Categories Blog, Europe and Russia, Events, Events organised or co-organised by the consortium, Germany

ICCA Consortium networking in Europe

First published on 10/14/2013, and last updated on 01/23/2018

By: Iris Beneš, ICCA Consortium Regional Coordinator for Northern, Central & Eastern Europe

On April 10-14 Vilm Island (Germany) hosted the “International Workshop on Integrating Category V into landscape-and seascape-scale conservation to enhance connectivity and ensure resilience”. The workshop was organised by the IUCN-WCPA Protected Landscapes Specialist Group, in cooperation with the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN). It brought together participants with expertise in diverse fields and geographic regions to exchange experiences on the role of Category V protected areas in the broader landscape/seascape in achieving conservation aims at a larger scale, particularly with respect to enhancing connectivity and resilience, and maintaining ecosystem functions and services.

Special attention was paid to the crosscutting issue of governance and diverse governance models. Iris Beneš, as ICCA Consortium Regional Coordinator for Northern, Central and Eastern Europe presented “Traditional agricultural landscapes and experience with Category V in Central/Southeastern Europe“, emphasizing the challenges and opportunities of community conservation in the region and the work of the Consortium.

Read more HERE.

Another event, “Best practices for sustainable use of common grasslands in the Western Balkans and Europe – South Eastern European Round table”, took place in Sofia (Bulgaria) on April 15.

This round table focused on the best management and governance practices in the Western Balkans and Europe. This topic was initiated within the project “Sustainable use of pastures in Bulgaria”, funded by GEF SGP Bulgaria and in discussion with partner NGOs from the Western Balkan countries who share a common history in pastures governance practices. Common land management is a historical feature of farming in Western Balkans and SEE Europe, where all inhabitants of a settlement had the ‘unwritten’ right to use the commons. In the light of the new policy developments in agriculture and biodiversity conservation in EU (but also non-EU) countries in the region, it is therefore very important to find the right solutions for securing policy support for the commons of high-nature value Europe-wide.

The round table offered a forum in which current experiences in the management and governance of common pastures in the Western Balkans were shared, including aspects of best practices from the region and other areas in Europe. It also provided a chance to explore possible cooperation between the ICCA Consortium and the European Forum for Nature Conservation and Pastoralism on the possible entry points on EU level for the policy support for the commons/community conserved areas. Iris Beneš was present as a representative of Croatia, introducing common grazing practices in that country but also as an ICCA Consortium coordinator for the region and introduced the work of the ICCA Consortium.

Read more HERE.

Another excellent networking possibility was the third LandLife workshop, hosted by the Catalan land stewardship network, XTC, in Tavertet (Catalonia) on May 29-31. The workshop was a meeting point for people and organisations from all across Europe in which participants debated about the state of art of Land Stewardship in Europe, its future prospects and possible development strategies. In order to present different non-government governance models Iris presented “Community conserved areas as pools of biodiversity – Croatia’s study case”.

Read more HERE.