At the invitation of Carol Ritchie, Director of Europarc, the European Network of Natural and Cultural Heritage in Europe and Mike Mc Clure, chairman of ENOS an information sharing and networking event was held in Brussels on 3 March 2020.
The event was a great success and brought together 39 delegates from 10 EU countries as welle as a large number of pan-European organisations based in Brussels. Delegates came from sectors involved in outdoor development or environmental protection: policy makers, local and regional authorities, sports organisations, tourism agencies, regional development organisations, environmental organisations or outdoor companies.
The event was attended by representatives of the European Commission, Yves le Lostecque, Head of the Sport Unit, and Nicola Notaro, Head of the Nature Protection Unit of the Directorate-General for the Environment, that were gathered for the first time on a panel.
This operation confirmed the many shared interests between nature sports and the environment, in particular in the light of the new European Green Pact for the ecological transition carried out by the new European Commission. Good practices in the management of nature sports in protected areas have been put forward to illustrate the need for monitoring uses while putting into perspective the concepts of capacity to use or compensation plans, from three case studies in Italy, the Netherlands and France. This event provided an opportunity for both organisations to showcase the ten principles for outdoor sports in protected areas, resulting from the collaboration between ENOS and Europarc. The event was organised on the initiative of Alberto Robles, intern at Europarc.