Protected Landscapes – Delivering Social and Economic Benefits
EAI’s first webinar was held earlier today on the subject of protected landscapes’ role in delivering social and economic benefits to society.
An informative and interactive session included European, national and park perspectives from three expert speakers on this ever more important subject:
Marianne Kettunen, Senior Policy Analyst at the Institute for European Environmental Policy and Co-Editor of the recent publication “Social and Economic Benefits of Protected Areas: An Assessment Guide”. She gave us a comprehensive overview of research, findings and statistics from across Europe in her presentation: “The Social and Economic Benefits of Protected Areas: A European Overview and Intro to assessing the benefits“. This also provided insights into linking global and European initiatives with individual protected landscapes.
Amanda Brace, Policy Officer at National Park England, contributed to the publication earlier in 2013 of National Parks England’s report “Valuing England’s National Parks”. She provided an overview of all the facets of this study, including many valuable figures demonstrating the benefits that national parks deliver. Her presentation “National Parks, National Assets” is accompanied by an illustrative text. She also highlighted this film that was produced for the launch.
Richard Tyler, Sustainable Tourism Manager at the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority, has been responsible for the park’s development of the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas and their current Rural Alliances Interreg project. His presentation “Brecon Beacons National Park: A Sustainable Tourism Destination?” highlighted the park’s work in this field and the benefits that have accrued to the communities in and around the park.
A big round of thanks go to our presenters and all those who commented, questioned and listened during the webinar. It is our intention to host a training seminar in 2014 to explore all these issues in more depth.
