KLM has just put part of its new fleet of Boeing 777-300 into service. As part of the celebration of its partnership with WWF it has chosen to name the planes after some of the world’s leading National Parks. Certified PAN Park Fulufjallet in Sweden was chosen as a European park as a result of negotiations between KLM, WWF and the PAN Parks Foundation.

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Scientists have found a cluster of spruces in the mountains in western Sweden which, at an age of 8,000 years, may be the world's oldest living trees. The old tree is found in a nature reserve close to Fulufjället.  The tree is growing in Drevfjället nature reserve close to the Norwegian border about 25 km from Fulufjället National Park.

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In January Zoltan Kun, Executive Director of PAN Parks, Babara Mayer, Tourism officer and Keijo from Basecamp Oulanka undertook a visit to Fulufjället National Park in Sweden. This visit covered verification issues,  improving links with local organisations and governmental agencies and strengthening the PAN Parks network. An important part of this visit was the sharing of experience between Oulanka National Park and local PAN Parks partners in Fulufjället.

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Rila National Park achieved full PAN Parks certification last year and the first five local business partners were certified in October 2007. A small team of committed people not only worked hard to develop the tourism strategy, which has been verified by international PAN Parks verifiers but are now working hard on its implementation.
Following the internal rules of the PAN Parks Foundation that state that at least once a year someone from the Foundation management team will attend an annual LPPG meeting in every certified PAN Park,  the conservation manager Vlado Vancura was invited to attend the annual LPPG meeting in Rila NP.
The meeting was held in the small village Govedarci at the foot of northern slope of Rila Mountain and it was the seventh meeting of LPPG in the last 14-16 months.  The meeting was attended by 23 people and was accompanied by strong spirit of commitment and enthusiasm. Due to huge size of PAN Parks area circling the Rila Mountain massif,  the venue of meetings is moved from village to village. This approach allows the involvement of more people in process of developing and implementing tourism strategy.

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Majella National Park in Italy is leading an initiative called the GISST (WebGIS for Sustainable Tourism) Project.  Part of a much larger European project called GRISI (Geomatic Regional Information Society Initiatives), the park is hoping that implementation of the system will help connect visitors to the park with local partners who offer tourism services to them.

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