European policy meetings
The Board of the European Wilderness Society is going to visit a wide variety of organisations in Brussels this week in order to advocate for the strong link between Wilderness protection and European policies. There are meetings arranged with Members of the European Parliament, various representatives of DG Environment, DG Research as well as offices of partner NGOs. On Thursday we will be discussing the effect of the current fittness check of the nature directives on Wilderness areas. As part of its Smart Regulation policy the European Commission has initiated a Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme (REFIT), which is a continuous process, affecting the whole policy cycle – from the design of a piece of legislation to implementation, enforcement, evaluation and, where justified, revision. The European Wilderness Society will participate in the public consultation process in order to guarantee that the so-called fitness check will lead to improved protection of Wilderness across Europe.
Our second goal is to promote the Pan-European Green Corridor Network concept and explain its strong connection to the EU Green Infrastructure initiative. According to the Commission’s website the “Green Infrastructure is addressing the spatial structure of natural and semi-natural areas but also other environmental features which enable citizens to benefit from its multiple services. The underlying principle of Green Infrastructure is that the same area of land can frequently offer multiple benefits if its ecosystems are in a healthy state.” (read more here). The Pan-European Green Corridor Network initiative, which gained significant attention throughout the civil society and the academic sectors, is believed to be a perfect instrument to integrate Wilderness areas as core areas of Europe’s green infrastructure.
The protection of Wilderness requires the attention of policy- and decision-makers
At the end of the visit our organisation will happily be opening its Brussels hub! Due to an excellent partnership with Lumina Consult, the European Wilderness Society will open a liason office, located in the centre of the city, close to the European Parliament, for our advocacy and fundraising work.
We will be reporting back on the results of our visit on our facebook page and on our website.
