Blogger: Sarah Green, Project Co-ordinator - Natura People Partnership

October 2013 saw another Natura People partner meeting.  The meeting was held near Lake Grevelingen at Renesse in the Netherlands and attended by representatives from all partners – the RSPB, Provincie West-Vlaanderen in Belgium, Provincie Zeeland in the Netherlands and Natuur-en Recreatieschap de Grevelingen in the Netherlands.

Photo credit: Kris Struyf

Natura People was recently extended so we now have until 30th June 2014 to complete all actions in the project.  This made for a packed schedule and quick catch ups!  The project has two strands of activity – Connecting People with Nature and Connecting Businesses and Economics with Nature.  While the RSPB has largely completed it’s actions for the former – see the new visitor facilities at Minsmere! – the partners are still working on their sites.

Photo credit: Kris Struyf

Zwin in Belgium have just started demolishing their old buildings in preparation for a brand new visitor centre, to be constructed next year.  Waterdunen in Zeeland created a temporary visitor centre in a church in Groede in 2011, and are now working on plans for their permanent visitor centre.  Natuur en-Recreatieschap de Grevelingen, the host for October’s meetings, have been very busy lately and in the last six months have opened a new mountain bike route along the Brouwersdam, installed a viewing point at the Battenoord harbour, and launched Meer Grevelingen, an interactive website, app and tourist guide for the area around Lake Grevelingen.  Include din this guide are 3d models of second world war bunkers, a sunken ship in the lake and an ancient sunken village – Bommenade.

The partners were taken to see some of these local businesses.  On a rainy afternoon we visited Nursery Zonnemaire, growing special vegetables, edible flowers and aromatic spices, all organic.  In the evening we dined at The Vierbannen, which uses Zonnemaire’s produce. In the morning we had a tour of the Slikken van Flakkee and a lesson on the flora and fauna reliant on the salt water that floods the plain.

 Photo credit: Kris Struyf

The second activity, Connecting Businesses and Economics with Nature, is still in progress.  Each partner has been working with local businesses in a variety of different ways.  Minsmere has developed their corporate membership package.  Waterdunen and Zwin, who are geographically very close to each other, have worked together to develop an ambassador course for entrepreneurs in the Belgium/Dutch area.  Natuur en-Recreatieschap de Grevelingen have used Zwin’s and Waterdunen’s course to develop their won Host of the Grevelingen programme.  These courses teach delegates about the unique foods, sights and attractions in their local area.  They also operate as networking opportunities, forging links and improving knowledge across the local tourist sector.

 

Photo credit: Kris Struyf

Our last two jobs are to produce an economic manual to show the economic and health benefits of nature reserves, and to deliver a Eurosites conference in 2014, showcasing the project results.  We are nearly there with the economic manual.  It is aimed at site managers, not economists, and can be used as an advocacy tool to show the powers-that-be the value of wildlife and green space.  Stay tuned for more news on that!

The partner meetings closed with us all attending Zicht Op De Grevelingen – a conference celebrating the closure of Natuur en-Recreatieschap de Grevelingen’s first stage of their development programme.  Yours truly gave a speech about Natura People, (in English thankfully!), and is very grateful for the numerous Dutch lessons over the years! 

Natura People is part financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the INTERREG IV A 2 Mers Seas Zeeën Crossborder Programme 2007-2013