentation showing the Park zoning, performed through a white plastic model, lit from above by a projector that could change colour as the examined zone changed, and capable of playing images and captions about the various Park areas. The speaker usually talks from a position that is apart from the public and above it.

Nearby the information point Centre there are some panels with the daily trip proposals and the enrolling forms for the visits, showing the available guides and the different offers.

Furthermore, the panels act as marketing tools, promoting the events themselves (better if provided with the groups’ pictures).

The Centre is functional to the general comprehension also on the base of its room design: disposition and purpose, with classrooms, a library and a wide courtyard provided with 29

phytoremediation pools and with the principal species of Park plants. Besides that the building offers rooms and equipment for conferences, workshops, seminars or one-day events that are also available to the local population, art exhibitions or painting competitions that combine the passion for art with the territory knowledge.

Tracks and points for naturalistic observation have been visited. At the observation points (terraces or trenches) visitors can rely on information cards bound in metal or ceramic boards, decorated with the main observable species.

Considering the Hungarian Park Centre it is characterized by a structure that remembers in its planimetry a dock facing the lake, whereas in its architecture it is similar to the rural Hungarian buildings. There is a particular and strong link between the rural territory and the naturalistic environment: even some enterprises that occurred in the Park borders reconverted their activity in order to pursue touristic-recreational and educational finalities.

The Park has exceptionally positive and important role in directing and encouraging regional development. In this field, the National Park Neusiedler See-Seewinkel management is one of the leading actors in the Central Europe and as such is an identification symbol for the entire region.

4.3

RURAL DEVELOPMENT The Park is dealing with the regional economic development but it is not directly involved in the commercial activities where it would act as a competitor to the local services providers.

Well organised interest groups deal the relations between the Park and the land-owners.

The relations between them are very well maintained: the Park management respects the historical facts and specifics of the area derived from the history (the region was under Hungary until 1922 and all the land was owned by rich Hungarian families) and thus the land purchase within the Park would not be seen as an acceptable measure for local people; so the Park pays the private land-owners compensations rather than trying to buy the land. The Park together with the land-owners, organized in a stakeholders association called I.G., is leading a special program in the framework of the Rural Development Plan (RDP). The Park plans the actions to deal in the area and on behalf of the I.G., who transfers the right of use of the lands to the Park endlessly, applies for funding and managing the financed measures.

Then RDP measures are put in place and farmers are paid by the association.

4.4

VISITOR PROGRAM Annual visitor programs for the individual visitors enable effective promotion of the events and excursion organised by the Park at suitable fairs, events and through the local tourism services providers who have a daily contact with the visitors. Programs are at least three hours long aiming at encouraging the visitors to spend the night in the region and to increase their consumption of the local products and services.

The visitor program implementation is very efficient and is done by the trained self-employed guides, through effective system of signing-up of the visitors and thus the organisation of the guides work.

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Advanced methods for the management of Natura 2000 protected areas - AdriaWet 2000 project training programme

Figure 1: Visitor Program of the Neusiedler See National Park

From the communicative point of view the program invites to discover the charms of the Seewinkel area, to understand the uniqueness of the landscape and to learn about the ecosystems and the different species that live in the area.

The visitor program is yearly updated and includes many exciting excursions to different parts of the National Park. Excursions in different languages, duration and program are offered.

The programs for the awareness-raising campaigns addressing local people, such as various workshops (insect-hotel construction, photography, basket making etc.), cooperation in conservation activities, such as monitoring are quite new and therefore not so successful yet; they also have not established the monitoring and evaluation of the visitor program implementation.

The updated webpage illustrates the activities done (http://www.nationalpark-neusiedlerseeseewinkel.at/Lernwerkstatt.html) with pictures and a brief description of it. The school program is also available on this webpage.

Figure 2: School Program of the Neusiedler See National Park

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4.5

THIRD SECTOR ENTERPRISES INVOLVEMENT AND PRIVATE-PUBLIC PARTNERSHIPS The Neusiedler See Card (NSC) “All Inclusive” with the Neusiedler See Card (NSC). Enjoy the best holiday attractions and recreational facilities around the Neusiedler See-for free! That is the claim of the tourist card called Neusiedler See Card.

Figure 3: Neusiedeler See Card

The NSC is a marketing tool for enjoying Park goods and services. The Card provides the tourist, as a guest of one of the over 750 partner enterprises, with free fruition of the public transports, entry to bathing establishments, swimming pools and sports centres, free-entry to museums, churches and castles, and the possibility to join in free guided tours and bike excursions. This promotion is part of a territorial marketing project which offers, thanks to the contribution of its partner enterprises, a network of services that have an important economic effect on the whole territory.

The NSC is a unique tourism development tool of the Neusiedler See region and was created as a motivator for all the participants: accommodation providers who can attract their guests with a broad and diverse offer of the region, other tourism services providers who can also benefit from common marketing, tourism organisation which in this way assures diverse and easily available tourism offer of the region resulting in higher competitiveness, and last but not least, the tourists who get direct benefits in form of free visits, discounts and through card system, regional offer is also well organised and presented for them.

National Park as the main attraction of the region has a special role: Park excursions are free for the card-holders and the Park gets the payment for their services through common card budget where the main income are the payments of the accommodation providers (1,49 € per person per night).

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Advanced methods for the management of Natura 2000 protected areas - AdriaWet 2000 project training programme

Upon the above described facts, the businesses and other actors in the region understand that the tourism season and income was raised with the establishment of the National Park, bringing substantial benefits to local people and economy.

The National Park is well supported among the local people, as it brings direct benefits while more abstract conservation activities, such as donations, NGO membership etc. don’t receive such a strong support.

The NSC collects information about the tourist owner, its habits during the holiday and the services of which the tourist does benefit. Elaborating the data collected through the NSC it was quite easy to show that the Park plays a role of tourism attractor with good results. In fact in the villages with nature tourism, accommodations are booked 130 days/year, while in the villages with sport tourism the score is 60 days/year.

Private-Public-Partnerships Some enterprises, which are partners of the NSC have been met: Pension Egermann. The Pension started as an agritourism enterprise providing food and wine, accommodations and tourism services, Illmitz Tourist Promotion Office, Land Owner Association representative (IG Illmitz).

The success of the partnership with the Park is based on the fact that local entrepreneurs have been able to combine their agricultural activity with the tourist valorisation of the protected area especially supplying tourists with organic local food and accommodation, linked to quality wine production, and bovine broiler wild breeding in the pastures adjoining the lake, provided with Park quality mark, with direct selling to the local restaurants.

• Monchhof Dorf Museum1 was “born” from a private initiative of reconstructing the rural life during the first years of 1900s. Old houses dot the open-air museum, where dwellings with their furniture and items of daily use, and craftsmen’s shop with their tools and products, are shown exactly as they used to be once.

Here, one is told with candour, there is much to learn about the spirit of the people from the past, “their joy and grief, their comfort and security”, and of course, “the restrictions and forces within that society”.

1

www.dorfmuseum.at

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Figure 4: Map of the Monchhof Village Museum

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Advanced methods for the management of Natura 2000 protected areas - AdriaWet 2000 project training programme

• St. Martin Spa Lodge. The Park benefits from the local network of the tourism services providers. For example, St. Martin Spa Lodge in Seewinkel achieves excellent results on the base of common promotion. About 80% of the Spa’s promotional materials actually present the park nature values, the Spa offers the excursions to the Park and employs 10 guides to do this task.

The webpage of the Spa is offering several activities, among those: the safari including professionally-trained rangers, binoculars, spotting scopes and various materials, sporting equipment (e.g. bicycles, canoes) (Figure 5, Figure 6).

Figure 5: St. Martin Spa and Lodge

Figure 6: St. Martin Spa and Lodge - Safari

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5

STUDY VISIT TO THE DONAU AUEN NATIONAL PARK, AUSTRIA

Nationalpark Donau-Auen GmbH 2304 Orth/Donau, 2304 Orth/Donau, Schloss Orth - Austria e-mail: nationalpark@donauauen.at

The AdriaWet 2000 partners met the Donau Auen National Park staff and management staff.

A general presentation of the area was given and some details provided with reference to the legal background, the visitors management, the ranger education and promotion of the area.

5.1

THE DONAU-AUEN NATIONAL PARK The Donau-Auen National Park lies between the European capitals Vienna and Bratislava (Figure 7). With over 9.300 hectares area, the Park protects the last remaining major wetland environment in Central Europe. For a distance of just over 36 km, the Danube flows freely and is the lifeline of the National Park. The dynamic rise and fall of water levels - sometimes up to 7 meters - mean that the wetlands landscape is constantly recreated and reformed.

In this way, the flow of the Danube creates habitats for a large number of plants and animals.

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Advanced methods for the management of Natura 2000 protected areas - AdriaWet 2000 project training programme

Figure 7: Donau-Auen National Park EU map

With the founding of the Donau-Auen National Park in 1996, this area was made an international refuge for posterity. Here, an ecosystem can blossom free of commercial constraints, thus guaranteeing that future generations may also experience at first hand its power and beauty.

The Donau-Auen National Park extends from Vienna all the way to the mouth of the March River (also called Morava) on the border to Slovakia (Figure 8). Thirty-eight kilometres long, at its widest point the Danube measures only around 4 km; the wetlands are only found directly on the Danube. To the North of the National Park are the broad plains of the Marchfeld. To the South, the boundary is formed by the breakline of the Vienna Basin. The Lobau area has always been a popular recreational area, especially for the Viennese. Running through the National Park are both the long-distance rambling trail 07 and the Danube Cycling Path, which comes from Passau and continues to Hungary via Hainburg.

Figure 8: Donau-Auen National Park local map

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The Donau-Auen National Park was established in 1996 to stop the construction of a dam in this area of the Danube. It is a green corridor, rich of aquatic and forest habitats.

The Park management is responsible for the forestry administration and the production, communication, tourism and research activities.

The Park has been partner of European projects, such as “Danube Parks - Network of protected areas” and “Alpine Carpathian Corridor”. Both projects include countries crossed by the Danube, which has a remarkable naturalistic, environmental and cultural value for the territory it flows across. Danube parks project is a good case of co-operation among the protected areas along the Danube and its main tributaries, aiming at improvement of the conservation measures, experience exchange, common strategies and monitoring.

The Park authority is dealing projects besides the nature/biodiversity topics, for example: the Belvedere Project and the Ark Project promoted environmental themes through art by involving public and particularly children. For the Belvedere Project, at Vienna Belvedere Museum, different objects and animals from the Park were shown. Touching animals and objects with bare hands is remarkable as in this way visitors can approach and remember the explained themes, thanks to a thematic and sensorial correlation.

For the Project Ark a large metal stylized cage was built and located outside the Park Visitor Centre. Everyone had to bring inside the stylized cage whatever they had decided to save: this bond between art and nature is an important marketing tool for the protected areas and for the territory within them.

The Park Authority is focused on the conservation goals rather than regional development and local economy opposite to the NP Neusiedler See-Seewinkel and gets great results with the riverine habitat restoration projects (removal of lateral embankments, river branch restoration), enabling the natural river dynamics upon previous successful harmonisation of the measures with water-management and river-transportation sectors. The Park managers have been able to set up a good co-operation among the public NP management actors and the land-owners (City of Vienna, Federal Forest Administration, Lower Austria province, Naturalistic Museum), NGO (WWF).

The Park manager, organised as a company, brings good conservation results though the pressures to the area are substantial due to proximity to Vienna, airport, hydro-electrics and intensive farming in the hinterland. The measures are being implemented by the land-owners while the Park management plans, prepares as well as monitors their results and effects.

From the zoological point of view the area is very rich and it is important for the conservation of species like Eurasian Beaver, Otter, Sea Eagle. The presence of an old and well-structured riparian forest of poplars and willows is the main topic.

This area is included in a huge LIFE project that aims at restoring the fluvial ecosystem of all the rivers. As pointed out with reference to Neusiedler See, in the Park nature environment and human activities are well connected and the Park itself is a good tourist opportunity for local communities, especially for the western area of the Park (closer to Vienna).

The main staff’s work is focused on reopening old riverbeds and controlling the growth of allochthonous trees Acer negundo. All the work is mainly done by the Park staff and the foresters.

The main strength points of this protected area are: Unique environment; High level of biodiversity; Presence of population of some rare species.

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Advanced methods for the management of Natura 2000 protected areas - AdriaWet 2000 project training programme

The weak points: All the Park activities depend on public funds; There is no relevant income from activities carried out by the Park (tourism, hunting); There are some ecological barriers in the river.

5.2

VISITOR CENTRES The learning opportunities are plentiful and varied. Accompanied on guided walking tours or on boats, visitors have ample opportunity to get to know the fascinating world of the DonauAuen, i.e. the Danube wetlands.

The Park Visitors Centre and Museum is located inside the Orth Castle (Figure 9), also composed by a little theatre, provided with a moving set of panels, decorated with the typical flora and fauna of the Park, while, during and after the show, the viewer is guided by the voice of a faun. Some webcams are positioned in order to show visitors fauna behaviour, and some are nearby stork nest, like in Petronell-Carnutum Youth Centre.

Figure 9: Orth Castle visitor centre

The Orth Castle offers the so-called Schlossinsel area (“castle island�) on the grounds including underwater observatory. When visiting Schlossinsel, the participants on the study visit could observe animals, plants and entire habitats featuring Danube wetlands. In a wing of the castle a summer campus for kids is set, equipped with a laboratory and a classroom.

There are also almost eighty bikes available, bought by the Park company for the various tourist activities inside the Park.

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Some remarkable features should be highlighted, among those: insect hotels which consist in pieces of wood with holes and hollow stems of varying diameters offering ideal breeding burrows for numerous underappreciated bee and wasp species; underwater observatory which allows you to observe various fish and bivalves inhabiting the Natural Park from an underwater glass; tracks and droppings that give the possibility to see wild animals and also tracks that show which animals were there; backwaters, a station that, when water levels allow it, provides the chance to observe snakes, dragonflies and swarms of young fish and birds in their habitat.

The trip goes on to the Eckartsau Castle, former hunting residence and now seat of Austrian Federal Forests (Osterreichische Bundesforste AG). The castle is part of a group of Imperial residences (Schloss Hof, Schloss Orth, Schloss Marchegg) which represents a territorial network providing goods and services that are not only linked to environmental aspects, but also to cultural and historical ones. In fact the castle hosts a great variety of events, such as concerts, photo exhibitions and marathons.

The tourist activity includes a visit to the castle, some park paths and themed tracks, like those about the Emperor’s hunting or the National Park. The impressive park surrounding the Eckartsau Castle is the location for many Donau-Auen National Park programmes, but is in itself of great historic interest (Figure 10). The cultural heritage beside nature is surely a good basis for the improvement of the image of this region to the east of Vienna which has been quite neglected among the Austrians for decades.

Figure 10: Eckartsau Castle info point

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Advanced methods for the management of Natura 2000 protected areas - AdriaWet 2000 project training programme

In the Austrian National Parks the training system is composed by two main modules: the first module common for all the Austrian parks and the second one specific for each park.

The Nationalpark Institut is the first centre for naturalistic studies. It is connected with the University of Vienna and founded before the Park foundation having research purposes and carrying out studies about the fauna. The Centre also offers environmental education service, hospitality to students who are interested in naturalistic trips or summer camps.

Education centres, such as Nationalpark Institut and Meierhof are providing all the facilities (accommodation, food) as well as independent local transportation with bicycles to the participants due to the lack of public transportation among the villages along the Park, animation and the program.

The Park is not working to encourage the development of such offer by local people but has organised its own activities with its own resources opposite to the NP Neusiedler SeeSeewinkel. This means that there isn’t a common rule rather that the equilibrium stems from governing local forces.

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6

STUDY VISIT TO THE EBRO DELTA NATURAL PARK, SPAIN

Parc Natural del Delta de l’Ebre Av. Catalunya, 46 - 43580 Deltebre - Spain e-mail: pndeltaebre@gencat.cat parcsnaturals.gencat.cat/ca/delta-ebre facebook.com/PNDeltaEbre

6.1

THE EBRO DELTA NATURAL PARK The Ebro Delta Natural Park is the largest wetlands in Catalonia and the main aquatic habitat in the western Mediterranean after the Camargue Regional Nature Park in France and the second-largest in Spain after Doñana National Park. The Delta plays an important biological role, its interior containing large rice and vegetable fields and fruit orchards, whilst the coast is formed by one of the most attractive lakeland landscapes in the Mediterranean, with large, biologically rich lagoons.

Finally, the Delta periphery is made up of large salt marshes and long, unspoiled sandy beaches with dunes. Due to the Delta’s ecological importance, many of its parts were declared as Natural Park in 1983 (Figure 11).

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Advanced methods for the management of Natura 2000 protected areas - AdriaWet 2000 project training programme

Figure 11: The Ebro Delta Natural Park map, Ramsar and Natura 2000 areas

The Ebro Delta is a wetland of international interest for birdlife, as it serves as a resting and wintering place, as well as breeding ground for many species. So rich and varied is the birdlife here thanks to this, that some 300 different species have been observed in the Delta.

The Delta is characterized by a great biological diversity and a mosaic of different habitats (Figure 12). In the Park it is possible to observe different species of flora and fauna, belonging to specific habitats such as beaches and dunes, saline wetlands, fresh and brackish wetlands, aquatic habitats and riparian forests.

The Park has a high level of biodiversity and it is an area of national and international importance for some species and habitats and the presence of some rare, endemic and endangered species.

Figure 12: The Ebro Delta Natural Park, mosaic of different habitats

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The vegetation in the more humid places is markedly different from that in the rest of the area. Some riverside forest, which used to cover the entire Delta in its thick blanket, still remains around the river banks, with white poplar (Populus alba), willow (Salix sp.), salt cedar (Tamarix sp.) and river honeysuckle (Lonicera biflora). The lagoons are surrounded by plants with underwater roots, such as reeds (Phragmites communis), cattails (Typha sp.) and sedge (Carex sp.). Near the sea, in the saltier ground, glasswort (Salicornia sp.) is the principal representative of the many plants that have adapted to the high salt content in the soil.

Finally, the dunes on the long beaches of fine sand provide the habitat for such plants as marram grass (Ammophila arenaria) and sea daffodil (Pancratium maritimum).

From the biological point of view water habitats and their related flora (ChaetomorphoRuppietum) and anthropic habitats with some typical flora (Cypero-Ammannietum) are the most relevant habitats of the Park. The birds monitoring follows three different birdlife recording categories: Winter water recording; fifteen-days recording and nesting recording.

In the Park the birdlife recording activity has mainly been focused on the first category, whose purpose is to improve knowledge on Winter water birds population. Among the species that represent the object of the recording are Podiceps, Tachybaptus, Phalacrocorax, Platalea, Plegadis, Ciconia, Calidris, Vanellus, Tringa, Gallinago and other more.

Considering the ichthyic fauna it should be highlighted that the Park is composed of a kind of mosaic of water habitats since in the area fresh and sea water merge. The species are different and present unique features. They are different from each other as they belong to four categories of fish: sedentary, non-migratory, accidental and migratory. At the same time, there are also some exotic species presenting unique features. Some of the fish are seriously endangered and need protection. The endangered species issue is due to different factors: the transformation and abolition of natural habitats, water contamination, invasive species and over fishing. For this reason, a strategy for protection and conservation is necessary.

This is why the ichthyic center plays a key role with special regards to: endangered species conservation and recovery; research and programmes on water habitats management; rescue/protection campaigns; environmental information and education activities, support to research institutions and other centers. The most endangered species that are now under protection are: Valencia hispanica, Aphanius iberus, Gasterosteus aculeatus and Salaria fluviatilis.

6.2

VISITOR CENTRES The Park management has always been based on the principle of sustainability and the relationship between the area accessible to the public and environmental education. The tourist valorization is based on zoning and facilities, visitor’s profile (different categories and purposes), information and interpretation centers (main facilities), education programme for the local population and visitors as well as dissemination.

The observatories are well distributed in the Park (Figure 13) with special regard to: La Bassa de les Olles (five observatories and a four-kilometers long bike path), Punta del Fangar (road car trip with 30 km/h speed limit), El Canal Vell, El Garxal (five observatories and three-kilometers long bike path), 48

Advanced methods for the management of Natura 2000 protected areas - AdriaWet 2000 project training programme

L’ Alfacada (limited public access), La Platjola, La Tancada (one observatory and a three-kilometers long bike path), L’ Encanyissada (with many different nature paths), Punta de la Banya (limited public access), Ullals de Baltasar (included in the Park in 2009 to be subjected to a restoration project of the area).

Figure 13: Observatories in the Ebro Delta Natural Park

Visitor centers are supplying information to visitors (Figure 14): the Ecomuseum, La Casa de Fusta, the Environmental Education Centre. In addition, there are four bike paths (Figure 15), fourteen observatories, three picnic areas, one research centre and five didactic rooms.

Figure 14: Visitor centres in the Ebro Delta Natural Park

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Figure 15: Trails in the Ebro Delta Natural Park

As regard the visitor profile and visitors’ nationalities, French people represent 56% of the total and they are mostly aged between 35 and 45. According to the surveys carried out by the Park, the great majority of visitors decides to visit the Park in order to spend some quality time (less than one full day) in a nature environment and they seem generally satisfied with their trip. When asked, visitors would suggest improving the Park signage.

As for dissemination, the Park relies on different channels such as books publications, videos, DVD and more to be presented also during fairs. Moreover, the Park has its own website and Facebook profile with more than 2.600 followers (Figure 16).

Figure 16: The Ebro Delta Natural Park Facebook

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Advanced methods for the management of Natura 2000 protected areas - AdriaWet 2000 project training programme

In the Park, both formal and informal environmental education activities are carried out and they usually address both, young people (students) and adults. As for the first category, they propose live chats on environmental issues, guided visits to the museum, half day activities, one day trips, three-day trips for students (hosting them in the dormitories and facilities), workshops and entertainment activities. The methodology is mainly based on the following guidelines: direct contact with the case study (ecosystems, human activities); active and sensitive participation; to insist on the key points of interest (ecosystems working principles, species), the development of workshops, environmental themed entertaining activities and brochures (particularly for students).

Special effort is spent for the local population education. The Park usually organizes courses, trips, open days and contests. In particular, they have a six-month programme for volunteers (aged between 5 and 79). The education programme involves three main typologies of users: formation programmes for primary and secondary school; informal education programmes for children as well as for adults; formal education programmes for students and teachers for which a specific educational offer, an application methodology and educational materials are provided.

On the other hand volunteers provide a lot of help in the implementation of certain management measures. Organized in co-operative (over 145 people involved), volunteers help the park with monitoring tasks and field-work and also carry out their own projects.

6.3

THIRD SECTOR ENTERPRISES INVOLVEMENT AND PRIVATE-PUBLIC PARTNERSHIPS The map of the services supplied in the Park is well explicative of the philosophy driven by the Park: a shared sustainable development paradigm for the area (Figure 17).

Figure 17: Map of the services supplied in the Park area

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The Park Director Mr. Francesc Vidal particularly focused on the “humanized� feature of the Delta (21.000 ha rice fields, 9 urban centers, 50.000 inhabitants, 2 tourist centers) (Figure 18) where the landscape can greatly vary during the year (Figure 19) and where different human activities are carried out such as agriculture, fishing, hunting, cattle breeding, industry and tourism. All these sectors are present in the park and coexist in compliance with sustainability rules.

Figure 18: Humanised features of the Ebro Delta Natural Park

Figure 19: Rice plantation landscape during the year

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The Natural Park aims both, at the effective preservation of nature systems and at the maintenance and improvement of traditional activities, besides promoting the understanding and enjoyment of the values and attractions of the Delta (Figure 20).

Figure 20: Economic and traditional activities managed in the Park

Protection and research activities ensure and improve the conservation status of ecosystems, habitats and species in the Ebro Delta. Usually, conservation actions for species and habitats are planned, promoted and implemented together with monitoring of species and habitats.

In addition, technical information is provided for permits, mandatory reports and plans, for a sustainable usage of natural resources and other socio-economic activities.

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The European Charter for Sustainable Tourism (ECST) The European Charter for Sustainable Tourism (ECST) represents for the Park seven years’ experience and cooperation between the Park and local stakeholders leading both to success and failures, depending on the strength and weakness of the tool2.

Figure 21: ECTS label

On the base of the experience of the Park the ECST is a work policy, a tool to plan, a serious engagement for the managers of the Parks and tourism operators, a tool to assess the process, the European excellence brand for sustainable tourism development.

The ECST is one of the founding pillars of EUROPARC3, an organization that includes different protected areas in Europe. In order to adhere to the ECTS, applicants have to face three different phases: territories certification, enterprises certification, travel agencies and tour operators’ certification.

The ECTS results in advantages both for: the protected areas being recognized as an example of excellence for sustainable tourism area at European level, being a protagonist in the development of the tourism, to encourage a sustainable and eco- friendly socio economic development of the territory. the enterprises to develop new trade opportunities, to improve the tourist offer, to be recognized as “excellent” at European level.

2 3

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http://www.european-charter.org/home/ http://www.europarc.org/home/

Advanced methods for the management of Natura 2000 protected areas - AdriaWet 2000 project training programme

Figure 22: ECTS label for the enterprises collaborating with the Ebro Delta Natural Park

There are many different principles in the ECST among which cooperation, planning and implementation of a strategy, providing visitors with adequate information, raising awareness campaigning on protected areas issues and sustainability, genuine tourist products promotion (Figure 22).

The Ebro Delta Natural Park were allocated 7.643.662 â‚Ź for ECTS action plan 2007-2011.

As for the action plan 2012-2016, it particularly addresses the second phase of the ECTS through the reaching of the following purposes: improve the knowledge of the visitor profile; work out the guide for services and activities of the Park (developed in cooperation with local enterprises); involve municipalities in cleaning and maintenance activities in the protected area in order to raise awareness among the population; implement an accessibility policy to the protected area. The Park is playing a relevant role in the field of tourism promotion and stimulation through the ECST. The recognized advantages of the Charter for the Park are: public image: the Charter means the excellence in the field of sustainable tourism, influencing local tourism development, raising awareness on the visiting among the local public, development of tourism products, more credibility towards the investors, tourism enterprises act as providers of the information about the Park to the visitors upon the accreditation by the Park.

The most outstanding problem throughout the implementation of the Charter is the limitation of the local municipalities and their leaders, who were willing to work on their small areas only, therefore the common publication with the Delta tourism offer is a big success upon the years of cooperation.

And finally authorizing the Park products branding means that the producers involved give 1% of their annual profit to the Park for conservation purposes (up-to-now this results in 1.000 â‚Ź of annual income for the Park).

Local stakeholders involvement During the study visit the following stakeholders have been met: some local tourist stakeholders: enterprises, Casas rurales, accommodation services partners of the ECST; SEO/BirdLife, learning about managing the experience of the Nature Reserve of Riet Vell - Ignaci Ripoll, responsible of the Reserve; 55

MonNaturaDelta, interpretation and visitors centre of the salt culture. Projects and activities carried out by the Fondazione Caixa Catalogna, which is a bank - Josep Culvi, MonNaturaDelta Director; associations involved and tourist service supplier in the Delta: Josep Bertomeu “Polet”, Natura i tradicions Polet; Ramon Vidal, Nòmada Viatges-L’Escola del Parc; Joan Capilla, Hotel Algadir del Delta.

SEO/BirdLife - Riet Vell SEO/BirdLife4 is the oldest conservation NGO in Spain. It was founded in 1954 as a scientific organization dedicated to the study and conservation of birds and their habitats. SEO/BirdLife has 12.000 members in Spain and is part of BirdLife International, the largest coalition of conservation organizations in the world, present in 120 countries with 13 million followers.

SEO/BirdLife has extensive experience in working on the land. It manages eight bird reserves, together more than 2.000 acres of different habitat types.

One is the rice farm Riet Vell in the Ebro Delta (Tarragona). Moreover, SEO/BirdLife has signed more than 150 land stewardship agreements, involving about 25.000 acres of land of great natural and ornithological interest.

The Nature Reserve of Riet Vell5 is one of the most successful project collaboration with local stakeholders in the Park (Figure 23).

Figure 23: Riet Vell webpage

4 5

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http://www.seo.org/. http://rietvell.com/ingles/somos.html.

Advanced methods for the management of Natura 2000 protected areas - AdriaWet 2000 project training programme

The company Riet Vell S.A. was created by SEO/BirdLife in the year 2001 in order to promote bird-friendly organic farming production and marketing. The objective of the company is to promote environmentally friendly farming in areas of natural interest, where farmland is crucial for the conservation of many endangered wildlife species. Riet Vell is now expanding this initiative to other crops and products in Spain and to other countries.

The philosophy is to offer to the consumer a healthy product of high quality, which has been grown in areas of natural interest applying organic farming schemes. These types of crops (Figure 24) are necessary for the proper conservation of valuable habitats like wetlands or steppes. The production has a good impact on species providing an excellent feeding habitat for different bird species throughout the year and is economically viable.

The case of SEO and their Riet Vell company is an opportunity for other local rice producers to see environmental and economic advantages of bio-production and thus a motivation to follow their example and to start the bio-production on their fields too, which is expected to bring positive environmental and conservation impacts for the entire Delta.

Figure 24: Riet Vell rice and pasta

From the educational point of view the Nature Reserve of Riet Vell is based on an amusing and instructive didactic experience by stimulating children’s active, sensorial and emotional participation with simple games and educational materials, they get induced to make comments on the surrounding environment.

The management activities dealt in the Riet Vell Nature Reserve are done by volunteers, managed by one member of the staff.

The area is as an example of good habitat planning also from the visitor point of view with the observatories providing close and good views over the wetlands, flora and fauna.

MonNaturaDelta MonNatura Delta6 is the interpretation and visitors Centre of the salt production (Figure 25).

Projects and activities are carried out by the Caixa Catalogna Foundation, which is the foundation of the homonymous savings bank.

6

http://www.monnaturadelta.com/en/home/portada.

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Figure 25: MonNatura Delta de l’Ebre website

Josep Culvi, Director of the Interpretation and visitors Centre of the Salt production showed the work carried out by Caixa Catalogna Foundation. The Foundation bought an abandoned saline and later converted it in an open-space museum, including a small-scale saline model, where the working and store rooms have been transformed in a didactic Centre. Here tourists can learn about the kind of work that was used in the past in the salina and also about history and places of the Delta.

MònNatura Delta Centre represents a good example of Payment for Ecosystem Services offer (PES) and a good practice of green investment done by a private body buying environmentally high-valuable goods, in order to preserve and protect the environment.

The Foundation with the social responsibility status is acting as the owner and main actor in the restoration and daily management of the Centre and surrounding grounds and habitats.

From the educational point of view the Centre is characterized by a very interesting and effective interpretation for example showing the delta creation on the Centre floor using a ceiling projector, advice on the behavior of the visitors, painted on the walls of the stairway to the observation terrace, short video-clips with presentation of the species.

Natura i tradicions Polet Mr. Josep Bertomeu is a stakeholder, who cares about the rehabilitation of the traditional activities of the Delta, such as rice cultivation, fishing or hunting among those some experimental touristic activities that take place inside paddy fields, in which people pay the entrance fee to work in them (Figure 26).

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Figure 26: Natura i tradicions Polet

Nòmada Viatges-L’Escola del Parc Mr. Ramon Vidal is the responsible for the environmental education and ecotourism in the Park.

Hotel Algadir del Delta Mr. Joan Capilla attempts to build a hotel inside the Park boarders respecting the ECST, providing a web offer, including the Park structures too (Figure 27).

Figure 27: Hotel Algadir

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6.4

COMPENSATION MEASURES The Park is characterized by a high contrast between natural environment and human activities (rice crops, salt production, tourism). The management of the natural area tries to balance the conservation requirements with the stakeholders needs. Every year more or less 125.000 € is paid by the Park for the damage in the rise crops due to flamingos and purple swamp hens foraging activity. Mallard ducks are hunted until mid of March in the rice crops because they are considered a pest. Recently, an alien species of gastropod is devastating the rice sprouts. In half of the Park controlled hunting is allowed; this fact is quite unusual, but shows a different way to manage activities apparently contrasting with conservation.

The Park manages efficiently the subsidies for flooded fields in wintertime, to meet the basic needs of wintering birds populations, which costs them 100.000 € annually.

6.5

COMMUNICATION ACTIVITIES The Park magazine is being published as a topical supplement to the local newspaper, which prints additional 5.000 copies for the Park, whose cost is mainly covered with advertisements.

The communication success of the Park is based on very active work: Facebook has about 2 thousands followers, commercial shootings/filming, for example “Vertigo” video, a song by U2, shot on the beach.

6.6

HIGHLIGHTS The Delta Ebro Natural Park has shown the opportunity to implement suitable ways of management between common areas, both concerned with the preservation of biodiversity and the development of the local natural, social and cultural heritage.

An important element to be emphasized is the plurality of activities under an area that is not so large, but anyway very rich in conflicting interests (agriculture, tourism and conservation are the most obvious).

Particularly notable is the ability to direct actions in order to promote conservation by different and autonomous organizations: private companies for management, banking foundations (thanks to far-sighted policy that provides for the obligation of interventions in favor of nature), the NGOs etc., in a “mosaic” of activities coordinated by the Park with an effort (at least apparently) minimal, both in terms of addresses of coordination and in economic terms.

Some concrete achievements appeared of great interest, also because they show how the spirit and the principles of the, so-called “Grado Declaration” (adopted at international level in 1991 as part of a major conference then promoted by the Friuli Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region and repeated in 2012 in Agadir, on a similar occasion) are still of fundamental importance.

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7

TRAINING SESSIONS

Advanced methods for the management of Natura 2000 protected areas - AdriaWet 2000 project training programme

The training sessions were composed by six workshops dealt by experts with high level of specialisation and with international competences.

The list of the workshops is listed below: 1st Workshop - “Marketing and Financial Tools for the Management of Protected Areas”.

The marketing session has been managed by Mr. James Hardcastle from the IUCN Global Programme on Protected Areas, and the financial session by Mr. Stefano Ravelli, Project manager of the Trentino Federation of Cooperatives.

2nd Workshop - “Management Planning Process and Implementation”. The workshop has been divided in two main parts: the methodology approach dealt by Ms. Vivienne Joanna Booth from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), the tools managed by Mr. Saul Ciriaco and Mr. Carlo Franzosini from the Miramare Natural Marine Reserve.

3rd Workshop - “Park Branding”. The workshop has been divided in two main parts: the methodology approach dealt by Ms. Lucia Naviglio consultant and formerly CNR (Centro Nazionale delle Ricerche - Italian National Research Council) researcher, and the section focusing on case study managed by Mr. Enrico Vettorazzo, Head of the education and research service of the Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park.

4th Workshop - “Public-Private Partnerships, Pro-biodiversity Business and Management of Protected Areas” dealt by Mr. Paul Goriup, Director of Fieldfare International Ecological Development plc.

5th Workshop - “Social Economy and Protected Area Management”. The workshop was divided into two main sections, the first one introducing the topic from a methodological point of view by Mr. Luca Fazzi of the Trento University, and the second one introducing the best practice of the Il Mosaico dealt by Mr. Luca Fontana.

6th Workshop - “Communication, Interpretation and Environmental Education in Protected Areas” dealt by Mr. Gregor Torkar from Egea.

The main message of the workshops is that the protected area alone does not act as an autonomous organism.

Each organism is part of a chain and needs to be part of the chain in order to survive and be productive for the other rings of the chain. Therefore the protected area as first should map the chain and the rings and then deal together the smart, sustainable and inclusive future of the area.

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8

WORKSHOP “MARKETING AND FINANCIAL TOOLS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF PROTECTED AREAS”

8.1

MARKETING TOOLS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF PROTECTED AREAS Mr. Stefano Ravelli leaded the workshop on marketing tools for marginal areas. He is working in the field of regional marketing and promotional activities for areas seen as marginal in terms of productivity, but which have high development potential due to the importance of the environment and landscape.

In his capacity as President of the Sugana Valley Tourist Board and Project Manager of the Trentino Cooperatives Federation, Mr. Ravelli presented different projects implemented in the region for the co-promotion of tourism, various facilities and local products.

The attention was drawn on: Quality Emotionality Experience (experiential tourism) Uniqueness.

Some experiences have been shown, among those: Valsugana Apartments Project: focusing on quality Holidays in an Alpine Hut Project: focusing on quality and uniqueness Valsugana Bike Project: focusing on uniqueness and experiential tourism Adopt a Cow Project: focusing on emotionality Valsugana Experience Magazine and Video: focusing on uniqueness and guarantee of origin.

Valsugana Apartments Project The project started by recognising that the apartments of the valley are mainly second houses, often unused giving to the valley an uncomfortable feeling. Setting up a win-win situation the project is based on the analysis of the availability and quality of tourist apartments available in the Valsugana, and after that setting the minimum standard of quality. Then the tourist board deemed, it is necessary to set up a website offering “tourist apartments in the Valsugana�, which would guarantee: a common minimum quality standard for the apartments offered in the area; an external third party certification body to test the quality of the offer.

The website has been developed aiming to: improve the profile and quality of the offer; supply clear information on prices and services (the apartments are divided into target groups); match offer with demand and therefore prevent apartments from remaining empty due to a lack of information; have a major impact on the region in terms of employment, development and improvement of local jobs and services.

In addition to this website, a brochure has been produced featuring a list of tourist apartments in the Valsugana.

The result of the project is that a relevant number of rooms are now available, there is a significant increase in the presence, in the investment to renovate the rooms, in the economy of the area and in the development and improvement of the public services and utilities.

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Holidays in the Alpine Hut Project (Vacanze in Baita) The Holidays in an Alpine Hut project was designed to expand the range of offer, without having a negative impact on the region through new buildings, while seeking to promote the goods and services already available in the local area. EU funds were used to draft a protocol to identify (through compulsory and optional requirements) any facilities that could be used for hospitality, such as Alpine huts7.

Figure 28: Holidays in the Alpine Hut website

This type of holiday is supplied to people, who are very interested in nature and do not worry too much about the cost of spending a unique experience set in the peaceful mountains.

These holidays in Alpine huts also have the added benefit of allowing people to bring their dogs, which is an important issue for guests at the moment. In this manner the offer caught a specific niche of the market.

This project has the dedicated website, brochure and local magazine. The featured facilities get the opportunity to sell the goods and services they offer through this local promotional network. “Vacanze in Baita� (Holidays in the Alpine Hut) can be considered as a successful example of how quality can influence the tourist choice: tourists who want to book an Alpine Hut don’t care about the price in order to live a unique experience.

Valsugana Bike Project This project has the same objective of promoting the region, while improving its attractiveness, profile and range of services. Similarly to the other projects, including the mountain bike project, a study was conducted into its target audience (experts, enthusiasts, families or for additional uses).

Recognisable hallmarks have been designed so people could identify facilities belonging to the Valsugana Bike circuit including transport, support and rental services. Furthermore several claims have been developed which are linked to the unique features of the region, such as discovering high altitude areas and historical trails (Figure 29).

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http://www.vacanzeinbaita.com/

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Figure 29: Valsugana bike website

The main strengths of the local range of offers include: 300 km of mountain bike routes; 80 km cycle path, which links Caldonazzo Lake to Bassano del Grappa; Train and bike transportation system; Specialist accommodation for bike lovers.

Protocols have been set up for various facilities and hotels that provide support for: Bike families, including children’s bike and helmet hire, special kids’ menus and babysitting services; Bike experts, including dedicated cleaning and washing areas for bikes, daily evening meetings to discuss new excursions, repair workshops, bike tests, flexible restaurant hours and special menus.

There is also a range of additional services (wellness activities, afternoon buffets, packed lunches, food integrators, books and newspapers, bike shuttles, photos and videos, agreement with a company for testing bikes, etc), which may be offered and could represent a marketing opportunity for accommodation facilities in the area.

This project’s products include: dedicated website (with dynamic information on trails, GPS, photos, videos and social networking links), brochure featuring a range of services offered by accommodation facilities, as well as dedicated publications on cycle paths and trails.

These products play a major promotional role for any hotels that meet the minimum requirements of the protocol and pay for this affiliation.

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Adopt a Cow Project

Figure 30: Adopt a cow project

This promotional project has been one of the most successful experiments. It has helped to promote regional traditions. By encouraging tourists to adopt a cow, it has enhanced traditional activities in Alpine summer huts through the protection and promotion of local products (milk and cheeses). As soon as the cow is adopted at the tourist board, it is moved to an Alpine summer hut in the region, where it is raised to produce milk, which is then turned into zero-mile food products and sold (Figure 30, Figure 31).

This marketing project is supported by a dedicated website, an information leaflet and a magazine.

Figure 31: Grilla the AdriaWet 2000 cow

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The Valsugana Experience Magazine and Video These promotional activities have been condensed into a Magazine which notifies the tourist information bureaus in the region of any museums, exhibitions, hotels and campsites that are part of the Valsugana information network. It also informs them of the specific activities during each season. Furthermore, exciting storyteller’s videos8 have been produced to spread the word about experiences in the region and to generate interest in these holidays.

Lessons learnt In order to have success first of all identify the mean of attraction: Why people should visit my place?

What are the values?

The bird watching I’m selling, does need to be unique? It should be unique.

In case we are selling the same product to general clients, the attraction/uniqueness for each one should be found.

Nature could be: The main motivation of the holiday The added value of a mass tourism resort This allows to stratify, if in a roughly way, the demand and consequently build up the tourism product.

In order to build up the product, for example the Valsugana bike, some points have been remarked: Start from what the territory is able to offer (not only birds and flamingo) considering that the territory is the biggest all inclusive tourist village; Start from what the hotels are able to offer; Adding services.

For example the “Holidays in the Alpine hut” introduces a new approach to tourism offer: first the tourist is motivated to choose a destination on the base of the services supplied (for example dog hospitality) and then, when the tourist is on the place, land/nature/landscape are offered.

All the marketing activities developed in the Valsugana focus on sustainable rural tourism which: “Uses” the natural resources of the region to attract tourists BUT; Protects the environment during tourist visits; Respects the culture and traditions of the people who live there, as well as the nature; Ensures the active participation of the region and its inhabitants; Uses the existing features to attract tourists.

Communication is very important for the development of this type of tourism. The contents of the communication are: Experiencing/living something unique because, when the tourist comes back home, he would like to tell a story. The tourist has to be considered as main actor of the story.

8

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iDAUOSjegc, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iDAUOSjegc, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1UhuXUcVLg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-U16iJFvmk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48Y7jdH7kxI

Advanced methods for the management of Natura 2000 protected areas - AdriaWet 2000 project training programme

Tasting local product is part of the offer: bring tourists to touch with their hand the production phases, make them living the experience, and then the tourist will pay the product twice the price of it sold in the supermarket.

Then the communication tools follow accordingly: communicate the territory with real people if the offer is based on real experiences (i.e. storytellers).

The claim: simple emotion in a simple world made of simple things makes the holiday extremely luxury. Unique and exclusivity makes the “value (perceived as service gained) for money� of the holiday.

This therefore involves enhancing the existing cultural, natural and environmental resources, developing the local economy through investment in local infrastructures, and setting up additional services that can earn money on the market. This creates a better place to live in and a better place to visit for tourists.

Synthesizing the approach is illustrated by Figure 32:

Figure 32: New tourist approach

8.2

FINANCIAL TOOLS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF PROTECTED AREAS Mr. James Hardcastle is Programme Development Manager at the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Global Protected Areas Programme. His activity helps to ensure that priority programmes are well designed and resourced to best achieve lasting results. He has a diverse background in protected areas, community-based conservation, and climate change adaptation. James has worked with protected area issues for conservation agencies in countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Pacific and in Australia. He has particular expertise in participatory planning tools and sustainable financing for conservation and is a passionate advocate for island issues.

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Introduction The workshop on financial planning for maximum success in conserving values within and around protected areas has been divided into four main steps: First defining the good and services provided by the protected area; Then finding the buyers in the market for the previous good and services and the financial mechanism to connect the good and services to the buyers; Finally assessing the feasibility of the mechanism developing the financing plan for the protected area.

The last session focused on the illustration of some case studies.

After pointing out the session norms, the Stymfalia Lake Reserve case study has been introduced (Figure 33) to help focus attention on a practical example of where there is a need for Protected Areas financial planning.

Figure 33: Stymfalia Lake Reserve, Greece

In particular, the case study describes a situation where public allocation of financing is decreasing in Greece, and there is an urgent need to diversify income sources and ensure good planning to boost opportunities for investment to result into conservation impact.

Lake Stymfalia is a newly established Natura 2000 wetland and the lake is a mountainous Mediterranean-type inland wetland with freshwater fens. It provides an important refuge for migratory birds and for breeding, passage and wintering waterbirds. The area of the small shallow lake fluctuates seasonally. During the droughts of the 1990s, the lake dried out entirely and was subsequently cultivated by the people of the nearby villages. The water of the lake is drained by the natural karst and by intensive water drawing for the surrounding cultivated areas. Artificial drainage is used to reclaim fertile land for cultivation. Groundwater and surface abstraction from the springs within the wetland has reduced the area and the depth of the lake considerably.

The lake is an important habitat for a significant number of species of concern, including eagles and other raptors, egrets, herons, bitterns, ibises, partridges and terns, as well as providing a stopping point for migratory birds.

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The goals for the new site are to establish a sustainable management and financing system in order to improve the conservation status of target species and wetland habitat, and to ensure a viable scheme that will, in the long term, finance all necessary management activities. The site inception project’s specific objectives are to: restore important wetland habitats based on the ecological requirements of target species; create conditions for the financial sustainability of the wetland’s management and conservation; raise stakeholder awareness; engage the local community in the sustainable management of Lake Stymfalia.

Defining the good and services provided by the protected area The starting point is represented by the acknowledgment of the protected area value and benefits answering to the following questions: What are the core values of the Protected Area, which ones are most at risk?

What other values can be identified and explored?

Who benefits from these values?

Which of the Reserve values could be linked to a financing mechanism?

Best practice are based on the assumption that protected areas offer natural solutions, according to the principle of permanence (protected areas are based around a commitment to permanence and long-term management of ecosystems and natural resources), effectiveness (protected areas are proven to work as an effective way of retaining natural ecosystems and ecosystem services, especially through protected area systems) and monitoring (protected areas are supported by government commitments under the Convention on Biodiversity to establish ecologically representative protected area systems). Such a strategy, based on such principles can lead to development since well managed protected areas can provide a cost effective option for implementing climate change response strategies. Moreover, protected areas are most effective when they have good capacity, efficient management, agreed governance structures and strong support from local and resident communities. In other words, ideally protected areas and conservation needs should be firmly integrated and extended into wider landscape and seascape development strategies.

Finding a buyer in the market for the previous good and services and the financial mechanism Finding the buyer in the market means developing the financing mechanisms aiming to pay for the good and services provided by the protected area.

In these terms the second sessions focuses on possible financing mechanisms. Firstly, financial sustainability definition is given as the ability to ensure sufficient and stable long-term financial resources, to allocate them in a timely and appropriate manner, to cover the total costs of protected areas management. Financial sustainability is not possible without solid and effective institutions for a protected area. Secondly, financial planning definition is given as a ‘working’ framework that includes interactive processes with many stakeholders. Such a framework systematizes actions and attracts sufficient resources to fund the protected areas within a system in a stable long-term manner. It includes the different processes related 75

to assessing financial needs, income, expenses, and financial gaps selection and feasibility assessment of financial mechanisms; cost reduction strategies and formulation of financial plans supported by defined business principles and business plans.

Financial planning may also include assessment of the legal and institutional framework to enable the establishment of diverse financial mechanisms and implementation of the financial plan.

Some finance mechanisms are analysed: government budget allocation, grants and donations, user-fees, taxes and other charges.

Government funding Relying on Government funding may be more sustainable in the long run than relying on grants from donors because donor priorities and funding levels may suddenly change and donors usually do not fund any projects longer than five years.

Increased Government funding demonstrates that biodiversity conservation is an important national priority. At the same time Government funding also has some disadvantages: may be vulnerable to sudden shifts in Government spending priorities and to across-the-board budget cuts in times of economic crisis. In addition, political patronage and political agendas may guide decisions that should be based primarily on conservation criteria.

Grants and donations Grants and donations represent a main source of financing for protected areas and biodiversity from individuals, corporations, foundations, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and international donor agencies.

One example of grants/donation is represented by the so-called commercial debt-for-nature swaps which are based on: The willingness of banks or other commercial creditors to sell debt owed to them by developing country governments to third parties at a substantial discount from the debt’s face value, because the bank do not expect the debtor government ever to fully repay its debts; The ability of conservation organizations to raise money from their members or donors to buy the discounted debt from creditors; Agreement on the amount of local currency that the debtor government will spend on new conservation programs in exchange for the conservation organization’s cancellation of the debt. This local currency amount will be only a fraction of the debt’s face value in hard currency, but will be significantly more than the price at which the debt was just purchased by the conservation organization creditors.

For example, the Philippine debt-swap involved the WWF which helped buy 17 million USD of debt, but for a price of 12 million. The funds were raised through WWF and international donors, such as USAID. In exchange for WWF buying the debt, the Philippines government allocated 17 million USD - in Pesos - to an environment trust fund. The fund is used to finance conservation projects in and around protected areas.

Debt-for-nature swaps have the following advantages: For international donor agencies and conservation organizations, debt-for-nature swaps offer a way to leverage their funds and finance a much greater number of conservation activities in the debtor country than if the donors had simply made a hard currency grant.

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For developing country governments, debt for-nature swaps offer a way of reducing their international debt by using local currency to fund worthy projects inside the country, instead of sending scarce hard currency out of the country to repay commercial or bilateral creditors.

Nonetheless, some disadvantages should be noted. Such swaps may be quite complex to execute and may require the involvement of technical experts from multiple Government agencies. The financial leverage achieved by a debt for-nature swap may be eroded by subsequent local currency devaluation or runaway inflation. However, this problem can be mitigated if the debtor Government agrees in advance to link the amount of its local currency payments (for conservation projects) to the US dollar or some other external standard.

Conservation trust funds As for conservation trust funds, there are several advantages as they can provide sustained, long-term funding for protected areas. A trust fund can be defined as money or other property that can only be used for a specified purpose or purposes; must be kept separate from other sources of money, such as a Government agency’s regular budget; and managed and controlled by an independent board of directors.

Conservation trust funds can be set up for many different purposes, such as to finance single protected area, country’s entire protected-area system, trans-boundary protected area, conservation of a particular species, small grants to local communities and nongovernmental organizations for carrying out conservation projects.

Endowment funds are the most common type of conservation trust fund. The capital (also called the “principal”) of an endowment fund is usually invested in some combination of commercial bank deposits, government treasury bonds, and corporate stocks and bonds, in order to generate a steady stream of income (usually from 5 to 10 percent annually) over a long period of time. The capital itself is never spent. Only the interest or investment income is used to support conservation activities. Some endowment funds also reinvest a small percentage of their income in their capital each year, in order to offset for inflation and maintain the same “real” value of their capital.

Sinking funds not only spend the income earned by investing the fund’s capital, but also spend down part of their capital each year. The capital of a sinking fund gradually “sinks” to zero over a predetermined period of time (usually between 10 and 20 years). Then the fund either ceases to exist or is replenished from other sources. Brazil’s $15 million FUNBIO fund is an example of a sinking fund.

Revolving funds, instead of having a fixed amount of capital, continually receive new revenues from user fees or earmarked taxes, and continually spend all of these revenues. In some cases a small percentage of each year’s revenues are put into a reserve fund that can be drawn upon if the income from fees or taxes suddenly drops due to unforeseen economic and political events. Belize’s Protected Areas Conservation Trust (PACT) is an example of a revolving fund, financed by a $3.75 “conservation fee” that each foreign tourist must pay at the airport. The fee generates more than $600,000 each year, and 5 percent of the revenues are set aside in a reserve endowment fund.

Conservation trust funds are a way of channelling a large international grant into many small local grants and extending the lifetime of the grant over many decades. They can be used to strengthen civil society.

This occurs as a result of appointing NGO and private sector representatives to the trust fund’s board and giving them the same powers as Government officials and as a result of making grants directly to NGOs and other institutions of civil society. At the same time, 77

potential disadvantages include the following: conservation trust funds may sometimes have high administrative costs, especially if the fund’s capital is relatively small or if the fund provides substantial technical assistance to grantees in the design and implementation of projects. They may generate low or unpredictable investment returns, especially in the short term, if they do not have a well-conceived investment strategy.

User-fees, taxes and other charges Finally, other finance mechanisms are listed: • entry fees • concession fees • recreational activity permit fees • diving fees • airport and cruise ship passenger fees • hotel room surcharges • taxes on hunting, fishing, and camping equipment • fees and royalties paid for natural resource extraction: oil, mining, timber, and fishing • fees for the right of way to construct pipelines, transmission lines, or telecommunications towers • watershed conservation fees • carbon sequestration payments • fuel taxes • property taxes • lottery revenues • wildlife license plates and postage stamps • hunting and fishing fees • fines for illegal logging, hunting, and fishing • bioprospecting fees • pollution fines and out-of-court settlements for pollution damage • income from commercial operations run by park agencies.

Developing the financing plan The third session focuses on the assessment of the feasibility of the mechanism and especially on the: • definition of a financial and business plan • short-term and long-term financing • traditional and market-based approaches • discussion on process and best practice • development of the case study • references and links.

Financial plan A financial plan is a business-oriented management tool that summarizes the protected areas’ financial history (income, expenditures, financial needs and gaps) and describes feasible financial mechanisms and cost reduction strategies to address the needs and reduce gaps. A financial plan may include summaries of the feasibility analyses and business plans to guide the implementation of specific financial mechanisms.

Additionally, this plan may include strategic reforms to improve the legal and regulatory framework related to protected areas financing and capacity building aspects.

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A financial plan is a process of thinking rather than an individual document, an iterative process that occurs over time, the form of which depends critically on the intended audience.

Business plan A business plan is a management tool that outlines the necessary actions to implement a financial mechanism and maximize economic returns. This should be developed only when the financial mechanisms, selected in the financial planning process are determined to be feasible.

The business plan provides a roadmap for the strategy that will be used to implement the financial mechanism.

Each protected area needs a financial plan as a key component of management planning. The financial plan can include business case (business plans) for specific finance mechanisms.

The business plan should build on feasibility studies for financial mechanisms defining different alternatives to make the given mechanism operational. If a financial mechanism is not feasible, consideration may be given to corrective measures to eliminate shortcomings or, in extreme cases, the mechanism may simply be dropped.

The business plan for the well performed financial mechanisms should include: • key sections of the financial plan; • overview of the “goods and services” that the site provides and the markets and competition that may exist for those goods and services now and in the future; • detailed assessment of the start-up and ongoing costs of pursuing the financial mechanism for the site; • detailed assessment of the assumed benefits and income from the financial mechanism, along with an assessment of risk; • assessment of the legal and political framework as it relates to pursing the financial mechanism; • discussion of the anticipated fund’s role in the financial plan and general structure; • detailed strategies, next steps, activities and investments required to capitalize on opportunity. This may include a short-term fundraising strategy to raise the needed capital to engage.

The financial plan must be aligned to an overall management plan. Ideally, the two are developed or revised at the same time. First, goals and objectives must be set. Next, it is important to identify the tasks needed to accomplish each objective and estimate costs. The objectives must be given a priority and current revenues must be linked to them in a second phase. The successful financial plan must be characterized by accurate predictions of costs and revenues, balance between key functions in plan and ratio between largest and smallest expense item at about five to one.

Another key step for a successful financial plan is financial mechanisms selection through a detailed screening.

Selecting financial mechanism The financial mechanism screens to identify most suitable revenue options to fill gaps, analyses the complexity and impact, identifies two or more operative models to implement a revenue option, supports selection of the best operational model and clarifies if a financial option is not feasible and should be dropped (Figure 34).

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Figure 34: Financial mechanism

Conclusions Protected areas are shifting from a 100% to much lower percentages governmental guaranteed funding scheme.

Therefore new opportunities should be explored, for example grants and donors, debt for nature, conservation trust funds, concession/recreational fees, CO2 absorption refunding scheme.

Does not shock, the TEEB approach is based on: identifying and assessing the full range of ecosystem service and people affected, estimating and demonstrating the value of the ecosystem service, capturing the value of ecosystem services and seeking solutions.

For example in the case of the Ulaanbaatar water resources a payment of ecosystem services scheme has been set up aiming to conserve the freshwater ecosystem service (Figure 35).

The monthly water bill paid by the Ulaanbaatar inhabitants (for the sustainable use of the water) should guarantee that the payment given to the local communities involved in the freshwater conservation action is greater than the returns derived from unsustainable use.

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Figure 35: Ulaanbaatar payment mechanism, Mongolia

Protected areas should pursue ecological goals but not exclusively. Protected areas should transform into multifunctional protected areas, following the path already done by agriculture which moved from a good to a good and services supplier sector.

Finally, moving from public financing schemes towards multiple financing schemes means moving from biological towards economic skills.

A financial plan or business plan that is simply a document will become fossilized in time and, no matter how well prepared, sit on the shelf!

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9

WORKSHOP “MANAGEMENT PLANNING PROCESS AND IMPLEMENTATION”

9.1

THE RSPB MANAGEMENT PLANNING PROCESS Ms. Vivienne Booth is working for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). The RSPB is the UK’s largest nature conservation charity, inspiring everyone to give nature a home. Together with the RSPB’s partners, threatened birds and wildlife are protected so towns, coast and countryside will teem with life once again. RSPB plays a leading role in a worldwide partnership of nature conservation organisations.

The workshop covered the whole management planning process, from the initial data collection, making decisions about what to manage and how to achieve this, to the feedback mechanisms to ensure that management is appropriate and achieves maximum conservation benefit. The RSPB model used in the UK will form the basis of the workshop and is developed as follows: Information gathering from diverse range of data sources, Vision and prioritization. In this section the conservation priorities from the information gathered for a reserve have been assessed, some of the potential conflicts taken into account and solutions faced.

Setting objectives, targets and conservation actions. Following on from prioritization, conservation objectives can be developed and from there, the short-term conservation actions decided.

Planning for visitors. Needs of visitor, and the ways in which conservation bodies can engage with them, and the balance between conservation objective and access for people are considered.

Planning for climate and other change. Using current examples from the UK, and welcoming those from elsewhere, the importance of planning for change in order to create a resilient network of nature reserves has been considered.

The feedback mechanisms. The model described sets of the short-term conservation management objectives within a long-term vision to ensure that the work carried out is achieving maximum conservation benefit. The review process is an important part of this process which can be easily overlooked.

What should be remarked is that the management plan is based on the nature-human binomial aiming to manage nature, humans, culture, tradition and economy.

Methodological approach Why do management planning? To describe the current biological, physical and legal conditions, to agree the purpose of management aligning with priorities and getting stakeholder agreement, to set achievable objectives in the short term, to describe activities needed to achieve objectives, to describe monitoring requirements, to predict future expenditure, to ensure management/monitoring can be continued e.g. change in personnel, to organise the work and evaluate the work at the end.

The structure of the plan is intended to flow logically.

The vision in an RSPB plan is based on a 25 years period, and helps ensure that our shortterm objectives meet those for the long-term. Nevertheless RSPB write a new management plan every 5 year (for most sites).

The structure of an RSPB management plan is based on the vision, as already mentioned a 25 years ahead vision.

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And it is build up on: site information evaluation and rationale for management (prioritizing) management objectives five-year work programme (some are done for 10 years, for example forests where the change is slower) references maps appendices RSPB management planning process involves staff and among those site manager, ecologist, visitors advice, regional manager, statutory agency. First of all they usually make a pathfinder meeting in order to find an agreed vision and objectives upon which the site manager writes the draft plan, for unresolved issues they ask for advice and normally finish it in six months.

Information gathering The main question is: what do you need to know about your Reserve?

In this section the following information has to be collected: history of the site, maps designations of the site habitats types priority species, their populations, trends public access tenancies monitoring compartments environmental data, such as geology and soils, hydrology, climate predictions, biological reports and surveys (vegetation communities, population trends).

For knowledge gaps identify survey and research are required. visitor data (try to understand visitor’s motives for their visits through questionnaires; rating the following: standard of maintenance, friendliness of the staff and welcome, quality for families, wildlife, experience of that day’s visit), people loggers to count visitors (counters are activated by buried pressure slabs or beam type detectors in a post; logger record hourly totals and can be analysed to give hourly totals, hourly averages or more complex such as average per hour of day).

Vision and prioritization The vision answers to the question: what do we want the site to be like in 25 years?

And especially what about: Habitats/species Problems that need to be resolved?

Climate change adaptation Does the reserve need to be extended?

Economic sustainability e.g. agro-environmental, biofuels 85

Scope and scale of visitor experience Having set the vision, some priorities have to be chosen in order to designate features (legal responsibilities), both nationally and internationally significant populations, priority habitats and species.

As regard the features influencing the management an example referring to the Ham Wall protected area is given (Table 1), by considering the following features: # ## **

*

V

Features for which there is legal responsibility and will influence management Features for which there is legal responsibility but not influence management Features which are the prime reasons for maintaining the reserve and which will influence management Other important conservation features whose requirements should be taken into account Features of particular importance to visitors

Important feature

Influencing Management

Why

Reedbed

**V

Priority habitat. Landscape appeal

Breeding bittern

** V

Priority species. Needs management.

Breeding & winter bearded tit

**V

0.88% UK population.

Breeding marsh harrier

V

Breeding water rail Breeding warblers

RSPB Regional priority and amber listed NI numbers. 1.7 – 3.4% UK pop.

*

Breeding waterfowl

Cetti’s warbler 7.8 – 8.6% UK pop, Grasshopper warbler red listed & declining.

NI numbers. No specific management

Reedbed invertebrates

Important assemblage. No specific management

Wintering waterfowl

V*

Important feeding and roosting site

Passage birds

V*

To provide seasonal interest to visitors

Wintering starlings

V

No specific management required

Water vole

*

Priority sp. Rapidly declining. Key Site

Reedbed habitat

**

Priority Habitat

Fen ragwort

Critically endangered

Breeding crane

**

Breeding bittern

** V

BoCC Amber <20p in UK BoCC Red

Breeding bearded tit

**

BoCC Amber

Breeding warblers

*

Large populations. Characteristic reedbed fauna

Breeding reed bunting

*

BoCC Amber. Large popn.

Breeding marsh harrier

*

BoCC Amber.

Reedbed moth spp.

*

Water vole Starling

*

UK priority species

##

Issue near airbase

Table 1: Features influencing management; Ham Wall protected area

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Setting objectives, targets and conservation actions The RSPB introduces the following table in order to set objectives, targets and conservation actions (Table 2).

Important feature

Breeding Bittern

Attribute(s)

Current figure for attribute

Target for attribute

No. boomers

10

â&#x2030;Ľ10

Target for main factor

Main factor(s)

Extent of reedbed

Increase from 118ha to 145ha

Reedbed scrub

Maintain <4% scrub

Water levels

Jan/Feb: 90% 20100cm.

Aug: 50% of reedbed is wet

Comment

20ha p.a. returned to early succession

Phase 1 = 130-150cm AOD Phase 2 = 100cm AOD

Table 2: Objectives, targets and conservation actions

Setting targets depends on the trends of the species. As shown in the previous table considering for example the feature Bittern trend, the protected area managers settled attribute (no of booming males), current figure and target for that attribute (more than 10), main factors (reedbed, its structure, open waters, length of reed/water interface, fish biomass etc.) and targets for them (quantitative estimations of the factors).

On the basis of the important features objectives are written. Continuing with the example of the breeding bittern the Ham Wall Objective 1 is called reedbed aiming to maintain 118 ha of freshwater reedbed and 15 ha of swamp to encourage breeding bittern and marsh harrier and increase populations of breeding bearded tit, and nationally and regionally important passerine and waterfowl assemblage.

Under each objective the following contents should be listed: species targets habitat targets summary management summary monitoring.

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Considering the Ham Wall Objective 1 reedbed the following species targets have been identified: increase booming bitterns to ≥2 by 2011 increase breeding marsh harriers to 2 nesting females (5 year mean) bearded tit population increased to 12 pairs reed bunting population increased to 50 pairs water rail population increased to 40 pairs cetti’s warbler population increased to 50 singing males breeding sedge warbler, reed warbler and grasshopper warbler all maintain populations. breeding pochard, garganey and gadwall all maintain their current populations. rdb invertebrates: maintain distribution extend area with signs of water vole maintain wintering numbers of gadwall, wigeon, teal and shoveler maintain range of species of passage birds otter present fish biomass >5-20g/m2 of small fish eel recruitment opportunities explored.

Considering the Ham Wall Objective 1 reedbed the following habitat targets have been identified: the extent of reedbed remains at > 118ha the extent of swamp remains at > 15ha 15ha of ex-peat works restored the current water quality is maintained or improved (P<30mg/l, N <0.5 mg/l, pH 5.5-9.0 ) no increase in the extent of scrub (<4% in main reedbed blocks) 90% of the reedbed is flooded in feb-july - >20cm <100cm, ensure water >20cm by July the length of reed/open water interface remains at > 200m/ha the extent of open water remains at c.40% dry reedbed habitat constitutes <10% a mixed age structure of between 1 and 16 years is maintained within at least 80% of the reedbed.

Considering the Ham Wall Objective 1 reedbed the following summary management activities have been identified: winter cut 4ha of reed annually on a 8yr rotation winter cut 0.5ha reed annually at walton heath summer cut 1 ha reed annually at Looks Low & Loxton’s Marsh manage 10ha of reedbed on a 16 year rotation remove invasive scrub clear ditches and areas of open water on rotation maintain high water levels February to mid-July develop cut reed material as a by-product seek opportunities for resourcing reedbed management undertake wetland restoration works graze areas to create blue border habitat 88

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maintain existing 25ha /2km of raised banks develop a rotation to deter rank vegetation, by cutting 100m lengths of ditch/bank edge control mink as necessary introduce fish if necessary.

Considering the Ham Wall Objective 1 reedbed the following summary monitoring activities have been identified: monitor bittern population, annually monitor breeding birds, annually carry out WeBS counts, monthly monitor water voles, annually monitor otter ad hoc monitor mink using rafts, as necessary monitor water quality, annually monitor fish populations, every 5 years monitor aquatic macrophytes, every 3 years monitor reedbed invertebrates, at least 1/5 years monitor reedbed and its response to habitat management, as required monitor percentage cover of swamp, every 5 years monitor scrub extent, annually monitor archaeology, when restoring new areas.

Planning for visitors Going to the human dimension, which represents the other side of the coin, the questions are: who: families are a key audience for RSPB how: How do they travel? How do they want to use the site? where: some areas are key and others peripheral. It might depend on the number of access points. when: time of day, time of year how many and what.

It would be reasonable to adopt the same model for planning for people just adapting it to the visitors (Table 3).

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Important feature

Attribute(s)

Current figure for attribute

Target for attribute

Main factor(s)

Target for main factor

Comment

Number of visitors

Location

Opportunity

Audience

Action

Timescale

Location

Provide a good experience for all groups of visitors

All

Zoning

Enjoyment Year 1 for all visitors without conflict between groups

All

Sense of arrival

All

Clear signage Improve car park surface

Remove confusion and make more welcoming

Year 2

D: car park

Picnic area

Families

Increase separation between picnic area and car park

Improve privacy and safety for picnic area users

Year 3

Table 3: Visitor planning

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Aim

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Planning for people includes: written interpretation, boards

Figure 36: Interpretation

live interpretation and guided walks, activities for schools

Figure 37: Live interpretation

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activities for families,

Figure 38: Outdoor activities

infrastructure: what, where, and why?

Just where there is a case for it, as it costs a lot.

Figure 39: Infrastructures

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Is there a need to generate income from visitors? Shop and guided walks.

Figure 40: Shops

Zoning of the areas from the point of view of the visitors: Welcome zone: meet & greet Discovery: family friendly developed Explorer: hides, guides Wilderness: little infrastructure, quiet

Figure 41: Zoning

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Planning for climate and other change Impacts on climate space require species distributions to shift North and uphill. Changes in the timings of seasonal events and ecological mismatch can lead to starvation. Impacts of extreme weather events kill through cold, wetness, inundation or starvation. Changes in community ecology change competitive advantage e.g. invasive species and diseases.

Changes in land use and management depend also on people choices changing the ways they manage the countryside, which affects the climate and management practices.

At the Reserve level it is suggested to plan for imminent and short-term impacts (e.g. grazing management, control of water levels, colonising species, new species appearing and colonising the areas) and for future and long-term impacts (e.g. habitat creation, land acquisition, ensuring long-term water supply, woodland management, for example how to deal with draught).

One successful solution has been dealt in case of Titchwell Natural Reserve. The management staff foreseen that the entering of the sea towards the mainland will destroy the existing freshwater marsh, so they did a project of creating new freshwater lagoon more inside the reserve and when the sea destroyed the one closer to the sea, they already had established a new one and havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t lost the important habitats and species.

Another good example happened by planning for colonising species in Lydden Valley.

Historically it was a small island, they also coal-mined here, so it collapsed for a few meters over the time, due to that is naturally wet and appropriate for wet grasslands and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s along the corridor where the new species colonising UK would enter.

Feedback mechanisms Site manager prepares an annual report, reserve ecologist reviews it and makes an audit.

They then celebrate successes, prioritize actions and identify obstacles and budget need.

Figure 42: Feedback mechanism

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During this process the Annual report is dealt describing the progress against ecological objectives (including species and habitat targets), statutory assessment, management undertaken (pesticides used, vertebrate control mainly predators, map of hay cut areas etc.), visitor feedback, issues (neighbours, different other information) (Table 4).

Table 4: Annual report audit

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Key habitat and species objectives

P/G/A/R/B

1. To achieve favourable SSSI9 condition of 222ha of lowland wet grassland, principally to improve breeding wader populations and important numbers of wintering wildfowl, maintain populations of water voles and maintain the extent and quality of grassland and ditch habitat.

Numbers of breeding Lapwing and Redshank increased significantly and Marsh Warbler bred on the reserve, passage wader numbers and diversity of waders and passerine was good, and wintering wildfowl were present in good numbers. This reflects the good habitat management and high water levels. The anti-predator fence combined with shooting effort was effective and the Purfleet scrape performed well, and two pipe valves were installed to link the back compartment to each of the front compartments, and on the feeder ditch.

2. To achieve favourable SSSI condition in 120ha of Silt Lagoons, principally to maintain and improve the invertebrate interest in the lagoons whilst maintaining the numbers of wintering raptors and monitor breeding birds

G

A

There were no dredging deposited this year. Wildfowl targets are unrealistic, but wintering raptor numbers were good.

3. To achieve favourable SSSI condition of 32.5ha reed fen area, principally to maintain the population of water voles whilst retaining the wetland and passerine breeding bird interest.

G

Areas of reed were cut, and Bearded tit bred.

4. To manage 5.6ha of Woodland/Scrub, to increase population of woodland bird species and bat roosts and provide an enjoyable and varied visitor experience.

Bat monitoring was cancelled due to poor weather but planted native trees have taken.

5. To maintain the River wall/ Visitor Trails/Mantlets, to provide suitable habitat for invertebrates (particularly aculeate hymenoptera) and a safe visitor amenity.

Areas of bare ground were provided, but in future may be inhibited by archaeological concerns and therefore alternative sources of bare ground will need to be found. Sea aster mining bee was recorded.

Table 5: Reporting against objectives

Legend: Black: Red: Amber: Green: Purple: 9

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out of control not is going to achieve the results in next 5 years it will become close but needs some more work, but needs some more input will achieve the objectives will be doing better than expected

Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

G

G

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MP Target

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Lapwing

40

25

11

13

19

27

Redshank

20

8

9

4

9

18

Breeding bird sp

0.6-0.8

1.08

Little grebe

46

47

Shelduck

6

4

Gadwall

16

2

Pochard

3

Garganey

1

1

Marsh warbler

1

1

Barn owl

1

1

Song Thrush

5

6

LRP

1

1

Reed bunting

30

46

G.hopper Warbler

5

Lapwing productivity

5

0

5

0

6

6

1 pair

0

3

1

Meadow Pipit

10

4

Whitethroat

>6

67

Linnet

>4

32

Bearded tit

8

1-2

A

G G G G G P

G P

A A P P

A

Table 6: Key species outcomes (example of the table with the 5-years outcomes)

Overall assessment

G

Significant progress has been made in the management of the wet grassland, with the hydrological system working more effectively, and another leaky EA sluice replaced. The wet conditions and suitable sward attracted an increased number of breeding waders, and the functioning anti-predator fence allowed these to fledge good numbers of chicks, producing an exceptional 1.08 chicks per pair, with only one breach of the fence which was dealt with quickly.

Numbers and diversity of passage and wintering birds were also good. Relations with the grazier improved creating target sward lengths, and works were also undertaken to reprofile scrapes, and remove flowing rush around Ken Barrett, Aveley and the Butts pools.

Review recommended?

Yes - plans for Wennington,

Vertebrate control

Fox: 3 in 33.5 hours by licenced volunteer

Surveillance/management of alien plants undertaken?

Surveillance undertaken: Yes Spreadsheet completed: Yes Species found: Giant hogweed - no action

Pesticide use

Glyphosate to control vegetation along the electric fence

Changes to recording areas?

No

Table 7: Summary an important bit of the evaluation process

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The audit is followed by an annual review, organising meeting between ecologists and reserve staff, ecologists provide ideas, solutions and help the reserve staff to move on and improve their work. It also allows comparisons, helps prioritise budget allocation, track changes, and identify trends.

Some key questions emerged for the evaluation cycle: management plan cycle length? (they have 5 years) who should be involved? interim assessment? (annual or similar reports are important to keep track of the progress) achievable objectives? measurable targets?

9.2

THE MIRAMARE NATURE MARINE RESERVE TOOLS The second part of the workshop has been leaded by Mr. Saul Ciriaco and Mr. Carlo Franzosini, marine biologist researchers at the Miramare Marine Protected Area (Miramare MPA).

How to manage a Marine Protected Area: the Miramare MPA case study The Miramare MPA management plan is founded on a backwards process, which is trying to estimate what the Miramare MPA achieved in the past. Therefore an effectiveness study has been carried out.

The three years 2005-2007 goals have been set in compliance to the three mandatory objectives issued by the Italian Ministry of the Environment. In this sense it was going into the direction of what is supposed to be a management plan.

Each action undertaken has its own indicators related to the expected results to be achieved.

The management staff has the capability to exercise a closer control, the possibility to prioritize or start some actions as to others, and less pressure for accomplishing all the tasks within the year.

The MPA-MEI experience In 2002-2003 Miramare MPA took part as pilot site to the testing phase of the MPA-MEI (Marine Protected Area - Management Effective Initiative) launched by WWF/IUCN-WCPAMarine/NOAA10. For the planning process, the Miramare MPA merged IUCN guidelines and its three years financial plan.

The process aiming to evaluate the effective management as stated by the IUCN includes: selecting a set of measurable indicators that match the goals and objectives of the MPA; developing a realistic work plan and timeline required to complete the evaluation; measuring the indicators and collecting necessary information to conduct the evaluation; 10

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http://www.cbd.int/protected-old/PAME.shtml.

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communicating the results to decision-makers and stakeholders to adapt MPA management.

On the base of the MPA-MEI approach, the Miramare main goals are listed as follows:

Miramare MPA’s goals (2005-2007)

Objectives & Indicators, as from the “How is your MPA doing ?” guidebook

1 - Conservation of the specific diversity

Biophysical 1D; B 1

2 - Conservation of the naturalness

Biophysical 1D; B 1

3 - Conservation of the ecological integrity of the communities

Biophysical 1E; B 7 Socio-economic 5A; S 1

4 - People getting acquaintance with the marine environment and its management

Socio-economic 3D, 3E; S 6 Socio-economic 6A; S 13 Governance 4C; G 11

5 - Conversion of fishing activities and pleasure boating habits

Governance 4A; G 13 Governance 4E; G 4

Table 8: Miramare MPA’ main goals

The Miramare MPA five most relevant objectives are: 1. Conservation of the specific diversity of the tidal zone.

2. Conservation of the naturalness of the underwater and terrestrial landscapes.

3. Conservation of the ecological integrity of the communities living in the Gulf of Trieste.

4. Part of the people attending the Reserve get acquainted with the marine environment and its management, in view of a participative protection of the area shared among all the economic categories, which are operating hereby.

5. To help the conversion of fishing activities and pleasure boating habits, which are no longer sustainable and/or lead their adaptation in the environmental directions.

The Miramare MPA passed the results of this exercise to the Italian Ministry of the Environment to help them with further evaluations and to see how the Country is fulfilling the international accomplishments.

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At this point, evaluation and results can be used in more than one way: Information is used by managers to improve their own performance (adaptive management) Information can also be used for reporting (accountability) Lessons learned by others can be used to improve future planning.

After this process of evaluation, the management staff started to write the management plan in 2009/2010 adopting the common scheme foreseen for the thirty Italian MPAs. The adopted approach provided some progress in the protected area management especially improving the stakeholders involvement, assessing the carrying capacity of the resources used by scuba-divers and educational activities and evaluating the acceptance of the regulations.

After that the Miramare MPA became part of the Conservation Measures Partnership (CMP) and used the Miradi software11 for the process of planning. The Miradi software, better explained in the next paragraph, is organised to have: the targets of conservation, the short and long-term objectives, and the strategies in place meant to reduce threats to the habitats and species for which the AMPs were recognized as Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance (SPAMI).

The project has strengthen the network of Italian SPAMIs by ensuring each one meets and maintains over time the basic requirements as called for under the Strategic Action Plan for the conservation of marine and coastal biodiversity in the Mediterranean, the so called SAP BIO protocol12.

The conceptual model introduces a graphical representation of the pattern. It requires the identification of environmental priorities as biodiversity targets which are species listed in Annex 2 of the Protocol and/or marine habitats and species as from the Natura 2000 reference lists. Consequently, direct and indirect threats are listed after interviewing managers and staff. Focusing objectives and strategies for tackling threats represents the further step, then the actions are defined together with the monitoring plan.

The stakeholdersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; analysis completes the collection of information needed to proceed with the formulation of the Action Plan.

The Action Plan describes the expectations, the goals to be achieved, the related indicators, and activities to be undertaken. Finally the Miradi software allowed to obtain a well-structured graphical representation (Figure 43, Table 9).

What to remarks? The Management Plan gave evidence to the shortages in the funding needed to support the set of conservation actions that are planned. This is an important issue as MPAs require funding to enable effective conservation actions.

11 12

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http://www.miradi.org. http://sapbio.rac-spa.org/.

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Figure 43: Miramare MPA diagram view

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DIRECT THREATS

STRATEGIES

INDIRECT THREATS

BIODIVERSITY TARGETS

1- Ordinary operation

DT 1 - Commercial fishing

IT 1 - Misinformation

BT 1 - Sharks, turtles and dolphins

2 - Education and awareness

DT 2 - Frequentation of the terrestrial park

IT 2 - Lack of civic duties

BT 2 - European Shag

3 - Surveillance

DT 3 - Boating

IT 3 - Malfunction of sewers and purifiers, sewerage incomplete

BT 3 - Tidal zone community

4 - Biological, physical and fishing monitoring

DT 4 - Visitors who donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t follow regulations and guideâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recommendations

IT 4 - Lack of political sensitivity - Industrial pressures - Lobby

BT 4 - Cliff community (ichthyofauna and benthos)

5 - Networking of marine and coastal protected areas

DT 5 - Illegal fishery: game and commercial

BT 5 - Coastal detrital

6 - Relationship with stakeholders

DT 6 - Terrigenous sedimentation

BT 6 - Sandysea bottoms and phanerogams bottoms

DT 7 - Wastewater pollution (urban and industrial) DT 8 - Maritime navigation DT 9 - Climate change Table 9: Miramare MPA strategies, threats, biodiversity targets

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Miradi software and how it does work The ISEA project started in 2010, promoted and carried out by WWF in collaboration with the Italian Ministry for the Environment. The project aimed to standardise the management plan of all Italian MPAs recognised as SPAMI by the Barcelona Convention. The Miramare MPA participated in the project and to the standardization of the management plan. In this framework the main goals and objectives have been: the protected area must have a management body, endowed with sufficient powers, means, and human resources to prevent and/or control activities likely to be contrary to the aims of the protected area; the management plan has to be in force and officially adopted; and the area has to have a monitoring program that includes the identification and monitoring of a certain number of significant parameters for the area in question.

This is allowing the assessment of the state and evolution of the area, as well as the effectiveness of protection and management measures implemented, so that they may be adapted, if necessary.

The system compares all protected areas and their effectiveness. The operative tool is represented by the Miradi (http://miradi.org) an open code software suitable for the users.

The Management plan includes the following sections: 1. legal status 2. planning 3. financial means 4. management methods 5. monitoring 6. availability of information.

Miradiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most important feature is a â&#x20AC;&#x153;step-by-stepâ&#x20AC;? interview mode. Miradi presents users with a series of friendly wizards that guide users through a structured process. All these steps require an accurate translation and a localization of species, habitats, laws etc (Figure 44).

Figure 44: Miramare MPA Miradi

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Step-by-step interview 1A. Define initial project team • Select initial team members • Identify key skills • Agree on roles and responsibilities 1B. Define scope, vision and targets • Define project scope • Develop map of project area • Agree on project vision • Select conservation targets • Describe status of targets 1C. Identify critical threats • Identify direct threats • Rank direct threats Diagram view 1D. Complete situation analysis • Identify indirect threats and opportunities • Assess stakeholders • Create initial conceptual model • Ground-truth and revise model The conceptual model provides a visual overview of project’s situation in a flowchart format.

In a complete conceptual diagram, the overall project scope is linked to specific conservation targets that are each in turn linked to direct threats and the contributing factors that lead to these threats. The diagram also displays the strategies that the project team is taking to counter these threats, showing the key assumptions that the project team is making about how their actions will lead to their desired outcomes.

Viability analysis Viability analysis requires looking at each conservation target carefully in order to determine how to measure its “health” over the time. And then to identify how the target is going today and what a “healthy state” might look like.

This step is the key to highlight the most sensitive targets requiring immediate attention, and constantly monitoring over the time.

Strategic planning and monitoring views In the strategic planning view, users can develop their project’s specific goals and objectives following the guidance of the interview process. The software then enables users to link specific strategies to these goals and objectives.

2A. Develop strategic plan • Develop goals for each target • Identify key factors and draft strategies • Rank draft strategies • Create results chains showing assumptions 104

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• Develop objectives • Finalize project conceptual model • Finalize strategic plan The monitoring window helps users to identify and prioritize monitoring indicators to measure the status of conservation targets and to assess the effectiveness of their strategies.

The software facilitates the storage and analysis of key monitoring data.

2B. Develop monitoring plan • Define audiences and information needs • Define indicators • Finalize monitoring plan 2C. Develop operational plan • Assess human, financial and other resources • Assess risks • plan project lifespan and exit strategy Work plan and budget views The work plan window enables users to take their strategic and monitoring plans and convert them into a series of tasks that can be assigned to different project team members.

Users are also able to display these tasks in either a Gantt chart or calendar mode, both for people involved in the project and/or for the project as a whole.

3A. Develop short-term work plan • Detail activities, tasks and responsibilities • Detail methods, tasks and responsibilities • Develop project timeline or calendar Budget views enables project teams to develop financial budgets, organized by activities, accounting codes, and/or funding sources.

3B. Develop and refine project budget • Estimate costs for activities and monitoring • Develop and submit funding proposals • Obtain financial resources 3C. Implement plans • Implement strategic and monitoring plans • Implement work plan Analyse, use, adapt 4A. Prepare data for analysis • Develop systems for recording, storing, processing & backing up project data 4B. Analyse results • Analyse project results and assumptions • Analyse operational and financial data • Document discussions and decisions 4C. Adapt project plan • Revise project plan: strategic, monitoring, operational & work plans

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Capture and share learning 5A. Document learning • Document key results and lessons 5B. Share learning • Identify key audiences • Develop communications strategy • Report to project team and stakeholders • Develop and share communication products • Use other’s communication products 5C. Create a learning environment • Share feedback formally or informally • Conduct evaluations and/or audits at appropriate times • Demonstrate commitment from leaders to learning and innovation • Provide a safe environment for encouraging experimentation • Share success and failures with practitioners around the world Output The following output is provided by the software (Figure 45, Figure 46, Figure 47).

Figure 45: Miramare MPA Miradi output1

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Figure 46: Miramare MPA Miradi output2

Figure 47: Miramare MPA Miradi output3

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10

WORKSHOP “PARK BRANDING AND LABELLING”

The workshop has been divided into two main sections, the first one focusing on the methodological approach (Mrs. Lucia Naviglio) and the second one on best practice illustration (Mr. Enrico Vettorazzo).

10.1

METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH Mrs. Lucia Naviglio is scientific advisor in the field of applied ecology, environmental conservation with special regard to protected areas; and former researcher at ENEA (National Agency for new technologies, energy and sustainable economic development), coordinating national and international projects about voluntary tools, sustainability and park branding, former researcher at the University La Sapienza Rome, and in charge of the Environmental scientific service of the Abruzzo National Park.

Mrs. Naviglio mainly tackled the park labelling/branding issue by focusing on the following aspects: Quality and environmental quality Generality on labels, the park label How to manage the park label Voluntary tools useful for a label management Ecolabel and other label in ecotourism Experiences of label implementation Brand and label As regard the methodology, the first terminology mistake should be solved. By brand it might refer to the name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one sellerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s product distinct from those of other sellers (i.e. Coca Cola). By label to the Ecolabel, Emas label, Park label certifying the compliance to a standardised scheme and rule.

Referring to protected areas it has to be clear that any label/brand must be a tool and not a goal and that this particularly applies to park labels. In fact, the main goals of protected areas are to guarantee biodiversity improvement and conservation and to promote environmental knowledge and sustainable development. Branding could be a useful tool to achieve protected areaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s goals as far as it can make a contribution to the reduction of local pressures that can lead to an impact on biodiversity.

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In order to manage a brand/label it is important to rely on an integrated approach where quality is the core concept that fully concerns environment both at local and global level according to specific standards.

Some examples of labels that guarantee high quality standards have been given, especially as far as environment is concerned: natural environment (habitat, ecosystems, species), landscape, food products, handcrafts, services to citizens and tourists, accommodation and receptivity, lifestyle, communication.

Labels are applied both to product and services. In the first case the label guarantees that the final product or service provided satisfies the standard requirements characteristics: chemical, organoleptic, physical, origin etc. (i.e. DOC/CDO controlled designation of origin, IGP/PGI Protected Geographical Indication, ecolabel). Process quality label guarantees that all the processes of production/services provision satisfy the standard required for environmental quality (i.e. DOC, management systems ISO 14001, EMAS, FSC, ecotourism labels).

Which environmental quality? Local and global environment should be taken into account: considering at the local level biodiversity, vegetation, fauna, ecological corridors, soil, air, water (underground and surface), urban areas; and at the global level energy production/ consumption, greenhouse gases production, raw materials use, water uses, waste production.

The label role is to guarantee distinction, diversification and communication of quality properties in terms of characteristics of the product or of the production process, characteristics of the service provided, and characteristics of a territory/area.

The label has to have a clear and easy to understand meaning, be correctly managed according to clear and well communicated procedures; be based on simple and easy to verify requirements; have uniform and coherent rules, be controlled, possibly by a third party subject, be pertaining to the institutional aims of the subject managing the label.

According to the Italian law (Civil Code) some main categories of label can be identified: enterprise typicalness (not to be confused with quality) conformity (to a standard) collective: identifies products/services produced/provided by different subjects controlled by a third party owner of the label and establishes rules and requirements for the label award. It implies a regulation for the label use and management.

The role of the label owner is not to produce services/products but to establish rules for the label awarding; to control that the subjects awarded with the label follow the rules and requirements; to promote on the market the products/producers or services/providers awarded with the label (Figure 48).

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Figure 48: EcoLabels

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The park label The Italian National frame law for the protected areas (L394/91) allows parks to authorise third parties using its own label (par. 14). On the basis of conventions between the park and the third party, the label is assigned to local services and product. The rationale is “the promotion of the traditional activities […] and any initiative able to develop tourism and local initiatives” complying with the conservation rules of the protected area. It means that the park label must mainly consider that the product/services and the production/provision have to take into account the environmental quality and conservation, helping the Park Authority to pursue his institutional goals.

In this sense the park label can be a good tool to: activate networks, promote good practices, involve tourists and local operators in appreciating environmental conservation, obtain concrete results in a short time, benefit local economy giving value to the territory, strength local identity, promote sustainable development, link different products and services to the environmental and socioeconomic values to quality and to protected area’s conservation principles.

The park label has to be managed according to clear rules and, consequently, with a wellstructured management organization and procedures, and comply with the conservation needs of the protected area by considering the environmental quality and helping the Park Authority to pursue the institutional goals.

The park label is a tool to reach a long list of goals but it has to be managed according to clear rules and requirements and become part of a wider strategic plan. Synthesizing the park label has to be adopted: For promotional purposes According to specific requirements (disciplinary) established by the Park authority shared and agreed with the stakeholders Awarding product and services good practices of producers/providers For increasing the annual budget: the label could be “sold” Costs Stakeholders participation Direct support of the management and control costs.

Some strength points should be highlighted, among those: easy-to-identify the product/ service, visitors are able to link the label to the environmental quality, links the park image to local development, facilitates the link between Park and enterprises. On the contrary the weak points are represented by the fact that there are too many labels with different meanings, contents, regulations, objectives; the fragmentariness and often not clear contents, the poor contractual power and the high costs for the enterprises.

As regard the external dimension, the threats affect customer confusion, low effectiveness, loss of credibility, difficulties to create networks, slow local development, and weak park authority. The opportunities rely on networks between different typologies of activity, networks between operators providing different products/services, possibility to follow strategic paths, improvement of territorial offer, improvement of the link between protected area and local development, value improvement of agriculture typical products and not impacting with biodiversity.

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Park label management Park label management is one of the crucial points in order to successfully implement the procedure. In this case the park authority plays a relevant role in establishing: General objective of the label (policy, strategy): why a label? What is its purpose?

Criteria for identifying the stakeholders: to whom to give the label?

Which ones their characteristics?

Criteria for the awarding: rules, requirements (disciplinary) Criteria for verification and control of the requirements respect/compliance: who controls? When, how? Who decides whom to award with the label?

Criteria for renewal or suspension of the award.

Figure 49: Park label management

Managing the park label requires a participative approach because it should be based on a bottom up approach dealing to standard criteria shared with the stakeholders involved in the project (Figure 49).

The main experiences of label award are related to agriculture and tourism. They are relevant economic activities in many protected areas and have specific weakness: fragmentation, low coordination ability, small and familiar enterprises, low level of technology and innovation, low integration ability with other activities (i.e. tourism), poor marketing and incoming strategies, poor knowledge of laws, procedures, standards, management and opportunities.

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Labels A good reference is the Ecolabel and other useful voluntary tools as are the Local Agenda 21, the Environmental Management systems (ISO 14001 e EMAS) and the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in protected areas.

The common elements characterising the tools are the strong commitment, the communication, the training, information and awareness, the participation to decisionmakings, and the inclusion in the international policies for sustainability. They are all synergic and there arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t any antagonisms or overlapping among them.

Ecolabel The EU Ecolabel was established in 1992 by the European Commission (Figure 50). The EU Ecolabel helps to identify products and services that have a reduced environmental impact throughout their life cycle. Recognised throughout Europe, EU Ecolabel is a voluntary label promoting environmental excellence which can be trusted. It is the only pan-European Type I official Ecolabel. The EU Ecolabel is awarded according to ecological criteria agreed on by experts, industry, consumer organisations and environmental NGOs and verified by independent third parties. The implementation of the EU Ecolabel is set through the Regulation (EC) No 66/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Counci13.

Figure 50: EU Ecolabel

Since the year 2000 it included services too, such as tourist accommodation services.

In particular, it concerns energy consumption, renewable sources energy production, water consumption and many other aspects that are environmentally involved in tourism accommodation services.

13

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecolabel/index_en.htm; http://www.eco-label-tourism.com/frameset/frameset.html; http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecolabel/product/pg_tourism_en.htm#criteria.

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National park quality label certification for tourism companies In 2004 the Italian Ministry of the Environment set up a working group with the aim to prepare a disciplinary regards the procedure to assign park quality label certification to tourism companies.

The disciplinary should define common performance standard inside and outside the park.

Some criteria have been suggested considering the categories of stakeholders: Criteria for accommodation and restoration facilities (hotel and pension, camping, hostel, bed and breakfast, room-renting, mountain shelter, agritourism, restaurant, residence, village and vacation house, visitor centre and small meeting facilities of the protected areas), Touristic services (tourism agency, tour operators), Sport, leisure time, nature enjoyment facilities (sky infrastructure, golf course, sailing and pleasure boating infrastructure, bathing establishment), Services for sport, leisure time and nature enjoyment (touristic and naturalistic guide service bird-watching, sea-watching, trekking, cross-country skiing, hypo-tourism, fishing-tourism).

ISO 14001 and EMAS The environmental management system (EMS) is an approach that aims at improving the environmental performance of all activities with special regards to the EMAS (Environmental Management and Auditing Scheme) and the ISO 14001 (Figure 51). The two systems help control and decrease impacts and losses during the management of a business activity thanks to an environmental analysis and the definition of an environmental management system.

The system helps to work according to processes establishing: who does what how, when and where which are the improvement objectives which are the expected and the obtained results how to verify the results and check programs how to monitor processes, indicators etc.

The ISO accreditation and certification goes through: Standardization: UNI/Slovenian Institute for Standardization (SIST)14 Accreditation: Accredia/Slovenska Akreditacija (SA) authorize third subject for certification15 Accredited bodies certify according the standard requirements: certify that EMS comply with the ISO 14001 requirements (in Italy for example Certiquality, DNV, Rina; in Slovenia SIQ16) The EMAS regulation was developed in 1993 by the European Commission. In order to register with EMAS, organisations must meet the requirements of the EU EMAS-Regulation17.

14

http://www.uni.com/ ; http://www.sist.si/ http://www.accredia.it/ ; http://www.sist.si/ http://www.siq.si/?L=3 17 Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 on the voluntary participation by organisations in a Community eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS), repealing Regulation (EC) No 761/2001 and Commission Decisions 2001/681/EC and 2006/193/EC. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:342:0001 :01:EN:HTML. 15 16

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Figure 51: Emas and ISO 14001

This EMS model cans suite parks management perfectly. The success of the initiative is based not only on the environmental analysis of the organization involved in the park management and the territory but also on the stakeholdersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; involvement. In fact, any person interacting with the territory can affect environment quality by improving or decreasing it. Therefore, everybody is a potential quality â&#x20AC;&#x153;providerâ&#x20AC;? according to specific requirements (Figure 52).

Figure 52: EMS model in protected areas

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The European Charter for Sustainable Tourism (ECTS) The European Charter for Sustainable Tourism (ECTS) in protected areas is an innovative tool to promote local development and sustainable tourism in protected areas. It involves private tourism operators, local authorities and common citizens at the same time as they are supposed to be all partners of a common agreed strategy18.

The Charter relies on a series of principles such as encouraging specific tourism products which enable discovery and understanding of the area; increasing knowledge of the protected area and sustainability issues amongst all those involved in tourism; increasing benefits from tourism to the local economy and monitoring and affecting visitor flows to reduce negative impacts (Figure 53).

From the principles point of view the Charter is based on: Working in partnership to involve all those implicated by tourism in and around the protected area in its development and management Preparing and implementing a sustainable tourism strategy and action plan for the protected area Addressing key issues to protect and enhance the areaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s natural and cultural heritage, for and through tourism, and to protect it from excessive tourism development, to provide all visitors with a high quality experience in all aspects of their visit Addressing key issues to communicate effectively to visitors about the special qualities of the area, to encourage specific tourism products which enable discovery and understanding of the area, to increase knowledge of the protected area and sustainability issues amongst all those involved in tourism, to ensure that tourism supports and does not reduce the quality of life of local residents, to increase benefits from tourism to the local economy, to monitor and influence visitor flows to reduce negative impacts.

From the operative point of view the Charter is based on: general strategy shared among the partners training and information stakeholder involvement (Forum) to establish the Forum functioning to share the general strategy to establish common objectives and action to establish the requirement to be awarded with the Park logo diagnostic report and criticism evaluation strategic objectives and Action Plan protocol agreements, and then to implement all the decisions, permanent forum management, and results monitoring.

18

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http://www.federparchi.it/cets.html http://www.european-charter.org.

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Figure 53: ECST in protected areas

The Charter and its methodology were developed by a group representing protected areas, the tourism industry and their partners, led by the Federation of Regional Nature Parks in France under the umbrella of the EUROPARC Federation.

The Charter and the Charter Network is managed by the EUROPARC Federation, a panEuropean and non-governmental umbrella organisation of protected areas in Europe.

Conclusions Some relationship among the three important tools EMS ISO 14001/EMAS, ECST Charter and Agenda 21 are envisaged because all address citizens and institutions in order to improve environment and life quality (Figure 54).

Figure 54: Relationship among the tools

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Finally it is to remark that the park label is a special tool, easily recognized by visitors as a way to increase environment quality but it needs to be developed on the basis of the same criteria, previously set by a network of parks. Labelling is just a step of an overall strategy developed by the protected areas, whose aim is to involve local stakeholders in the implementation of the sustainable development of the area. Involved stakeholders are, in some manner, recognizable by having the label. Introducing the label without having this strategy in mind would not be successful.

10.2

BEST PRACTICE: THE DOLOMITI BELLUNESI NATIONAL PARK

Mr. Enrico Vettorazzo is responsible for dissemination and research activities of the Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park (Veneto Region â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Province of Belluno â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Italy).

Figure 55: The Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park

The best practice and the experience about the park branding with special regards to the Quality Chart have been presented.

The Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park is situated in the Veneto Region, precisely in the southern section of the Province of Belluno, at less than one hundred kilometres from the town of Venice.

The Park was created in order to protect a territory of extraordinary landscape and naturalistic value with more than 31 thousand hectares. The Vette di Feltre and Mount Serva were already famous for their flora in the 18th century. The presence of rare species and of a great variety of natural habitats is mainly due to the geographical position of the territory. The Park is situated on the edge of the South-eastern Alps, in impracticable areas which, in part, were not covered by the glaciers forming during the glacial periods of the Quaternary, the last of which disappeared about 10,000-12,000 years ago.

The Park consists of different environments and cultures. There are many differences between the country wards situated on the slopes looking over the Valley of the Piave (in the areas of Feltre and Belluno) and the villages lying in the valleys of Agordo and Zoldo, since they are situated on slopes with completely different climatic and geological features.

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The goals of the Park are: preservation of nature application of management methods in order to integrate humans with natural environment preservation of anthropological, historical and architectonical values and traditional activities education, scientific studies, recreational activities.

In this framework some best practices have been carried out concerning: planning, scientific research and monitoring, tourist facilities, “model shepherd’s hut” project, Fossil free project, Carta Qualità - Quality Chart, ISO and EMAS registration.

Planning The area is managed through a social and economic long-term plan and it carries out monitoring activities such as habitats mapping, species reintroduction and it welcomes many visitors every year thanks to its facilities. The economic and social long-term plan takes into account also the promotion of activities to carry out boosting the economic and social development of the communities inside the Park and in the bordering territory.

The following are the lines of intervention: preservation of environmental heritage and human landscape development of resident communities by sustainable economic activities increase of Park system efficiency: ISO and EMAS protocols.

Scientific research and monitoring Activities are carried out in the field of habitat mapping; updated checklist of flora and fauna; monitoring of indicator or vulnerable species (ungulates, grouse, fish); investigations on the distribution of species (breeding birds atlas) are implemented.

Tourist facilities By tourist facilities, visitor centres, cultural and historical sites, refuges and paths are considered.

The structures providing information on the Park or carrying out didactic activities are many: three Visitor Centres, one Botanic Garden, and one Environmental Education Centre.

Dedicated both to tourists and residents, they would like to be not just information structures, but also places of cultural exchange. The Visitor Centres are the showcase of the Park territory, a combination of culture and information both for tourists and residents. They are situated in three different areas of the Park: in Pedavena nearby Feltre, in Belluno, and in the mining site of Valle Imperina nearby Agordo.

They deal with different aspects: the Visitor Centre of Pedavena focuses on an interior journey to discover the ethical reasons for the conservation of nature, the Visitor Centre of 121

Valle Imperina focuses on miners, chair makers, and the legendary wild man, while the Visitor Centre of Belluno deals with the whole territory of the Park.

“Model shepherd’s hut” project The aim of the project is to conserve the culture of the mountain breeding supporting the multifunctionality role of the agriculture. The organic farming is boosted together with agritourism activities and environmental education. The renewable energy sources are applied together with the recovery of energy from biomass, disposal of zootechnical sewage, application of organic zootechnical methods.

The Parks must preserve naturalistic elements and, simultaneously, promote agro-sylvanpastoral activities rationalizing mountain pasture as an example of integration between humans and natural environment.

“Fossil free” project Fossil free project aims to reduce the fossil fuel consumption. Therefore photovoltaic panels and micro-hydroelectric plants have been installed together with biomass and biodiesel electric generators.

Quality Charter The Quality Charter is first of all a territorial marketing project. The park may allow stakeholders to put the Park logo on products and services that present quality requirements and fulfil the objectives of the Park (as stated in the L. 394/91, paragraph 14). It represents a comprehensive promotion of the territory, in such a manner that the nature value, landscape value, historical value and cultural value are transformed into products and services quality.

The fields of application are: Agroalimentary Tourism and hospitality Commerce Handicraft Services Institutions.

In this way, the Charter both promotes local enterprises; their products gain visibility for tourists and residents, and guarantee visitors high quality park products.

The Quality Charter project is based on the development of rules and regulations that set ecofriendly standards besides granting the logo and promoting it through the park newsletter, international fairs participation and its website.

The role of the Park is not to certify, only checking the respect of the disciplinary and when necessary, it relies on third party certification (Organic Farming, DOP, IGP, Ecolabel). The park asks for signing a formal agreement of compliance with the aims of the Park.

Depending on the commitment different levels can be reached allowing displaying different logos (Figure 56).

The Disciplinary determines the quality of the offer by evaluating the degree of respecting the 122

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environment, evaluates the integration of products and services offered by the environmental, historical and cultural heritage.

“Carta Qualità” logo Gold flavours

Gold flavours “Bio” (for organic agriculture)

Silver flavours

Park’s friends

Figure 56: The Quality Chart

Figure 57: The Quality Chart network

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The network is continuously increasing, more than 200 organisations are involved (Figure 58, Figure 59).

Figure 58: The Decalogue of the responsible tourist

Figure 59: Lattebusche

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Conclusion Mr. Vettorazzo pointed out that the Charter is constantly evolving, setting new goals for the future and including an increasing number of partners that can make the project wider and more effective.

He also testified that labelling is just the final step of a long process, which in the case of the Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park is lasting for more than ten years, and which began on the impulse of the Park with the aim to involve local stakeholders in the sustainable development of the area.

Building the network is the first step to develop!

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11

WORKSHOP “PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS, PRO-BIODIVERSITY BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT OF PROTECTED AREAS”

Mr. Paul Goriup is Director of the Fieldfare International Ecological Development plc - UK, and BioFare International Investments Ltd. He focused his speech about public-private partnerships and the identification of probusiness activities, instruments and financial solutions providing long-term economic and nature conservation benefits, suitable for particular area and region.

Starting with some statistical data on the attitudes of the businesses towards environmental investment and threats, and according to the Land Manager Survey in 2001, the environmental investment segment is seen among the businesses as the one with low returns (over 90% replies), governed by governmental regulations and taxation laws, then environmental investments lack appreciation of environmental benefits, are characterised by high risk and lack of interest by banks.

TEEB Business Edition from 2010 reveals that the most concerned about the biodiversity loss as a threat to their business growth prospects are the respondents from Latin America and Africa, the continents which depend on nature as a resource for their development. On the contrary, in EU countries, Western Europe and North America 80-90% of respondents donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see it as a threat.

Typical revenue resources in protected areas (PAs) include certified sustainable agriculture and forestry, natural resource harvesting (reeds, pollen, honey), gene banks, ecosystem services maintenance, carbon sequestration, renewable energy and low impact tourism.

Those of course are of much bigger importance for the third world countries in comparison with the technologically more developed American and European countries.

11.1

PUBLIC-PRIVATE-PARTNERSHIPS (PPPS) Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) can be broadly defined as a range of public-private interactions intended to serve public purposes that combine market incentives from the private sector with political authority from the public sector, and innovation and public support from the non-profit sector, to provide public goods or fulfil a societal need.

These sectors (private, governmental and voluntary) form PPP and Pro-Biodiversity Business (PBB) investment niche (Figure 60).

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Figure 60: PPP/PBB investment niche

PPPs fill a niche in traditionally bureaucratic structures by creating a forum in which diverse interests can negotiate mutual benefits and thus larger-scale and more holistic goals can be achieved. Among their characteristics, diversity in stakeholders, trust among them and development of social capital must be mentioned, as well as clear and common goals, technical and financial support and shared norms.

PPPs appear in various forms, the most common are joint ventures, concessions, grants and subsidies (in kind support), joint co-financed projects, sponsorships, certifications and competitions, stakeholder forums, Memorandums of Understanding, Leader programme, PBBs. Within PAs, the PPP practice is well developed in Africa with the involvement of international NGOs in the management of PAs, while in Europe, the practice is limited to mainly visitor management and public awareness field, with EU financing of Natura 2000 network (via e.g.

LIFE programme, Structure funds and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development - EAFRD) promoting and encouraging PPP-like mechanisms.

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11.2

FIELDFARE INTERNATIONAL LTD Fieldfare International, where the speaker is coming from, is a public limited company (plc) endorsed by UK Ethical Investors Group which since 1996 had over 220,000 € of share capital contributed from 25 individuals and preference capital from WWF (1998) and Doen Foundation (2002), with a subsidiary in Ukraine and joint ventures in Bulgaria.

Their main statutory objectives include the promotion of ecologically sustainable development and the maintenance of ecological processes through wise use and restoration, and adherence to an ethic of environmental care which serves to ensure that the operations of the company shall not result in unsustainable use, pollution or destruction of the social fabric of local communities. Further on, their approach includes: Promotion of ecologically sustainable development and wise use of land and natural resources, especially in the Lower Danube region Fostering of local employment and development of business activities that monetize nature and have a net ecological benefit. Meaning that a set of company’s activities brings an ecological benefit in a defined area over time. For example, if part of the area is open to the visitors which results in some ecological loss, there must be part of the area closed to compensate this loss and bring a common benefit in ecological terms And providing a positive platform for utilizing resources of the ethical investment movement, with the eventual aim of a public listing.

Fieldfare International plc main investment area is in the Lower Danube area in Ukraine, including eco-business centre in Reni, and areas of ecotourism interest, such as lakes, islands and steppe as prevailing habitats, cross-border biosphere reserves, and Vylkove Ecotourism Centre.

Investment partners are local public administrations, Danube Biosphere Reserve, NGOs and local enterprises. Instead of “hands-off” investment, they currently do “hands-on” activities as the local people still don’t understand the money received has to be spent for strictly defined purposes and returned in the end and as such are unable to carry out the activities independently.

Investment areas are in the fields of renewable energy (biomass energy from reedbed restoration and management), ecotourism, as well as organic farming (cereals, fibres and sunflower oil) and angling based on native fish and organic fish production.

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11.3

RENEWABLE ENERGY The effort in the field of renewable energies was spread considering several sources: Forestry: bulk wood and chip Micro-hydropower Briquette and pellet production Wind farms Barrages Biofuels.

Reed bond Upon the international agendas for climate change mitigation and adoption, FIED perceived the reed biomass from Lower Danube as a potential 3-win: as conservation, community and commercial opportunity. Reed harvesting is an answer to the recent conservation threats as due to the hydrological changes, the reeds are not refreshed any more with regular seasonal floods and because of that, a drastic 50% decrease of bird populations was recorded.

In April 2010 the “reed bond” was launched to finance a pilot reed pelleting project and through this mechanism, 260,000 € raised in two months to start the project.

The project implementation is dealt through a joint venture with an existing reed harvesting company in Reni and harvesting lease from local authority with quota set.

Equipment was procured and tested in UK and delivered to Ukraine in February 2011.

Throughout 2011, the equipment and staff was in place to start the first trial harvest in January 2012 on 40 hectares of surfaces, ending up with 70 tons of good quality pellets produced and sold locally and increasing local employment by 8 persons. In the future they will continue to work on 150 hectares of reed annually. Paying 3 €/hectare to the local administration this means 4,500 € in total, which presents the entire local municipal budget in Ukraine. The sale price achieved confirms the financial viability of the project and now they are seeking further 600,000 € for expansion.

Investors are invited to subscribe the bonds of £100 each, with a minimum subscription of ten bonds (£1,000) which will be repaid over five and a half years, with 8% interest on the outstanding balance, paid annually in the first week of January. The capital and interest payment schedule per £100 bond is shown below (Table 10):

Jan-11 Capital repayment

Jan-12

Jan-13

Jan-14

Jan-15

Jan-15

Total return

20.00

20.00

20.00

20.00

20.00

100.00

Interest

4.00

8.00

6.40

4.80

3.20

1.60

28.00

Annual payment

4.00

28.00

26.40

27.80

23.20

21.60

128.00

Table 10: Total return on the investment

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Conditions of offer Bonds will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis until fully subscribed. Bonds are not transferable. The bonds will be receipted and registered by the Company but no certificates will be issued.

Loan repayments will be made net of UK income tax. Bond holders will be issued with tax certificates showing the deductions made.

The directors reserve the right to redeem the bonds earlier than the full term, paying the full outstanding capital and interest pro rata.

Risk analysis A variety of risks are associated with this investment. The success of the project depends largely upon the expertise of the Directors and their ability to implement it. The loss of one or other of the Directors may have an adverse effect on the project viability. However, the Company has Key Man insurance to cover this eventuality.

The project may be adversely affected by changes in economic, political, judicial, administrative, taxation or other regulatory factors, as well as other unforeseen matters.

The project operations will be subject not only to statutory environmental and safety regulations, but also to regular monitoring of biodiversity benefits from the investments. This may require stricter or additional standards than those currently in effect, resulting in higher costs than anticipated.

The following assumptions have been made and addressed in preparing the business plan for the project: There will be sufficient availability of and access to suitable biomass The equipment will perform as expected, based on trials and inspection of existing installations Sufficient capital will be raised to make the project financially viable One or more customers will purchase the pellets for at least ÂŁ80/tonne.

A short video illustrating the reed biomass energy chain can be viewed here: http://www. youtube.com/watch?v=smxVm2INlRY.

11.4

ECOTOURISM Environmentally responsible travel to natural areas, in order to enjoy and appreciate nature and accompanying cultural features that promote conservation, have a low visitor impact and provide for beneficially active socio-economic involvement of local people. FIED sees its main components in conscientious, low-impact visitor behaviour, sensitivity towards and appreciation of local cultures and biodiversity, support for local conservation efforts (at least at the level of the service providing companies), sustainable benefits to local communities, local participation in decision making and educational components for both, the traveller and local communities.

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They experienced good practice examples, such as low numbers groups with quiet boat electric powered in wetlands, nature observation and photo-hunting as well as involving local people; on the other hand also not so good practice is observed such as uncontrolled access causing erosion, poor waste management and outrageous tourist behaviour.

The certification is important as a quality control tool. Visitor centres provide important functions, such as sense of place, provide a tourism resource and promote sustainability and building social capital for local people. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s crucial that the visitor centre is accessible and linked to local community, preferably constructed from local materials, sustainable and low maintenance, interpretation must be appropriate, tell a story and use different media.

In Ukraine the ecotourism is a completely new sector with very unclear legal situation, so it is relatively undeveloped, with PAs unprepared for ecotourism, no certification schemes and general lack of infrastructure, informing and viewing facilities.

FIED works in ecotourism field to attract visitors as market for local business partners in sectors such as crafts, angling, private accommodation, traditional cuisine, biofuel and organic farming. In return, the local business partners help to raise environmental awareness, protect valuable habitats and maintain local culture.

Ecotourism PPP has already shown some benefits, including a private hotel owner who has leased a nearby Nature Reserve to manage it for biodiversity conservation and ecotourism, donations made to improve management from very wealthy tour participants, assistance for formulating local green tourism policy and counterweight to mass tourism developments, mainly seen on the coast.

11.5

MONITORING OUTCOMES Monitoring outcomes of PPP and PBB incentives are very important. PBB investment should be able to demonstrate with independent expert verification at a minimum Net Ecological Loss (NEL), and preferably Net Ecological Benefit (NEB), and that this is a direct product of the investment itself over time.

NEB is defined as the difference in ecological state of a geographically determined area from the present time projected to the specified future date, which can be considered as an improvement in ecological conditions and functions for habitats/species. It implies the sustainable use of natural resources as a part of the investment proposal.

When the financial audit of net profit/costs is done, the ecological features should be audited at the same time and a comprehensive view over the situation gained. The selection of appropriate indicators has to take account of the business activities, locality of the business and environment conditions, whether the benefits will arise from use, restoration or set-aside, presence of habitats and species of conservation concern, feasibility of monitoring, and potential for autonomous date collection by the company itself.

FIEDâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s monitoring of reedbed harvesting practice for example found the improvement of bird population conditions in the area, summing up to 35 waterbird species recorded and 80 bird species in total with important populations of some of them.

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11.6

LESSONS LEARNT FROM PPP Important PPP lessons learnt: Continuous communication with the local people is necessary to allay suspicions connected that the company has some hidden agenda and will put them at disadvantage in the end. NGO engagement and low investments helpful in this regard.

Multi-sectoral approach needed in linking investments to ecological benefits, for example tourists needs.

Training and supervision of staff is crucial for them and they have to invest a lot of their energy and time in finding, engaging and continuously training and motivating their management staff which is scarce in the region.

Multilateral investments: working with several partners helps prevent investments being captured and corruption practices encourage competition and bargaining power.

Delivering rapid results is necessary though sometimes hard to accomplish, but those investing should be aware of putting something in their plans (example of their land purchase being more effective then thousand promises).

Due diligence audits: make sure that partners fully understand accounting practices, valuation of assets, profitability and similar concepts.

Legal backup: in case of unclear legal background, good professional advice is needed preferably from several experts.

Expectations of change: in long-term projects, now governments may bring different perspectives, even revolutions are possible (particularly in Ukraine), which have to be taken into account.

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12

WORKSHOP “SOCIAL ECONOMY AND PROTECTED AREA MANAGEMENT

The topic of the social economy and protected area management has been discussed starting from the best practice performed by the Consortium Il Mosaico. Mr. Luca Fontana, Vice President of the Consortium Il Mosaico and President of the cooperative society Thiel, introduced the model based on the social inclusion in managing protected areas. Then the theoretical model was presented focusing on social inclusion, on how to deal and avoid the welfarism, and new approaches in public goods management introduced. The presentation was given speech has been leaded by Mr. Luca Fazzi, Professor at the University of Trento Department of sociology and social research.

12.1

METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH Social enterprise A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in human and environmental well-being, rather than maximizing profits for external shareholders. Social enterprises can be structured as a for-profit or non-profit and may take the form of a co-operative, mutual organization, a disregarded entity, a social business, or a charity organization.

Many commercial enterprises would consider themselves to have social objectives but commitment to these objectives is motivated by the perception that such commitment will ultimately make the enterprise more financially valuable. Social enterprises differ in that, inversely as they do not aim at offering any benefit to their investors, except when they believe that doing this will ultimately further their capacity to reach their social and environmental goals. The term has a mixed and contested heritage due to its philanthropic roots in the United States and cooperative roots in the United Kingdom, European Union and Asia. In the US, the term is associated with ‘doing charity by doing trade’, rather than ‘doing charity while doing trade’. In other countries there is a much stronger emphasis on community organizing, democratic control of capital and mutual principles, rather than philanthropy. In recent years there has been a rise in the concept of social purpose businesses which pursue social responsibility directly or raise funds for charitable projects.

Which role? Which point of view?

The main point is: which role will social enterprises play considering the broad economic scenario? Which contribute is made by social enterprises to other economic activities?

These are the main questions to be answered when social planning is set up. The focus should shift from “what other actors are able to do in order to sustain social enterprises” to “what social enterprises are able to do in order to make their contribution to the development of the other actors”.

Green Bronx Machine The “Green Bronx Machine” project is a good example of this new paradigm19.

19

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The project started in one of the poorest urban districts of the USA, where at least 250,000 people live under the poverty threshold: the south Bronx. In the Bronx there is no food education and fresh food is rare. Some neighbourhoods up to 17,000 inhabitants are served by one supermarket.

Green Bronx Machine is a project started in 2005 in one school sited in the south Bronx.

Stephen Ritz is a science teacher of that school who adopted the philosophy of not willing to accept the things he can’t change, but willing to change the things he cannot accept.

And “how teaching science where everything dies? And how giving a chance to students living here”. The aim was to change the lives of his students. Early on, Stephen observed that his kids were getting heavier, and sicker and becoming less interested in their future. A trend Stephen was unwilling to accept.

Determined to create a new landscape, Stephen created the Green Bronx Machine, a multifaceted approach to changing lives through food (Figure 61).

Armed with the realization of the power of real food (as in fresh fruit and vegetables) in building healthy minds and bodies, Stephen committed his life’s work to teaching kids to grow it. In the process, he knew the real life application of doing so would transcend all levels of academics: reading, writing, math, science, and more. What he didn’t know was just how much impact this approach would have. Today, his kids have something to look forward to when coming to school. In fact, attendance has risen from an apathetic 43% average to 93%, all because of the opportunity of farming.

Figure 61: Green Bronx Machine project

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Green Bronx Machine built up a network of urban farming involving students of several schools and institutes. The services provided include: Food educational and consulting services urban greenscaping: mobile edible wall units, green walls and green roofs urban agriculture: indoor, mobile and traditional farming urban landscape: atriums, terraces, patios, commercial, residential - installation / maintenance economic development: youth and adult work force development community development: youth, adult, senior services health, wellness, nutrition and advocacy.

The project result is the promotion of a new way to make oneself useful to others. People and kids involved in the project work for themselves and for poor families providing them with healthy food at a low price and improving the landscape of the south Bronx installing vegetable installations in the private and public areas. That is a way of mutual giving and receiving where each one is useful and the entire community benefits from this .

Best practices Some other examples are given based on the idea that social economy should act as the engine for development especially in the case of social agriculture.

Mr. Alberto Grizzo founder and president of the Fattoria Sociale Arca20 (Arca social farm) illustrated the farm activities carried out collaborating with the local stakeholders. Mr. Grizzo recognised that the collaboration is the success factor of the project.

The case history of Veneto Agricoltura and especially the management of Caâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Mello Oasi is reported. The area was having a hard time and several contrasts with the local community.

The establishment of a cooperative composed by local people and the transfer of the management of the Oasi to the established cooperative, solved the main contrast.

Thanks to AdriaWet 2000 project, the cooperative has been involved into a social economy project in order to improve the collaboration with local stakeholders.

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12.2

BEST PRACTICE: IL MOSAICO SOCIAL COOPERATIVES CONSORTIUM Il Mosaico Il Mosaico is a social cooperative Consortium which works in the provinces of Gorizia and Udine. It was founded in 1994 and currently has fifteen social cooperatives. Il Mosaico is committed to pursuing the general interest of its own community in the human promotion and social integration of citizens. It pursues this general mandate through the following goals: to build social and economic processes which focus on helping the weakest people and can intervene in their environments and everyday lives, with the aim of providing social and work inclusion and upholding individuals’ citizenship rights; to promote the reconstruction of social capital, continuously investing in the value of community relationships ; to foster the growth of local networks, i.e. stable and ongoing relationship systems among citizens, institutions and other subjects in the region to enhance the potential and resources for its members; to help develop and promote a culture that encourages the creation of a system of social well-being based on the responsibilities of local communities; to become an expert system of social entrepreneurship, serving as a tool for the creation and development of social economy organisations; to play an active part in the programming of regional social policies.

Between 2003 and 2012, it served as the operational manager of the Foce dell’Isonzo Regional Nature Reserve: it handled the management of green areas, the programming of educational activities, commercial and tourism management, innovation projects and international cooperation projects.

The Consortium Il Mosaico is based on the experience done by Franco Basaglia in the field of psychiatry which led to the Basaglia Law or Law 180 which is the Italian Mental Health Act of 1978, and which represented a great reform of the psychiatric system in Italy. It contained directives for the closing down of all psychiatric hospitals and led them to their gradual replacement with a whole range of community-based services, including settings for acute in-patient care. The law is based on three main pillars: “home” shifting from the concept of staying into living, “sociability” setting up relationships and social network, and “work” as identity base and membership.

On this base and on the base of the national law n. 387/1991 about social cooperation, the Consortium has been set up. The main challenge was to match the competitiveness of the production system with the social and environmental sustainability of the cooperative development models. And the main question is: is the local economy able to reinforce the social protection system through entrepreneurship activities based on the valorisation of human and material resources of the local communities? Yes it is, if and only if the approach moves from sectorial policies towards integrated policies.

The lessons learnt from experience and experimentation show that private public partnership based on win-win models is the most successful approach and the key is transforming social resources from costs to investments in the territory. Following this approach the Consortium counts about thirty-eight spheres of activity (Figure 62).

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Figure 62: Il Mosaico activities

The Consortium assists 92 people supported by the Mental Health Department ASS 2 Isontina. They are mainly aged between 18-44, 50% live in their own or rent apartments and 23% in assisted residence. More than 50% works for the Consortium (Figure 63). People assisted by the Consortium are showing a relevant improvement in their behaviour.

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Figure 63: Il Mosaico employees 21

21

Red bars represents the total employees, grey bars assisted employees.

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The Foce dell’Isonzo Regional Nature Reserve experience The Foce dell’Isonzo Regional Nature Reserve was one of the sectors involving the “Il Mosaico” employees. The activities were based on renewable energy source exploitation, environmental education activities, ecotourism, social economy, territory and human development, biodiversity conservation, research and environmental monitoring (Figure 64).

Figure 64: Il Mosaico activities in the Foce dell’Isonzo Regional Nature Reserve

The economic benefits gained by the Reserve and the implemented model have been stressed out. In fact, considering not only the economic but also the environmental and social benefits as perceived by society, the value produced by the reserve system has been assessed. CETA, the Centre for Theoretical and Applied Ecology, developed the model (Figure 65) aiming at assigning an economic unit of measurement to cost and benefits.

As a result, the net benefit produced by the protected area is to be considered as an indicator of the protected area contribution to the overall wellbeing22. Considering the ratio between the public funding and benefits produced by the protected area, the figure of 8.76 is assessed. This means that each euro of public funding returns 8.76 o in terms of economic, environmental and social benefits as perceived by society (Table 11).

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MARANGON F., SPOTO M. e VISINTIN F. (2008), An Environmental Accounting Model for a Natural Reserve, in Schaltegger S., Bennett M., Burritt R.L. e Jasch C. (eds), Environmental Management Accounting for Cleaner Production, Series Eco-Efficiency in Industry and Science, Vol. 24, Springer Netherlands, pp. 267-282, ISBN: 978-1-4020-8912-1.

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Figure 65: Environmental accounting model of protected areas

Table 11: Benefits produced by protected areas23

As for social figures, about 20 working members were employed in the Reserve that could guarantee four full time jobs to disabled employees and four occasional jobs to disabled employees. During the twelve years of management, 27 work experiences have been offered and carried out.

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VISINTIN F. (2008), Modello di contabilitĂ ambientale per il Sistema delle aree naturali tutelate del Friuli Venezia Giulia, Progetto S.A.R.A. Sistema Aree Regionali Ambientali â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Costituzione sistema regionale delle aree naturali, Ceta, gennaio 2008, Gorizia, Rapporto interno.

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WORKSHOP “COMMUNICATION, INTERPRETATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN PROTECTED AREAS”

Mr. Gregor Torkar is researcher working mainly in the field of science and environmental education. His research interests are biology education, environmental education and nature protection. Mr. Torkar is working as researcher at the Laboratory for environment research of Nova Gorica University and EGEA, Institution for Nature.

13.1

QUESTIONS Each kind of communication requires finding answer to the following questions: • What • Who • Why • How • Where • With what • When • What make me different from the others?

13.2

WHY? … THE MEANING Why? Because there is a gap between people and nature. Interpretation is a way to build bridges for deeper care and understanding in the relationship between mankind and nature and it can be personal (e.g. guided tour) or non-personal (e.g. brochure, signboards).

Interpretation: Is a sort of informal way of education, and the difference between interpretation and education is based on the fact that education aims to change human habits and culture.

Transcripts the meaning of the place for people can’t visit it to make connection to the nature.

The interpreter is one who reveals meaning of a place and the living things, processes and human interactions (past and present) there. Interpreter does not need to be a scientist but each one has something to tell about, for example farmer, hunter, people knowing the place.

Personal interpretation is more effective than the non-personal one.

Considering the meaning of interpretation some definitions are given: Interpretation is a communication process, to reveal meanings in natural and cultural resources in a way that inspires and educates (J. Buchholz) Interpretation is an art of helping people to explore and appreciate our world (www. heritageinterp.org.uk) Interpretation is an educative process in which all participants (including the interpreter) are learning.

The Latin word is educare which means “to bring forth meaning”.

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Why interpretation is so important? Because human behaviours are not sustainable therefore education and changing behaviours are required and chancing deepens on the way the interpretation is done. What we are protecting now is the result of changes during the time.

Wilderness is quite a non-existing status, the environment is anthropised therefore the need is to protect nature and make sense of it.

In the field of environmental education such a process analyses environmental issues and rapid degradation of life support system, their causes and human activity (behaviour), and the concept of sustainability which is the ability of human cultural systems to survive in changing environmental conditions, discussed in the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Res publicaâ&#x20AC;? Socratic dialogue written

by Plato around 380 BC. The long-term sustainability of life on our planet in the face of environmental changes depends on three factors: reliance on solar energy providing energy for plants, warms the planet; chemical cycling recycling nutrients and chemicals; and biodiversity with the meaning of natural (ecosystem) services, life forms, intrinsic value.

Going from reliance to biodiversity, the level of human commitment increases. These factors represent the reason why future generations need to be taught about the present situation in order to have a new kind of thinking and take action in the future. The paradigm of human domination and centralization must be replaced by the holistic paradigm, where we see ourselves as a part of biotic community. Mankind must see their selves as implicated in the world.

Therefore the common sustainable development paradigm expressed by the Figure 66 should be substituted by that illustrated in the Figure 67.

Figure 66: Sustainable development concept

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Figure 67: Holistic sustainable development concept

This is where education plays an important role in the quest for changes and where interpretation is a kind of education that must involve “head” (understanding), “heart” (appreciation) and “body” (protection).

Concluding interpretation is the first step of education in fact: Through interpretation, understanding; through understanding, appreciation; through appreciation, protection (F. Tilden) The head, heart and hands: interpretation needs to address human thoughts, emotions and body.

13.3

WHAT? WHICH GOAL? Activities answering to the question “What” require setting goals: What do you want people to know?

What do you want people to feel?

What do you want people to do?

Going to Mark Richardson, former Alice Springs Desert Park (Australia) manager, he said that the aim of the park is not to get some outcome from the interpretation other than just telling the visitor another fact. We don’t care whether people know by the time they leave our park that … grows to 25 m. We rather wish to see, in the people, a change in attitude about plants: that they are diverse, interesting and worthy of protection.

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Considering the three former questions, the aim is to impress: What do you want people to know? Wilderness and richness, how many animals there are, National Geographic documentary does exist in the reality and you can live it; What do you want people to feel? Beauty as emotion; What do you want people to do? Each time note that nature and environment do exist.

Interpretation helps to find the answer and not to give answer.

13.4

HOW? THE METHOD Tell as a story: this is interpretation!

Having set the importance of interpretation in education the focus is given to the communication and to the key elements characterising it such as body, voice, words, emotions and expectations that can build up good communication skills (Figure 68) which make the difference than a tape recorder.

The etymology of the word communication derives from the Latin word communis which means common, to have something in common, and “communicate” means discuss something, seek for opinion, where “discuss” has not to be considered as a one-way talking.

Figure 68: Key elements of the communication

The communication scheme is based on two subjects who are alternatively transmitter and receiver of the message. They usually use several channels (vision, hearing, smell, touch, taste) setting up a body and face, word, voice communication (Figure 69).

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Figure 69: Communication channels

Considering the three main communication tools, which are body and face, words, voice how to assign the percentages of the next chart?

Figure 70: Communication effectiveness

Fifty-five is body and face, thirty-eight is voice and seven are words!

Citing S. Sterling “Authentic education extends beyond formal degree/schooling … continuous recreation and co-evolution, where society and education are engaged in mutual transformation. It is rooted in place and tradition and heritage”.

Education consists of actively participate in the things they are going on: process of discovery things and don’t focus too much on the content but explore (Figure 71).

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Figure 71: 4E’s & 4T’s

This leads to the constructivism in education, a perspective in education, based on learning through real life experience to actively construct knowledge based on hands-on, experiential, collaborative, project based, and task-based learning. Nonetheless, different learning styles, due to multiple kinds of intelligences must be considered and faced through different teaching strategies and methods (Figure 72): visual, auditory, kinestetic/tactile and olfactory.

Figure 72: Western societies learning styles

The approach is encouraged to move from passive to active way of learning. It is not the interpretation “per se” which leads to learning, but rather the discussion encouraged by interpretation. Research shows that the most effective exhibits for learning are those which encourage visitors to talk to each other about the exhibits, what they mean and how they relate to their life (J. Roff).

If the learning pyramid is considered (Figure 73) participating in discussions and doing reach the highest level of effectiveness. Learning by doing and hands on activities are the rules!

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Figure 73: Learning pyramid

As regard the role teacher/lectures would play, effects of shifting from a passive transmissive teaching to a transformative active teaching, as it is shown in Table 12. The claim is donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t pass the knowledge but leave it growing in students (maieutica, maieutics)24.

24

Maieutics is a pedagogical method synonymous with the Socratic Method. Maieutics is based on the belief that many important lessons and truths cannot be taught directly as a transmission of knowledge from an instructor to a learner, but instead the learner learns these truths by interacting with an instructor and through his or her own experience.

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Table 12: From passive to active teaching

Considering the reasons of the visit, the tour has to be planned accordingly. For example donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t push if the aim is entertainment and spend free time in the area.

As regard the timing, the following rule has to be considered: Age + 2 minutes = childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s concentration Adults = 20-25 minutes.

Therefore, education means planning a good interpretative experience that is necessarily developed through (Figure 74): goal setting (the meaning to pass), preparation (what?), action (doing it), mid-term evaluation (is it working?), additional action (change if necessary) final evaluation (how did it work, how could it be better?) and again goal setting (because it has to be a self-regulated learning process.

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Figure 74: Planning interpretative experience

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13.5

CONCLUSION In order to become more effective in environmental education, visitors questioning and observation before finalizing an interpretative experience should be encouraged. Most importantly, nature is the teacher and protagonist of environmental education, especially in protected areas. Environmental educators are supposed to be highly skilled people who can help bridge the gap between mankind and nature. Moreover, they can make a contribution to help especially young people make meaning of their environment in the future.

Every nature educator is a personal interpreter of nature. This is the reason why each interpreter/educator is unique and must work out a personal program to help people achieve previously set goals through the implementation of specific strategies.

Effective interpretation should: Gives not more than 3(5) messages.

Be concise, be short (“less is more”).

Be concrete, “Sitz im Leben”.

Focus (“red thread”).

Ask questions and react to visitors’ questions. Why things are the way they are.

Encourage them to think and express their thoughts.

Try to understand and appreciate visitors’ desires and needs.

Stay friendly and willing to learn from visitors.

Do not be afraid to admit you do not know something.

Don’t try to tell/show them everything; interpretation is motivation.

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