At the beginning of October, one of those true autumn months, representatives of the Plitvice Lakes National Park had the opportunity to participate in the already traditional conferences of the EUROPARC Organization, which are now held every other year. This year, our host was the beautiful city of Birštonas in Lithuania, which hosted about 360 participants from many European countries, and this year with the participation of delegates from the RedParques area of South America (Venezuela).
The EUROPARC Federation placed our Plitvice Lakes National Park on its map of protected areas shortly after its foundation, when the 3rd session of the General Assembly of the Federation’s members was held at the Plitvice Lakes. We found an entry about this in the Plitvički Vjesnik gazette from September/October 1976, where it is stated that there were as many as 80 participants from 17 countries. That 3rd session was preceded in 1975 by the visit of the general president of EUROPARC, Dr. Herbert Offner to Croatia and the National Park when it was agreed that the Plitvice Lakes National Park would host the meeting of the EUROPARC Federation and its members.
The conference, like all previous ones, was opened by the General Assembly of EUROPARC and its members, with the adoption of various reports from 2024 and the introduction of the new Director of the EUROPARC Organization, Mr. Alberto Arroyo Schnell. The conference continued with welcoming speeches, and Ms. Agnė Jasinavičiūtė – Trakimienė, Director of the State Institute for Protected Areas, gave a particularly interesting speech. She emphasized that her dream of bringing this conference to Lithuania with the organization and participation of all protected areas had finally come true. An important moment of the conference was the signing of the Declaration of Cooperation with Redparques from Venezuela, which emphasizes the expansion of cooperation between protected areas beyond the borders of Europe.
The common theme of this conference was “Nature for People, People for Nature”. Many presentations and workshops focused on the topics of nature and habitat restoration, new legislation, interesting project activities of protected areas, interpretation, strengthening management efficiency, cultural heritage preservation and communication. At the beginning of the conference, we had the opportunity to take a short trip to get to know the area of the Nemunas River, which is characterized by the specific meandering loops.
At the Market Place, the now traditional part of the conference where protected areas present their project activities, educational materials and the specifics of their protected area, Plitvice Lakes National Park also made its contribution. We participated with educational materials, presented our high-quality picture books for younger and older children, as well as the books Trees and Shrubs and Forest Biodiversity. Brochures on natural and cultural values, tourist leaflets, but also local certified Lika quality brandy were of interest to visitors to the stand, and we learned that many of them had already visited our protected area.
A mandatory part of every conference are excursions to protected areas of the host country, giving participants the opportunity to visit many sites that preserve the natural or cultural values of their area. We had the opportunity to visit the Trakai Historical National Park and the trail of the Varnikai Botanical and Zoological Reserve with its interesting bog habitat, lakes and forest with oak and birch trees.
The EUROPARC conference ended with awards and recognitions for the transboundary areas of Norway and Finland and the currently suspended Russia – Pasvik-Inari, the Julian Alps and the Triglav National Park (Italy and Slovenia) and Šumava and the Bavarian Forest National Park (Czech Republic and Germany). A special award, the Alfred Toepfer Medal, was awarded to Mr. Marià Martí Viudes who has dedicated his professional career to periurban areas and nature conservation in cities. With the end of the conference, another meeting of like-minded people in the conservation and restoration of nature with awareness of the challenges to come, ended. We remain hopeful that such a large community of people across Europe can really contribute a lot to the protection of all those natural values that are important for our survival, because after all, nature and people are connected by an unbreakable bond.
For more information about the EUROPARC Federation click on the link https://www.europarc.org/.
