EDEN (European Destinations of Excellence) Part 1

 “Europe is full of hidden treasures that are worth being discovered”

The idea behind the European Destinations of Excellence (EDEN) is to encourage tourism in areas that emerging in tourism, little known, and committed to sustainability, not only environmental, but cultural and social too. It gives lesser known (and less crowded) areas an opportunity to show off what they have to offer. Each participating country holds a national competition to choose that country's representative.

2007 was the first year the programme was run, when 10 countries chose rural destinations. In 2008 the theme was intangible heritage, and 20 countries took part. In 2009 22 countries proposed areas for the theme of protected sites.

And now in 2010, 27 countries entered an area reflecting the theme of aquatic tourism.
That's rather too many countries to cover in one post, so here come the first eight.

From flickr

• Austria ‘Seelentium’ Upper Austria. Salzach River, Eggelsberg, Franking, Geretsberg, Haigermoos, Stronghold-Oh, Moosdorf, Ostermiething, St. Radegund, Tarsdorf, St. Pantaleon.

A unique feature of the area is the Imber Moor nature reserve.  It is the largest marsh/bog area in Austria with many rare and protected plants.   Apart from the many lakes and beautiful landscapes, there are more breweries in this region than anywhere else in Austria.

From flickr

• Belgium ‘The lakes of Eau d’Heure’ Cerfontaine, Plate-taille, Falemprise, Froidchapelle, Eau d'Heure Natura Park, Amphibus 

It consists of 70 miles of shoreline, 600 acres of ponds, 600 acres of forest, 600 acres of grassland straddling the provinces of Namur and Hainaut.  Almost every sort of water sport or pastime can be found here, not to mention plenty of land based activities, and even a few in between.  The largest dam in Belgium maintains the water level of the river Sambre and the produces electricity.

From flickr

• Bulgaria ‘Silistra’, Silistra Nature Reserve.

Silistra is on the River Danube, near lake Srebarna, an important stopping off point for migrating birds travelling from northern Europe to central Africa.

From flickr

• Croatia ‘Nin’ This is the oldest Croatian royal town, located on a small island reached by means of two bridges.  It is attractive because of its heritage (the smallest cathedral in the world!) wonderful beaches and healing mud baths as used in Roman times.

 

From flickr

• Cyprus ‘Kato Pyrgos’ Pano Pyrgos, Morphou Bay. Another little known area offering superb beaches, in west Cyprus.  The surrounding environment is has been preserved to give the tourist unparalleled natural beauty.

 

From flickr

• Czech Republic ‘Bystricka’.  The area is full of rivers and has a 40 ha  reservoir which was created between 1907 and 1912. Obviously it's very attractive to water sports enthusiasts, but beyond that there are trails for walking or riding through the beautiful countryside.

 

From flickr

• Estonia ‘Lake Võrtsjärv’.  There are several islands in Lake Võrtsjärv: Ainsaar, Heinassaar, Petassaar, Pähksaar, Rättsaar, Tondi Island.  These are mostly in the southern part of this, the largest lake in Estonia.  Recreational opportunities are being developed, hiking trails being labelled and views are being cleared on to the lake.

 

From flickr

• Finland ‘Saimaa’ - Lake Saimaa, Linnansaari National Park, Rantasalmi, Oravi, Järvisydä.  The largest lake district in Europe offers visitors unique natural surroundings.  Linnansari with its hundreds of islands and vast open waters is a paradise for lake excursions.

Next week, Part 2.

European Destinations of Excellence - tourism and protected areas

This year's European awards have been given for promotion of sustainable tourism in protected areas.  Not an easy task to keep areas protected and yet encourage tourism, but after my visit to the Camargue in the south of France, it's something that interests me.

There were 22 awards made, including the following:

• Biosphere Park Grosses Walsertal (Austria) - in the Austrian Alps, this used to be a depressed area but farming and building methods and care for the environment have transformed it. They have environmentally friendly transport and biomass heating.
  
  
• Viroinval / Viroin-Hermeton Nature Park ( Belgium) - an area free from industry and noise.  The highlights are bike trails, walking, local produce (cheese and beer) in an unspoilt and protected region. The rural look of the villages, plant life, fishing, are all carefully managed.
  
  
• Nacionalni park Sjeverni Velebit ( Croatia) - an area best know for caves and sink-holes.  In order to preserve this recently created and unspoilt national park, there are plans to cater for tourists outside the park itself, in nearby towns.
  
  
• Northern Vosges Regional Natural Park ( France) - surrounded by better know regions, it is nevertheless starting to make itself know in its own right.  Not only is there an abundance of hiking and cycling trails, there are châteaux, glass and crystal workshops, and few foreign tourists. It is within easy reach of several large cities such as Paris, Metz and Strasbourg.
  
  
• Prefecture of Lesvos ( Greece) - not only is it an island with wonderful beaches, it is a nature reserve with a petrified forest, wetlands, salt flats and pine forests.  Evidence of history can be seen all around.
  
  
• Írottkő Nature Park ( Hungary) - peace, hot springs, wine routes, are all part of the first of Hungary's natural parks.  The hot springs were named after the seven tribes that founded Hungary in the 9th century.
  
  
• Marine Protected Area "Penisola del Sinis - Isola di Mal di Ventre" ( Italy) - a coastline in Sardinia offering scenery, walks and boat excursions. Contrasting landscapes provide wonderful beaches combined with birdwatching on wetlands.  Bicycles are being promoted as the preferred means of transport.
  
  
• Nemunas Delta Regional Park - Unique Terrain of Harmony of Nature, Culture and Tourism ( Lithuania) - apart from the expected attractions of such a park, there is a unique Route of Lighthouses, a 14 kilometer tour.  The wetland is partly owned by the Russian Federation but only the Lithuanian share is protected.  Moves are underway to extend the protection.
  
  
• Recreation area and nature reserve "Haff Réimech" (Commune of Schengen) ( Luxembourg) - a 42 kilometer wine route is offered in this region of rich soil and beautiful landscapes.  Most of the area is in a protected zone so that the expansion of the facilities will be eco-friendly.
  
  
• Kars - Kuyucuk Lake Wild Life Reserve ( Turkey) - at an altitude of 1750 metres, the lake has amazing bird-watching, sightseeing and walking.  There is minimal light pollution and the area is full of historical sites.  All this is combined with a high regard for the environment.
  

The criteria were:

1. “non traditional” (the visitor density rating from “low” to “very low” in comparison with the national average)
2. be based on an area that is designated as a “protected area” by national or regional legislation
3. manage its own tourism offer in such a way as to ensure its social, cultural and environmental sustainability, with the management being a partnership between the authorities responsible for managing the protected area and all those involved in tourism in and around the area (e.g. tourist service providers, local communities)

The full list with links can be seen on the European Commission website.

All these places have managed to encourage tourism in a way that isn't in conflict with the natural surroundings.  The Camargue is a protected reserve and is being reviewed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.  It has about 50 permanent residents, but this number swells to 85,000 or so during the summer, so it wouldn't be eligible for this type of award, and you can imagine the problems there must be in managing tourism on this scale.  The tourism industry is one of the main employers in the area.

All the same, I don't believe they are doing all they could to preserve the region.  I saw more and more evidence of frankly cheap tourist attractions.  I'll tell you about them in a following post and - I can't resist - I'll show some of my photos from around and about.

EDEN European Destinations of Excellence

EDEN is a pilot project run by the European Union to promote the variety and diversity of European tourist destinations, especially where the growth is pursued in a way that will ensure the social, cultural and environmental sustainability of tourism.

For the year 2006 the theme was "Best emerging destinations", the winners being:

• Pielachtal in Austria, offering culture, nature, way of life, handicrafts and specialty foods
• Durby in Belgium, dating from the Middle Ages
• Sveti Martin na Muri in Croatia where the local heritage has been preserved
• Troodos in Cyprus, which has nine Byzantine churches included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites
• Florina in Greece, a mountain town in the north
• Orség in Hungary, the only region in Hungary where residents have continuously been living in the same place
• Clonakilty in Ireland, a seaside town
• Specchia in Italy, where the centre is considered to be one of the most beautiful in Salento
• Kuldiga in Latvia, a well preserved town with a traditional atmosphere
• Nadur in Malta, considered to be Gozo's second town, it also includes a coastal area.

The theme for next year will be "tourism and local intangible heritage".

Women in politics

16.7% of Zimbabwe’s parliamentarians are women although they do hold over 22% of political offices. The population is 52% women.

If you compare these figures with the world statistics, you find that they fit in below the Italy at 17.3% women parliamentarians and fractionally above the USA at 16.3%. The UK House of Commons is 19.7% women. Scandinavian countries dominate the top of the table, but at the top is Rwanda at 48.8%.

In 2003 the US, France and Japan lagged behind 13 sub-Saharan countries . After the recent elections, France has risen from under 13% to 18.4%.

In Zimbabwe, a Fifty-Fifty campaign organised by the Women in Politics Support Unit is calling for greater representation of women. It will be interesting to see if yet another African country can succeed better than much of the developed world.

Rules and regulations

Now that the quarantine laws are more relaxed and there is a Pets Passport system in place in Europe, to return with our cat who, as you can see, is completely unconcerned about the whole process, all we are responsible for is:

1. Checking the identity of our pet by scanning with a microchip reader (always handy to have one lying around).


2. Checking the pet passport presented relates to our pet, is valid and shows that our pet has successfully been vaccinated for rabies.


3. Checking that treatment for ticks and tapeworm has been carried out between 24 and 48 hours before check-in.

And with the third we have a problem.

We have our return booked for early afternoon on 15 July. We thought we would like to enjoy our town's Bastille Day celebrations before leaving - they are great fun.

We weren't particularly expecting the vet to be open on 14 July but on 13 July we did expect them to be working and as long as the treatments were given after 3:00 pm we should be fine. What we certainly didn't expect was the vet to say, "No we aren't open, but if you come in earlier I'll change the papers for you". We didn't expect it but somehow there is something not entirely surprising about it.

Now I just can't cope with that. I would spend the whole journey back looking over my shoulder for someone, anyone, coming to arrest me. Indeed it would probably be at least a whole year before I could relax in case anyone spotted some discrepancy on the passport.

So we're bringing our travel plans forward a day and will travel on Bastille Day. We'll be missing one set of fireworks in an effort to avoid a different set.

Population decline - an update

According to a New Scientist report, Denmark has been successful in reversing the general European trend towards lower brith rates. The reason for this success is a greater use of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). Artificial reproductive technology is heavily subsidised in Denmark and widely accepted, with the result that 4.2% of babies born in Denmark are the result of these technologies, compared with 1.4% in the UK and 1.2% in the US.

Denmark's birth rate is now 1.9 children per woman, making it one of the highest in Europe, and close to the replacement rate considered to be 2.1.

However some experts are concerned that rapidly increasing the birth rate in consumer societies is not the right way to go about dealing the problems caused by an aging population.

Population decline

According to the Japanese government and the Institute of Population and Social Security Research, the population of Japan is expected to decline by 20% by 2050, if present trends continue, and by that time about 30% would be over 65. This has been going on since the 1970s.

According to a BBC report: "Japanese women have cited inadequate child care, low part-time wages and long hours worked by their husbands as some of the reasons why they do not have any children, or only have one".

This has been taken further by an article in the Times about two weeks ago which says that the reason for the decline is that Japanese couples just don’t have sex. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, 39.7% of the population aged 16 to 49 (16 seems a bit low to me) haven’t had sex in the last month and the Family Planning Association says that if that is the case, they are unlikely to have sex for a year.

The reasons given are the pressures of work for both men and women, lack of privacy in small apartments, poor communication. It is a serious problem. While the birth rate declines, the population is living longer and more pensioners will have to be supported by the taxpayer.

The population replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children. In Europe it is

Ireland: 1.99
France: 1.90
Norway: 1.81
Sweden 1.75
UK: 1.74
Netherlands: 1.73
Germany: 1.37
Italy: 1.33
Spain: 1.32
Greece: 1.29

So there is a very similar problem in Europe though it hasn’t been suggested that it’s because of not having sex. Various governments have put measures into place to try to counteract the problem. In France there are increasing tax relief according to the number of children, generous child allowances, and reductions of all sorts if the family has three or more children; Germany is proposing generous child care allowances; and Russia too is introducing a programme to encourage couples to have more children.

The various ways the governments in Europe are addressing the problem can be seen here.

Of course it could be everyone is now using those French condoms. It could be a plot by France to take over the world.