Project newsletter, 1st edition, September 2009

PARKS & BENEFITS STRENGTHENS SUSTAINABLE NATURE TOURISM WITHIN 8 PROTECTED AREAS IN THE BALTIC SEA REGION.
FOREWORD
Ladies and gentlemen, Dear partners, I am glad to bring the first PARKS&BENEFITS-newsletter - after the projects approval in October 2008 onto its way ! The first reporting period is done and it has been fully packed with work mainly to get the project started. My expectation for PARKS&BENEFITS is first of all- to make very clear, that protected areas in the Baltic Sea Region with their typical Baltic or even outstanding natural heritage are already an important element of the regional economies, while respecting their conservation and development objectives. Secondly it should open the eyes for those potentials within and around protected areas, that are still not used for the development of sustainable tourism (especially nature-tourism), of public-private partnerships and improved nature conservation. Therefore PARKS&BENEFITS wants to strengthen cooperation and communication with the stakeholders on park-level und thus contribute to sustainable Nature Tourism approaches and to mutual benefits of the parks and their surrounding areas in the Baltic Sea Region as a whole. I am convinced, that the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas is, among other working fields, an ideal instrument in order to achieve these aims. A number of activities have already been started. The visibility for externals, however, is marked by the launch of the projects website http://www.parksandbenefits.net at the same time as the publication of this newsletter. Thus, I invite you to visit our website for much more information ! Please contribute to future newsletters and to the website, if there is anything from your work of interest to PARKS&BENEFITS. I wish all the best for a successful project PARKS & BENEFITS ! Kind regards,

Olaf Ostermann
(Lead-Partner, Ministry for Agriculture, Environment and Consumer Protection Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)

1. PROJECT INTERNAL 1.1. KICK OFF MEETING

The Kick-off meeting for the Project Parks & Benefits took place from 9th -12th of March, 2009 at Mritz National Park, Germany. During the three-day seminar the participants familiarized themselves with the framework of the Baltic Sea Region Program, which provides guidelines, ideas and management structures for the project and planned next joint steps for the 3-year implementation phase of the project.

1.2. 2ND MEETING OF PARTNERS

The second project meeting took place in Maribo, th th Denmark from 8 to 11 June. The meeting was characterized by information exchange and working sessions. Firstly all partner parks gave an overview of their situation with regard to the Charter for sustainable tourism. Secondly strategic partners laid out their approaches for joint analysis of carrying capacity, sustainable transportation and accessibility as well as the socio-economic benefit monitor. Thirdly external speakers provided strategic input about experiences with Charter implementation and the necessities and dos and donts of visitor monitoring. The meeting was opened by Mr. Kristian Ebbensgaard, the chairman of Region Zealand. It was the first time that such a high ranking politician had spoken about the importance of nature conservation and sustainable tourism in that region.

2. PARTNER NEWS 2.1. ESTONIA - CHILD WELFARE DAY IN MATSALU NATIONAL PARK
On the 1st of June at Child Welfare day, Environmental Board and State Forest Management Centre organized a trip to Matsalu National Park for the 10th grade students of Haapsalu Sanatorium Boarding School. Students got acquainted with the exposition in the Matsalu Nature Centre with special attention paid on wetland fowls. Museum visitation was followed by boat trip on Suitsu and Kasari rivers, where children had a chance to observe birds, listen to bird sounds and solve several assignments on bird nutrition, protection of bird habitats and bird adaptations, describe bodies of waters, animal traces as well as talk about history and human activities. Befriending with animals at Ranna ranch was one of the highlights of the day. The purpose of this trip was to give the children with special needs to feel connection with living and unliving nature, acquire knowledge about different biomes, their structures and mutualities, learn more about water birds, observe and recognize traces of human activities in the nature and assess this influence to the biomes.

2.2. LATVIA - SEMINAR OF THE PROJECT "KEMERI NATIONAL PARKnature protection and tourism, cooperation options and benefits for local society Latvian Country Tourism Association Lauku celotajs in cooperation with the Administration of Kemeri National park held the first seminar of the project "Kemeri National Park- nature protection and tourism, cooperation options and benefits for local society" with 45 participants on 22nd of May,2009. The aim of seminar: to inform stakeholders about the project and possibilities to participate/cooperate, to provide information on existing resources within Kemeri National Park, as well as initiate discussion about limitations and restrictions while living and working in the National park. The development of new tourism products cycling tours - within project area involving local stakeholders was another essential aim of the seminar.

The first cycling tour test ride was held on 30th of May. The route makes a circle around the National park showing the variety of the national park treasures : the historical heart Kemeri town, coastal area and the inland with great variety of landscape andbiotopes, and also known but still attractive areas which the visitors usually do not know as belonging to the National park.

2.3. GERMANY - GPS-GUIDES AS A NEW TOOL FOR VISITOR INFORMATION

The Mritz National Park aims to implement GPS-Guides to improve our visitor information system. The GPSsystem is based on a raster of Points of Interest where users are provided with information on the national parks flora and fauna, history, culture, environmental and safety issues. In the beginning, the authority ought to be focusing on a basic version of the GPS-based visitor information and guidance system a starter kit and advance the GPS-system step by step at a later stage. The goals to realise such a system are the opportunity to reach younger target groups for environmental education, offer visitor information in foreign languages and use media like audio-, video- and geodata.

2.4. GERMANY - PROJECT HEALTHY PARKS, HEALTHY PEOPLE, MRITZ NATIONAL PARK,
National parks are the highest protection category in Germany. The Mritz National Park park is made up of 30% lakes, 8% peatlands, 7% agriculture and the rest is forest. The area has major landscape values and is known as the land of 1,000 lakes. In the almost 20 years since its designation Mritz has developed good visitor infrastructure including signage, hides, etc. The Mritz National Park is recognized by its health value and benefits offered. Development of good publicity opportunities and coverage of the national park is an essential aim to concentrate. There are several activities organized leading to this aim like regional cooperation including the marketing of regional products (to promote the idea of good walking good eating). The Wander-Ma(h)l is organized by a rural cooperative and combines healthy, guided walks inside and outside the National Park, and healthy food made of regional products. The tours inside Mritz National Park are guided by park rangers while meals are provided by restaurants and hotels, many of them being certified as Mritz National Park Partner.

2.5. DENMARK- REGION ZEALAND / MARIBOSOERNE NATURE PARK

The region was established the 1 of January 2007 by merging three county councils, and pushing many obligations on regional planning, nature protection, etc. to either the now bigger municipalities or to government agencies. We are still finding our ways after the great reform. For this purpose we are looking on how we can add some extra value. One of these areas is development of a system of regional nature parks. There is no specific law on these, but the municipalities can establish them by issuing a planning document. The region regards the Nature Park Mariboserne as frontrunner with regard to development of nature parks. They have done very much work since they were established in 1994. If they succeed with being certified as a European Charter Park they will still be in the frontline in Denmark. This is also with regard to national parks in Denmark. We had the first national park established last year (2008) in North-western Jutland, and recently our second nature park was opened in Eastern Jutland. Three other parks has been agreed on, all will open in the coming years. The Region is working for that the Parks & Benefits project can help catalyze and improve our work on establishing a real working system of nature parks. Such a system should also look into regional green corridors connecting the parks. For this purpose we want to use the project as an opportunity to make a regional analysis on the potential of nature parks. We also want to support Nature Park Mariboserne in its efforts becoming a charter park. Furthermore we want to hold three common seminars for the whole region and to make a study tour to MeckelburgVorpommern.
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3. INTRODUCING RELATED PROJECTS 3.1. BALTIC GREEN BELT

The Baltic Green Belt project wants to conserve, use and develop the common natural and cultural heritage of the coastal border areas formerly dividing east and west. To this end, the project establishes a platform for transnational cooperation between stakeholders working in nature conservation and sustainable development of the southern and eastern Baltic Sea coast. The project community led by the University of Kiel (CAU) unites the Baltic NGO network Coalition Clean Baltic (CCB) with the IUCN (World Conservation Union) as well as a number of national partners from all countries along the baltic south-east. Altogether, 22 partners have developed the Baltic Sea Region Programme/Interreg IVB project baltic green belt. The project started in January 2009 will run until January 2012 and has a budget of more than 2 Mio ." (www.balticgreenbelt.net und www.balticgreenbelt.unikiel.de)

Parks & Benefits project management

Tobias Lerche
c/o animare projektmanagement tourismus

Rosa-Luxemburg-Strae 14 D - 18055 Rostock t +49 (0) 381 440 49 51 f +49 (0) 381 440 49 49 e tobias.lerche@animare.net w parksandbenefits.net Rostock: 2009/09/03