Proposals for environmental policy and governance based on demontration of environmental, social and economic benefits from tourism in the Slitere national park - a NATURA 2000 territory (LIFE07 ENV/LV/000981)
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The purpose of this project is to draft proposals on how tourism can be developed and environmental protection policies can be documented on the basis of realistic and long-term tourism targets. The focus would be on the “Natura 2000” territory that is the Slītere National Park. The purpose would be to establish tourism products in that area, while also ensuring supervision over the way in which tourism affects natural, social and economic aspects in the region. All interested participants would be invited to join in this process. More about project see here. Project demonstration site - Slītere National Park |
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With the contribution of the LIFE financial instrument of the European Community. Co-financed Ministry of the Environment and Latvian Environmental Protection Fund Administration. |
Project progress:
8.12.2011. Seminar - public discussion on policy proposals and tourism in the Slītere National Park
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The public discussion "Environmental policy proposals demonstrating environmental, social and economic benefits from tourism development in the Slītere National Park" took place on December 8, 2011, in the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development. Attending were 130 participants. Nats Kusters from the ECEAT, the project partner organisation, presented one of the project results - the manual "A starter guide to developing sustainable tourism in protected areas". Asnāte Ziemele presented the policy proposals as one of the project key results, and Juris Smaļinskis presented visitor monitoring methods and results. Representatives of the SNP community, regional municipality and SNP administration shared their experience and benefits achieved through involvement in the project activities. The Policy Proposal document accessible here. The Sustainable tourism model accessible here.
Event programme. Event photo gallery. Presentations:
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Environmental Policy Proposals
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The Policy Proposal document was presented and discussed on the public discussions on 08.12.2011. The document proposes improvements for the national tourism and nature protection policy documents and suggests practical solutions for particular problems in protected nature areas. The proposals are based on the example of the Slītere National Park, the project demonstration site. The Policy Proposal document accessible here. |
8.12.2011. Seminar - public discussion on environmental and tourism policy proposals.
On December 8 public discussion "Environmental Policy Proposals Demonstrating Environmental, Social and Economic Benefits from Tourism Development in the Slītere National Park" takes place in the Ministry of Regional Development and Environmental Protection. Naut Kusters from the project partner organisation ECEAT (the Netherlands) will present examples of sustainable tourism destinations in Europe. Asnāte Ziemele will look backs at the project implementation experience in the Slītere National Park. Juris Smaļinskis will present the lessons learned in visitor monitoring. The Slītere community, municipality and park administration people will reveal their experience in the project and how it has changed the destination. See the event program here.
15.11.2011. Presentation on sustainable tourism to rural tourism providers
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On November 15 in the meeting with rural tourism providers we presented the document "How to develop a sustainable tourism in a territory/destination?" which is based on our experience in the Slītere National Park where in common effort, during three years, we have developed rich and attractive tourism offer through setting and marking touring routes, installing information stands, publishing the Slītere National Park's guide with information about all services in the park, nature, local legends and stories. We believe that with this project we have brought together the local residents, businesses, administration of the national park and the municipality to change the traditional practice of "non-cooperation and non-communication" and to show that we can create a diverse and rich tourism offer in a destination only working together instead of waiting on each other. This is the best way to find the best and cost efficient solutions to implement the tourism vision which was written together. See the photo galleries here. See the project presentation here. |
21.-25.09.2011. EUROPARC conference
In September 21 - 25 the EUROPAR conference of 2011 took place in Schvabian Alps. The project leader presented to the participants the the sustainable tourism model built under the POLPROP-NATURA project. The model is based on experience developing a sustainable tourism destination in the Slītere National Park. See the conference information here. See the conference presentation by the project leader here.
09.09.2011. Presentation of the Coastal Architecture Guidelines
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On 09.09.2011. the presentation of the Coastal Architecture Guidelines and the document "Traditional seacoast architecture in the Slītere national park. Description. Analysis. Proposals" will be presented in the Papes Ķoņu village, Rucava region. The guidelines have been written by well-known Latvian architects and Lauku ceļotājs. See the event program in Latvian here. The guidelines are publicly accessible document describing the general building and construction principles along the Baltic sea coastline. The guidelines provide advice and recommendations to those, responsible and involved in coastal building - land owners, municipalities, residential developers and others - willing to maintain the authentic and traditional style in modern constructions. |
23.08.2011. Meeting in Slīterē
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On August 23 a project meeting took place in the "Pītagi" guest house, Košrags village, Slītere. 32 participants attended the meeting, among them, representatives of the self-government, park administration, the State Inspection for Heritage Protection, local residents and businesses, NGOs. The meeting was a follow-up of the 2nd Travel Day to Slītere and a presentation of policy proposal documents: "Slīteres nacionālā parka jūras piekrastes tradicionālās apbūve. Apraksts, analīze, ieteikumi" (Traditional seacoast architecture in the Slītere national park. Description. Analysis. Proposals) and "Piekrastes apbūves vadlīnijas" (Coastal architecture guidelines). PP presentation accessible here. |