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 Zoltan Kun, Executive Director of PAN Parks Foundation
How much wilderness is needed in Europe? Several people asked this question and wanted to hear our vision during the last annual conference of PAN Parks, the 11th Europe’s Wilderness Days in Nauvo, Finland. So the PAN Parks team presented what we have achieved and how we see the future of wilderness protection in Europe from the conservation point of view.
People asking this question probably expected a modest answer, which one might call a realistic target, but I don’t want to be realistic now. Our ambition is to be a European leader on wilderness protection, and to be more visionary. What size or territory would be needed from moral point of view? For instance the Federal Government of Germany made a pledge of protecting 2% of its territory wilderness by 2020, but we at PAN Parks actually want more. We argue and fight for 5% wilderness in order to compensate our human footprint on the continent.
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.
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!
Just wanted to share some of the nice press coverage of our project from the past weeks. Stories of Wilderness has been featured in Wanderlust magazine (UK) – see image above, National Geographic NewsWatch – click here to see the article, and the Huffington Post – click here to see the article.
Hope more and more such great articles are coming!
In our recent poll you have chosen your favourite amphibian photo, which shows fire salamander giving birth to its offspring in a forest creek. This was also our favourite! Thanks for voting!
Wilderness nurtures the biodiversity of life. For me biodiversity is the marvellous kaleidoscope of forms, adaptation and behaviour of species around me in Majella. Listen to my introduction of the concept of biodiversity as I experience it in Majella.
After deciding on exploring Majella’s plateau at night I started walking on the trail at noon and met the last people at 5 in the afternoon: after that the mountain was all for me. I walked on and on; explored ridges and crossed saddles; looked down to the deepest valleys of the massif and up to the fast-moving clouds. When I took a break on a stone, a flock of loud white-winged snowfinches oblivious to my presence was combing the ground in front of me, searching for seeds among the dried out alpine plants.
Posted on November 9, 2012 at 12:11 pm | Leave a comment »