News

The global ecotourism conference was held from 16-19 of May in Oslo, exactly 5 years after that the UN declared 2002 the International Year of Ecotourism. At that time, a declaration was written that outlined the potential and challenges of ecotourism in contributing to sustainable development. It made recommendations to governments, the private sector, international agencies, and local and indigenous communities.

The 2007 conference was the follow-up to this conference.  The recent conference's goals were to:

The PAN Parks Foundation and Large Herbivore Foundation have taken a major step forward for collaborating over herbivore issues in protected areas. On March 2 the two organisations signed a Memorandum of Understanding in order to strengthen their conservation work. Large herbivore related conservation issues exist almost in all certified PAN Parks.

Following an exploratory visit by PAN Parks conservation manager Vlado Vancura, Rodna Mountains National Park in Northern Romania has signed a letter of intent to join the PAN Parks network. A meeting with all 18 park employees and the head of Romanian Protected Areas within Romsilva, Mircea Verghelet,  took place to explain the PAN Parks verification process and explore the potential for Rodna to join the Network. Vlado said "this was an exceptionally useful meeting.

In the lead up to the Global Eco-tourism Conference, Zoltan Kun will present the cooperation with PAN Parks Accommodation at a workshop looking at the topic of linking tourism and conservation to develop financing models for protected areas. Workshop findings will be presented at the Global Ecotourism Conference 2007 to be held in Oslo, Norway May 14-16. This conference is hosted by The International Ecotourism Society (TIES), Ecotourism Norway and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).