|
Destinations - London, Jan 31 - Feb 3
Fiets en wandelbeurs - Amsterdam, Feb 2 - 3
Click below to explore the new visitpanparks site
|
Dear {NAME},
Well, it looks like another year has come and gone. It was a great year for the PAN Parks team. We added 2 new parks to our network, hosted another successful Europe’s Wilderness Days Conference and celebrated our 10th Anniversary. We hope that all of you have enjoyed sharing in our activities through this newsletter. Next year is gearing up to be even better.
Our entire PAN Parks team would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
|
PAN Parks reaches new frontiers – Archipelago National Park, Finland becomes the first marine national park to be certified as the best of Europe’s wilderness. |
|
 Archipelago National Park in the Baltic Sea has received recognition this week of being one of the best-managed wilderness areas in Europe. As a result of undergoing an intensive independent assessment of its conservation, visitor management and sustainable tourism development it received the coveted status of being a certified PAN Park. It is the second Finnish PAN Park, joining Oulanka National Park in the network. Click here to read more!
|
| Majella NP becomes the sixth park in the PAN Parks network to certify partners |
|
 On November 28, 2007, five proud local business owners were awarded PAN Parks certification and became Local PAN Parks Business Partners. The ceremony was held in the lush Daniela Brescia Botanical Gardens in S. Eufemia in Majella National Park. It was a beautiful setting to celebrate these business owner’s achievements. To learn more about them, click here!
|
| UK’s Travel Channel features PAN Parks and Borjomi-Kharagauli in month long special |
|
Borjomi-Kharagauli makes its TV debut as a PAN Park on the Travel 2007 show on the European wide Travel Channel. The feature was filmed earlier this year as part of a press trip organized jointly by the PAN Parks Foundation, Department of Tourism and Resorts of Georgia and the Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park directorate. Visit the Travel Channel website to either view the feature online or discover the broadcast schedules for your region. To view the feature online, click here! |
| Alone in Wildlife – Central Balkan National Park Directorate trains kids through adventure |
|
 The Central Balkan National Park Directorate commemorated the 22nd of September – the International Car Free Day – with a special children’s contest named “Alone in Wildlife”. The event took place in the area of the Byala reka Eco-path and the Dzhendema Eco-centre in the territory of one of the park sections - to be more precise – Kalofer. Fourteen kids between the ages of six and twelve from the municipalities of Teteven, Troyan, Apriltzi, Gabrovo and Kazanlak participated in the day’s events. To read more...
| Retezat National Park hosts European Rangers’ Seminar 2007 |
|
 About 120 Rangers from 17 different countries spent one very eventful week in September, in Retezat National Park, Romania. The slogan of the seminar was “Naturally, wild”, and naturally, rangers stayed most of the time outdoors in Retezat NP (RNP). Rangers also enjoyed the wonderful wilderness in Gemenele Scientific Reserve, part of RNP. To Learn More...
| Our Next PAN Park could be in Portugal – Peneda Geres National Park |
|
 After several years of negotiation between the institute for the Conservation of Nature and Biodiversity (ICNB), Portugal and the PAN Parks Foundation, an agreement has been finally achieved to work together to certify Peneda Geres National Park located in the northern tip of Portugal. To read more...
|
| EUROPARC and PAN Parks call for urgent action to protect Europe’s wilderness areas |
|
The EUROPARC Federation and the PAN Parks Foundation have joined forces in the publication of a Resolution on Wilderness Areas, which was drafted following an international round table meeting on ‘Wilderness in the European Union’ held during the recent EUROPARC 2007 annual conference in Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic, attended by some 300 protected area experts from 24 European countries. To learn more... |
| Coming and Going – changes in the PAN Parks team |
|
We would like offer a warm welcome to Helga Hoffmann, the new Finance and Office Supervisor based in the Gyor office. Helga has joined the team to replace Ildiko Losonci who has left us to start a new life in the USA with her husband. Though she has left PAN Parks, Ildiko intends to continue a career in conservation and will be looking for new opportunities – so if any of our American friends are aware of openings let us know at the PAN Parks office and we will forward the information.
The other departure across the Atlantic, is our Communications Intern Heidi Kikkoler who returns to Canada for a period before starting her graduate studies at Oxford, UK in a Msc in Environmental Change and Management. Heidi will keep in close contact however and plans to continuing working on several projects for PAN Parks from Canada.
We want to say thanks to both Ildiko and Heidi for the enthusiasm and energy that they brought to the team.
|
| PAN Parks Upcoming Travel Show Tour |
|
PAN Parks will be representing the parks in our network at two important travel shows early in the new year.
We will have a stand at Destinations Travel Show in London from January 31 to February 3. Destinations is the largest travel show in the UK and will provide us an excellent opportunity to showcase all that the parks in our network offer to the UK market.
We have arranged with the organizers that each of our newsletter subscribers can receive 2 free tickets (with 1.05 GBP booking fee per ticket) to the show. To obtain your tickets, please visit http://www.seetickets.com/destlondon/login.asp and enter the code DS21 to be able to obtain this offer. Our stand will be at R67 in the Responsible Travel section. We look forward to hopefully meeting some of you there!
PAN Parks will also have a stand at Fiets en wandelbeurs in Amsterdam from February 2 to 3. Fiets en wandelbeurs is the Netherland's largest travel show that specializes in walking and cycling. It will be a good chance for PAN Parks to meet potential travelers interested in sustainable travel. The show will also feature presentations, workshops, photo exhibitions, programs for children and demonstrations (ex. Nordic walking).
Tickets for the show can be purchased in advance from all shops from the ANWB and through RAI ticket service. For more details about the show, please visit
|
European Voluntary Service (EVS) for Rila National PAN Park, A Certified PAN Park |
|
The experience of Mijke Koole, A Dutch volunteer in the European Voluntary Service.
After attaining my degree in International Tourism Management and Consultancy at the NHTV-University in Breda, the Netherlands, I was given the chance by the GoForNature Foundation and the Information and Nature Conservation Foundation to participant in a very interesting development project within the European Voluntary Service-Programme (EVS).
To read about her experience, click here! |
| Working in the land of the reindeer and the pine trees… |
|
 “Where are you going?” “What are you going to do there?” “You will be bored!”
When I was going from one of the best-developed cities in the Netherlands to Oulanka National Park in northern Finland, people were asking me these questions. It shows that many people have difficulties imagining what the region up there looks like. What to expect more then pine trees, lakes, reindeer, few people and lots of peace. In many ways the people are right, it is like that, but they were wrong to think that that is boring. I have had 8 fantastic months. I had the opportunity to experience the different seasons and met some of the most special people in my life and above all I had the opportunity to do and learn a lot.
To read more about Mylene van der Donk's experience click here! | | |
|
