Majestic cataracts, steep mountain ranges, brown bears, wolf packs and sweeping forests as far as the eye can see. “You don’t have to travel far to immerse yourself in breathtaking wilderness”, says Zoltan Kun, director of the PAN Parks Foundation. With the goal of preserving Europe’s last wilderness gems, PAN Parks combines nature conservation with responsible travel. A report about this unusual “marriage”.
From the Arctic Circle to the Southern Appenines and from the Caucausus to the Iberian Peninsula - eleven PAN Parks expand over the European continent, as multifaceted and diverse as the Europeans themselves. The parks represent the most intact and undisturbed expanse of Europe’s remaining wilderness. Aiming to preserve these natural treasures, the PAN Parks Foundation focuses on the positive effects of community based tourism. A contradiction?
“If nature wants to survive today, it has to be profitable”, says Vlado Vancura, PAN Parks conservation manager. Sustainable tourism not only brings profit and sustainable development to rural communities but at same time it preserves the parks from growing investment, building development and unmanaged mass tourism. These threats are explicitly severe in the Eastern European countries, where some of the formerly stately owned national parks changed hands to local communities or private ownership. “The communities are sometimes tempted to make a quick profit and sell their land to investors,” says Vancura. PAN Parks counters these threats by offering alternative income opportunities, e.g. in small scale tourism enterprises or as professional tour operators. “Only if the local communities yield an economic profit from the park, they will be willing to preserve it,” says Vancura.
While conservationists and the tourism industry have successfully cooperated in other continents for many years, this unusual approach in nature conservation is still in its early stages in culture-driven Europe. “Our first three PAN Parks were certified in 2002 and the first tourist products came on the market in 2004”, says Vlado Vancura.
To qualify as a PAN Park, a national park has to be at least 200sq km in size with a core area of at least 100 sqm, which has to be true nature and free from man’s footprint. Tourism development is only allowed to take place outside this core area and tour operators are obliged to offer solely environmentally friendly activities.The outdoor activities on offer vary from park to park: Dog sledging or rafting at the Arctic Circle, ice climbing in Fulufjallets tallest waterfall (Sweden) , survival training on the peaks of Retezat mountain (Romania) or relaxing in the thermal spas of Majella National Park (Italy). In order to guarantee the maintenance of PAN Parks high conservation standards, the eleven parks are regularly monitored by conservation experts and ecotourism professionals.
PAN Parks goal is to expand its network from eleven to 14 wilderness parks within the next three years and to raise public awareness for Europe’s natural heritage. “Almost every European has at least heard about the Yellowstone, the Kruger or the Serengeti National Park but only few can name a protected area in their own country. Wilderness is somewhat missing from the concept of Europe”, says Kun and hopes that PAN Parks will propel Europe’s iconic wild places.
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