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Case Studies |
Examples from Partners
Scotland
Ellon
Project Title: The Access and Biodiversity Strategy
Forms part of the overall strategy and forms the basis for decision –making and action by a range of partners. This is now being carried forward into implementation
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Description: The Access and Biodiversity Strategy links local people to the natural landscapes within and around Ellon, particularly the River Ythan and the woodlands.
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Objectives:
- Identify existing natural and semi natural environments in and around Ellon.
- Identify peoples physical, cultural and mental linkages to these natural environments.
- Improve access and biodiversity linkages for local people with the natural environment.
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Process/Stages:
- Audit existing natural and semi natural environments in Ellon.
- Audit peoples linkages to the natural environment.
- Identify formal and informal path networks.
- Identify opportunities for improving and managing the natural environment.
- Identify methods of involving local people in the management of the natural environments such as the River Ythan and the woodlands.
- Identify linkages between the natural environment and the access (paths) network.
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Outcomes/Results:
- Plan of locally important natural environments.
- Assessment of people’s linkages and values of natural environments.
- Core paths plan.
- Schedule and plan of natural environments showing management needs.
- Schedule of management activities developed with local people.
- Plans and schedule showing linkages between natural environment and paths network.
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Learning Points:
- Quantify changing relationship between Ellon’s residents and natural environment.
- Establish if differences between how different residents groups eg old/young value or perceive natural environment.
- Look at different methods of developing a sense of ownership for management of natural environments.
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Contact Information: Steven Gray, Environmental Planner (Projects) |
Ellon ‘Global Footprint Initiative’ (see ‘Waste, Water and Energy’ component)
See: www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/planning/index.asp
Stonehaven
Project: Stonehaven Horizon Project
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Description: Partnership with Aberdeenshire Council, Community Council, Stonehaven Business Association, the local Horticultural Society and interested residents. All working together to improve the local environment, through round the year planting, litter management, tidying unsightly/problem areas and flower baskets in summer, etc. £6,000 Funds for set-up/equipment from Aberdeenshire Towns Partnership.
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Objectives: To obtain a better quality of environment to live in and to encourage more visitors. The Group are working towards entering the town into the national Scotland In Bloom Competition.
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Process/Stages:
- Local businesses intimated concerns over their local environment in 2003. It was established that other key groups felt the same.
- Stonehaven Business Support officer facilitated a meeting where Scotland in Bloom representatives did a presentation to interested local groups and individuals. It was decided by the assembled that a Group should be formed to work towards these aims.
- The group identified areas in town that needed work, and are systematically tackling these.
- The group are looking at development of a litter strategy
- They are now looking to the private and public sector on their own initiative for additional sponsorship/funding.
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Outcomes/Results:
- The town looks noticeably tidier, and more attractive.
- The group continues to grow in strength. In 2005 they worked in partnership with the Friends of the Open Air Pool on a Project that was televised in the Summer.
- Local authority and the community work together to identify the most effective deployment of resources.
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Learning points
* A strong group is formed when people/groups with the same aims and objectives are working together.
* Many small projects being tackled over a period of time can add together to give a major impact.
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Contact Information:
Jacqui Christie, Business Support Officer, email
Alan Cairnduff – Chairman - Horizon Project: email
www.horizonstonehaven.co.uk |
Sweden
Integrated coastal zone management, ICZM
The very attractive coastline on the Swedish West is under a threat of overexploitation, particularly in and around the Strömstad area. To prevent this, a joint project with national, regional and local authorities is being established. The aim is to create a planning tool to be used to preserve all the values of the coast and at the same time keep it open and welcoming for visitors.
National park of the Koster See
A very close link to the above mentioned effort is the Koster See National Park. Located in the archipelago just outside Strömstad, it is a very popular area for leisure boats. By adopting the National Park model, it is then possible to inform, regulate and supervise the activities among the visitors and residents.
Poland
Hel
The Polish Military – an ‘ Alliance with nature’.
At the moment, the project involves only the military unit based on Hel Peninsula. In 2008/09, the project is going to be introduced in the whole navy. The main purpose is to draw the attention of soldiers’ impact on natural environment through education. The following actions help to convey a fuller knowledge about endangered species and environment : organization of lectures about manners of protection of endangered species and habitation of birds, protection of natural heritage situated on military fields; local press and television coverage of information about nature situated on military fields; Elaboration of manner of reporting about species that have been found on the area; Creation of a new symbol of the military unit which will inform about pro-ecological character of the unit; Creation of procedures for selecting places for military operations. The project has raised significant interest and contributes to pro-ecological actions. Soldiers are now more familiar with local and domestic species and undertake military operations less interfering with the environment. Programmes of training are prepared by specialists from the Polish Environmental Partnership Foundation, The Hel Marine Station of the Gdańsk University Institute of Oceanography, and Friends of Hel Association.
http://hel.univ.gda.pl/info/helmarinestation.htm
‘The Blue school’ – coastal ecology education projects
Residents of the Baltic Coast are naturally involved in protection of The Baltic Sea and so should be well informed about what are major threats to the local environment. Scientists and personnel from The Hel Marine Station formed a teaching institution and one of the educational projects is ‘Blue school’. This initiative offers schools, at all levels, lessons in the ecology of the sea and the biology of marine organisms. Courses are organized throughout whole year and are one or two days long. Eleven subjects are available to suit the needs of different students. Beside seminars, the main parts of courses are workshops, and students get familiar with various species living in Baltic Sea during the field research. Participants also learn about endangered species and methods of preventing destruction of environment. Teachings are augmented with multimedia presentations, movies and museum exhibition articles. Participation in studies is free for students from northern Poland. Each session finishes with a guided tour around the marine station, where seals can be admired. The station is equipped with aquariums and breeding tanks that aim to replicate conditions as close to the naturally existing ones as possible. The latest project, ‘Ecology of the Sea’, introduces a new subject in the teaching programme in secondary and elementary schools in the area.
Lębork
Lębork and Local Agenda 21
Lębork has cooperated with the Swedish Municipality of Almhult since 1994 resulting in a ‘Local Agenda 21’ commitment. This LA21 document selected most important pro-ecological actions that should be implemented for improvement of social conditions and environmental protection. Listed actions and general directions were prioritized and incorporated in the town development strategy created at that time. Partners together decided what has to be improved and Lębork decided to undertake following tasks:
-Introduction of additional ecological practical education in pre-schools and schools
-revival of green spaces
-building a bypass, which reduced the traffic in city centre
(see also ‘Waste, Water and Energy’ component)
Puck
Puck and ‘Green Space Management’
In many towns, green spaces usually generate several problems - It is difficult to keep them tidy and trimmed and residents do not generally engage in nature preservation. The municipality of Puck being aware of this problem, decided to take care of green spaces and to plant round the entire town. The authority gained finance from Provincial Environmental Control Authority for planting activities: tree vegetation; shrub vegetation; climbing bushes. Such plants were selected because it is easier to take care of these types of vegetation. The local community was informed about the project and invited to participate. Information and details about this action was published on the official town website with pictures. See http://www.miasto.puck.pl/
Greece
Aegio
Aegio – the town now has a project aiming the preservation and enhancement of a nature reserve and bird sanctuary near the seaside
Examples from Elsewhere
Cricklade, North Wiltshire, UK (population 4,132)
Britain in Bloom
The ‘Britain in Bloom’ competition is an annual UK-wide competition. It encourages people to make positive changes to their local environment and commonly attracts many entries from small towns. These can include reducing issues like litter, graffiti, vandalism or anti-social behaviour. It could also be encouraging recycling or local environmental conservation projects. In 2004, a group of local community members in Cricklade formed the ‘Cricklade Bloomers’. The group works to promote the Britain in Bloom agenda of creating a “safer, cleaner and greener local environment” within the town. Some of its projects have included planting in local green spaces, and improving access to parks and natural areas. It is primarily funded through local fund-raising projects, but is also supported by the town council. The group also works to establish partnerships with other community groups. For example, it joined forces with the local Brownies pack to establish a new community garden. This helped to promote the Cricklade Bloomers agenda, as well as teach the young girls about the benefits of gardening.
www.crickladeinbloom.co.uk
National Park of Cilento and Vallo di Diano, Italy
Economic Benefits of the Landscape
Agricultural landscapes have always had a strong link with small rural towns. The quality of the landscape surrounding the town enhances the local identity of its residents. Recent advances in agriculture have led to mergers that have forced many farmers off their land. In addition, envsing needs have led to the release of agricultural land for urban expansion. Both of these factors have led to the loss of agricultural landscapes around the globe. Research published in 2000 examined the economic effects of the loss of agricultural landscapes in Cilento National Park in Italy. The park is one of the largest attractors of tourists to the Campania region in south-west Italy. Based on interviews of more than 300 park visitors, the research determined that the quality of the surrounding landscape contributed approximately €1 per visit to the local economy, totalling €8 million per year. Clearly, the quality of the landscape is a significant contributor to the tourism industry for villages located within the park. This argument has been used to promote the delivery of landscape preservation policy within the park.
(Cicia & Scarpa 2000)
Stryszow, Poland (population 1,000)
Eco-tourism benefits all
Sunflower Farm in the small town of Stryszow has become the hub of eco-tourism in Poland. It is home to the manager of the European Centre for Ecological Agriculture and Tourism in Poland (ECEAT-Poland). ECEAT-Poland has three key goals: to introduce eco-tourism in Poland, to encourage organic farming, and to protect the Polish countryside. At its early stages, it recruited 15 farmers to switch to organic practices. Thanks to new tax relief laws, this increased to 130 within the first year of the programme. In 1998, the manager of ECEAT-Poland joined with local authorities to establish Stryszow as an eco-community. Sunflower Farm became the headquarters for the Ecological Technology Centre. As part of the eco-tourism network in Poland, it worked with visitors and local residents to promote sustainable rural practices. This includes the use of solar energy, wind power, biomass heated stoves, permaculture technology, and envsehold wastewater plants. All technology is displayed within Sunflower Farm in ways that demonstrate how they are adaptable to the individual rural envsehold. At present, initial investment in some of these sustainable technologies is still very high in Poland. However, the work being done at Sunflower Farm has increased tourism and awareness within the town and the outlying municipality with a population of 12,000.
www.iiasa.ac.at/
Randolph, New Hampshire USA (population 3390)
Protecting land to preserve tradition
Development pressures in the north-eastern United States have caused land prices to skyrocket. This has had a significant impact on the Northern Forests. Altenvgh access to the forests is free, the land has been privately owned by timber milling companies for hundreds of years. As the value of the land increases, parts of the forest are being sold off and cleared for development. The small town of Randolph is situated in the middle of the Pond of Safety Forest and the White Mountain National Forest. The sensitive landscape attracts up to 7 million visitors a year. The growing trend of land being lost to large-scale developments concerned members of the town’s planning board. They were aware of the threat posed to the small town’s heritage if its surrounding forests were to be developed into large-scale residential areas. As a result, they appealed to the Trust for Public Land (TPL), and worked to secure funding from federal grants and programmes. By the time negotiations were drawing to a close, they were still missing $2.3 million. In a town meeting, 150 residents present voted unanimously to find a way to locally raise the money. Drawing on the town’s resources, permanent residents and summer residents, the money was eventually secured. As the town now owns the land, they can control the scale of any future releases for development. Roughly a quarter of the 13,500-acre purchase will be conserved as National Forest. All management costs are covered through the continued, but sustainable, sale of timber from within the forest.
(Stapleton 2001)
Groundwork UK Groundwork Mersey Valley – Halton and Warrington (pops c.35,000)
‘Groundwork’ supports communities in need, working with partners to help improve the quality of people’s lives, their prospects and potential and the places where they live, work and play. In Halton, Warrington and some parts of Merseyside, Groundwork Mersey Valleyworks in partnership with local people and local organisations to change places and change lives. Goundwork support communities in areas of high social, economic and environmental need, making a long-term commitment to neighbourhoods. Work is undertaken alongside other partners and local people to deliver real change and improvements in quality of life. Groundwork often uses the local environment as a tool to transform the social capital of areas in and around Halton and Warrington. Small projects, focused on patches of neglected land, bring a huge pay-off in terms of bringing neighbours together, developing social as well as physical capital. They aim to use our projects to deliver multiple outcomes, including fostering cohesion in our communities, reducing crime and anti-social behaviour, and encouraging healthier lifestyles. Their flagship community programme, 'Neighbourhood Pride', delivers localised community-led regeneration in a way that is both sustainable and also reflective of priorities defined by the community, the local authority and other partners.
http://merseyside.groundworknw.org.uk/
Principal Contacts
Royal Horticultural Society – Britain in Bloom: www.rhs.org.uk/britaininbloom
European Centre for Ecological and Agricultural Tourism: www.eceat.org
Coastal Community Programme Scheme – www.crownestate.co.uk
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