Posted by Vlado Vancura (Conservation Manager, PAN Parks Foundation)
World Health Day is celebrated on 7th April to mark the anniversary of the founding of World Health Organization in 1948. Each year a theme is selected for World Health Day to highlight a priority area of public health concern in the world. The theme for 2013 is high blood pressure.
High blood pressure – also known as raised blood pressure or hypertension – increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure. If left uncontrolled, high blood pressure can also cause blindness, irregularities of the heartbeat and heart failure. The risk of developing these complications is higher in the presence of other cardiovascular risk factors such as diabetes. One in three adults worldwide has high blood pressure.
Photo: PAN Parks presentation was voted the best at ITB
Posted by Zoltan Kun, Executive Director, PAN Parks Foundation
PAN Parks Foundation attended the last ITB, the largest global travel show in Berlin on March 2013. Here come some observations based on what was said, distributed and experienced during the event.
Ecotourism is still far to be considered as a mainstream activity within the tourism sector. This might not be a problem, but unfortunately ecotourism related exhibitors were really pushed into a remote corner of the event. At the same time according to the UNWTO research, more than 15% of tourists in Europe - which means more than 75 million people, is looking for responsible tourism products.
Technology got a great highlight during the ITB. There is increasing intention to use Internet technology for increasing visitor satisfaction and make reservations easier.
Posted by Vlado Vancura (Conservation Manager, PAN Parks Foundation)
Several arguments are dealing with large predators from time to time. Why are they considered critically important in maintaining the integrity of ecosystems and so are critically important for wilderness? First of all, ecological interactions are initiated by top predators. Secondly, wide-ranging predators usually require large cores of protected landscapes for foraging and seasonal movements. Thirdly, connectivity is required, because core reserves are typically not large enough to maintain sustainable viable predators’ populations.
If we kill off wolves and other wild hunters, we’ll lose not only the prominent species, but also the key to ecological and evolutionary process of top-down regulation. Large carnivores are essential for landscape-level ecological restoration as well, as for the restoration of other highly interactive species and the dynamism of natural processes, such as fire and flood. These are all critically important elements of wilderness.
Posted by Zoltan Kun, Executive Director of PAN Parks Foundation
Introduction PAN Parks Foundation (PPF), the European wilderness protection organisation, founded a decade ago has grown into an internationally respected organisation. From day one, promoting research projects on wilderness has been an integral component to PPF´s success as wilderness was a novel concept in Europe in the 1990ies. Models using tourism as a tool for con servation and regional development - for instance EUROPARC’s European Charter of Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas – did not purely focus on wilderness. Thus, PPF cooperated with research institutes to integrate wilderness theory and practice into its principles and criteria.
Posted by Lara Klaassen (Endurance runner, Director of the Center for Environmental Education and Nature Conservation in Maastricht, also known as the Wandering Wolf)
Trail runners compete for nature conservation. That is the idea behind the Wolf Mountain Run (WMR), an event which took place in the beautiful Italian Abruzzo Mountains between 7th-9th September. The participants gathered sponsored money to help the work of PAN Parks Foundation. In return, they were taken through a breath-taking mountain wilderness in a three day trail running event. With their participation, they contributed financially to the protection of the wilderness area where they were running, the Majella National Park.
Posted by Mark Fisher (Research Fellow, Wildland Research Institute, Leeds)
It’s easy to plan a walking trip in the wilds of America. The wilderness areas, National Parks and National Forests (1) as well as State Parks and Open Space County Parks (2) are in public ownership and festooned with walking trails. It is especially easy in Colorado because of a series of books by Pamela Irwin on Colorado’s Best Wildflower Hikes (3). I used her first book in 2003 while walking the flatirons of the Front Range mountains, west of Denver, and in the Rocky Mountain National Park (4). I was back again in 2008, and her second book was my guide to the Park Range high country mountains of the continental divide (5). Her third book covers the San Juan Mountains of south-western Colorado, and it is inspiring me to plan a series of walks for next year that could take me into the wilderness areas of La Garita, Lizard Head, Powderhorns, Mount Sneffels and Weminuche, as well as the National Forests of Gunnison, Rio Grande, San Juan and Uncompahgre.
Posted by Vlado Vancura (Conservation Manager, PAN Parks Foundation)
Jasper National Park is the largest among Canada's Rocky Mountain Parks and part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Around 95% of the national park area is classified as wilderness. It spans 1 122 800 hectares of broad valleys, rugged mountains, glaciers, forests, Alpine meadows and wild rivers along the Eastern slopes of the Rockies in Western Alberta, with more than 1200 kilometres of hiking trails (both overnight and day trips), and a number of spectacular mountain drives.
Availability and access to freshwater is a major issue in Italy. What is supposed to a basic right of mankind is becoming nowadays something to put a price and a barcode on. Few people have an idea of where the water we drink everyday is coming from and, more, even less realize the importance of mountain wilderness areas for the preservation of water resources.
In November two wolves and a red fox have been found dead in the southern part of the Majella National Park – presumably poisoned –, but nobody can say it with certainty.
It has been an outrageously long time since my last post. Autumn has been a very busy period for me and several duties took me to work away from my beloved "Montagna Madre", to places as far as the Indian Himalaya. But now I am finally back home and plan to get back to you with more stories and news very soon. Stay tuned!
Posted on April 8, 2013 at 01:04 pm | Leave a comment »