On 13 May, Eurosite attended a stakeholder workshop organised by IUCN as part of their Envision project, sponsored by the Belmont Forum & BiodivERsA. The event also functioned as a partner event of the EU Green Week 2019, which focused on better implementation of EU environmental legislation.

The ENVISION project aims to help advance the definition of “inclusive conservation” during the next three years. This event was the first meeting of the ENVISION team with external actors (such as land owners, Protected Area practitioners, NGOs and decision makers) to help in this purpose. The main aims of the meeting were to:

• Gather expertise from participants representing an array of actors in the conservation debate
• Feed in knowledge about inclusive conservation, which is still quite a new concept in the field.

However, inclusive conservation is a very promising way forward regarding the improvement of protected area management by including stakeholder visions in the discussion. ENVISION aims to develop new visions concerning social and ecological consequences on Protected Areas, considering the following approaches:

• Nature for people (what does nature bring to human’s lives)
• Nature for itself (nature as enough justification)
• Nature despite people (people as a constraint for nature)
• People and nature (working in harmony).

There is a clear opportunity to link this project and its outcomes with Eurosite’s work on the creation of a European Private Land Conservation Network via the LIFE ELCN Project. Attending this workshop was a first step in exchanging knowledge and ideas between the two projects, but we will follow up the progress of ENVISION and seek to cooperate for mutual benefits.

Picture: IUCN Europe