EUROPA NOSTRA: «The 7 Most Endangered»

European Investment Bank (EIB) teams up with Europa Nostra to save Europe's Cultural Heritage

 

The Hague/Luxembourg, 24 January 2013 - Europe's leading heritage organisation Europa Nostra has launched today its new flagship programme ‘The 7 Most Endangered’ with the European Investment Bank Group, represented by the EIB Institute, as its founding partner. This programme will identify endangered monuments and sites in Europe and mobilize public and private partners on a local, national and European level to find a sustainable future for those sites. 

 

“Cultural Heritage is Europe's greatest asset: our crude oil, our gold reserve. Our heritage is Europe's bread and butter, as much as it is Europe's heart and soul. Together with the European Investment Bank, Europa Nostra is proud to launch ‘The 7 Most Endangered’ programme. If we all work together, we can stimulate a true renaissance of Europe’s unique cultural heritage “ said Plácido Domingo, President Europa Nostra.

 

“The preservation of the cultural heritage in Europe is a huge task and without any doubt a common responsibility for all of us. The European Investment Bank is therefore pleased to be the founding partner of Europa Nostra’s new programme of “The 7 Most Endangered”. Its contribution to this project via the EIB Institute will be to provide analysis and advice on how funding could be obtained for the projects selected within this programme.” added Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank.

 

The first list of ‘The 7 Most Endangered’ will be announced during Europa Nostra’s 50^th anniversary Congress in Athens on 16 June 2013. An international Advisory Panel will prepare the short list of 14 most endangered sites and the final list of 7 will be selected by the Europa Nostra Board. Nominations of most endangered sites can be made by Europa Nostra member or associate organisations or Europa Nostra’s country representations, the full list of which is available on the Europa Nostra website.  Deadline for the submission of nominations is 15 March 2013. (For the nomination form click here)

 

After the selection of ‘The 7 Most Endangered’, the experts selected by the EIB Institute and the other associated partners will visit each of the 7 sites in close consultation with local stakeholders and will propose realistic and sustainable action plans for saving those sites. The Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) based in Paris will be one of the associated partners for this phase of the programme. The plans would include advice on how funding could be obtained, e.g. by drawing on EU funds or, in appropriate cases, on EIB or CEB loans. Europa Nostra’s extensive network  of heritage organisations will mobilise local communities and public or private bodies to strengthen the ownership and commitment for the 7 selected heritage sites in danger.

 

‘The 7 Most Endangered’ is inspired by a successful programme of the US National Trust for Historic Preservation, based in Washington. It will however go one crucial step further – it will not only identify a priority list of heritage sites in danger; it will also propose concrete rescue plans indicating what could and should be done to save those sites. Besides generating public interest and enthusiasm the programme will bring people together to create sustainable solutions through feasibility studies, technical advice, capacity and funding assistance, project management support and wide-scale publicity. In this way, ‘The 7 Most Endangered’ will work as a catalyst for action.  

 

http://www.europanostra.org/7-most-endangered/

 

Press contacts:

 

EUROPA NOSTRA: Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović, Secretary General, sqm@europanostra.org;

T: +31.70.302.40.56 M: +31.652313971

 

EIB and EIB Institute: Sabine Parisse, Deputy Head of Division, Press officer, T: +352 4379 83340,

M: +352.621.45.91.59 s.parisse@eib.org

 

Background information:

 

On Europa Nostra:

 

EUROPA NOSTRA - the Voice of Cultural Heritage in Europe - represents a rapidly growing citizens’ movement for the safeguarding of Europe’s cultural and natural heritage. It covers almost 50 countries in Europe and beyond. Together with its members, associates and partners, Europa Nostra forms an important lobby for cultural heritage in Europe. It also celebrates excellence through the European Heritage Awards organised in partnership with the European Union. Finally, Europa Nostra campaigns to save Europe’s endangered historic monuments, sites and cultural landscapes. Plácido Domingo, the world’s renowned opera singer, is the President of Europa Nostra.

www.europanostra.org

Em Floração: MILEFÓLIO

Nome científico: Achillea millefolium L.

Família: Asteraceae

Nome vulgar: Milefólio

Distribuição: Na maior parte da Europa, mas rara na Região Mediterrânea. Ásia Menor, Irão, Sibéria e Himalaia. Este exemplar pode ser visto na Classe.

O exemplo de Paris: Le Jardin des Plantes

Des collections documentées

Les plantes d’un jardin botanique sont documentées, c'est-à-dire suivies. On connaît leur provenance, leur identité botanique de façon certaine, on les suit leur vie durant. Toutes les plantes du Jardin des Plantes sont étiquetées et ont leur fiche électronique.

Elles sont rassemblées selon des critères scientifiques ou selon les nécessités de la diffusion des connaissances. Ainsi dans le jardin de l’Ecole de Botanique les plantes sont présentées selon la classification la plus actuelle des végétaux.

Elles souvent issues de populations végétales sauvages ou leurs parents l’ont été. Au Jardin des Plantes c’est le cas de nombreux arbres historiques qui sont arrivés sous forme de graines issues de sujets sauvages.

Un support de recherche

Certaines des collections d’un jardin botanique sont le support d’études scientifiques (classification des végétaux, recherche de molécules utiles, recherche sur la résistance au froid, à la sécheresse...)

Elles renferment parfois des plantes rares ou menacées dont la conservation ex situ, c'est-à-dire hors de leur milieu nature, est indispensable. Elle constitue ainsi des banques de la biodiversité végétale. C’est le cas des plantes malgaches des serres de Paris et de Chèvreloup.

Les plantes si elles se multiplient sont échangées (sous forme de graines, boutures, plants) gratuitement entre les jardins botaniques afin de distribuer largement des plantes rares ou peu connues. Les jardins botaniques sont en réseau et constituent une communauté concernée par la sauvegarde de la biodiversité végétale.

Un lieu de diffusion des connaissances

Les collections végétales vivantes dans les jardins botaniques servent de support et d’illustration à la diffusion des connaissances sur les plantes, les écosystèmes végétaux, les relations entre les plantes et les animaux et les plantes et les hommes. Cette diffusion s’adresse à tous les publics. Le Jardin des Plantes est parsemé de panneaux explicatifs. Des animations temporaires veinent mettre l’accent sur un thème particulier qui change chaque année.

Les jardins botaniques sont des lieux ouverts au public où les plantes sont aussi là pour le plaisir et la détente. Ceux donc des jardins aux rôles multiples et plus nombreux que ceux des jardins ornementaux habituels.

in http://www.jardindesplantes.net/

Fotos: Jardim da Escola de Botânica e o Jardim das Peónias

As Árvores e os Livros: Karel Čapek

There are several ways to lay out a little garden; the best way is to get a gardener.

Karel Čapek (1890-1938) foi um dos mais influentes escritores Checos do séc. XX. Foi ele que criou a palavra robot, que apareceu pela primeira vez na sua obra R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) in 1921.

Foto: O nosso Jardim Botânico sofre de uma crónica insuficiência de jardineiros assim como de outros funcionários indispensáveis à boa manutenção de um jardim histórico com mais de 4 hectares... Para que o Jardim Botânico cumpra com os padrões elevados de conservação e restauro que se espera de um Monumento Nacional é necessário haver funcionários qualificados e em número suficiente. Quando é que o Estado português irá assumir a sua responsabilidade, consagrada na Lei do Património? A LAJB, enquanto watchdog, não irá baixar os braços enquanto este problema não estiver resolvido.

Threat to European biodiversity 'as serious as climate change'

The natural world across Europe is suffering a crisis as serious as the threat of climate change, Europe's environment chiefs are to warn this week.

A report from the European Environment Agency (EEA) to be published next month sounds the alarm that most species and habitats across the continent are in poor condition and the risk of extinction continues to rise.

New figures for the UK also show that even the most important and rare plants and animals are suffering: eight out of 10 habitats and half of species given the highest level of European protection are in an "unfavourable" condition.

Species at risk in the UK range from insects like the honeybee and swallowtail butterfly, to mammals and birds at the top of the food chain such as the otter and the golden eagle, said the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH).

The losses threaten to undermine vital ecosystem services like clean water and fertile soils, which underpin both quality of life and the economy, said Jacqueline McGlade, the EEA's executive director.

"Much of our economy in Europe relies on the fact we have natural resources underpinning everything," McGlade told the Guardian. The losses of wildlife and habitat are a threat to being able to live sustainably within the enviroment in the future, she said. "Some of the losses are irreversible."

McGlade will present findings from the agency report at a major conference next week called by the European environment commissioner Stavros Dimas. He is worried that the European commission has failed to meet a pledge to halt biodiversity loss by 2010, and recently warned "the loss of biodiversity is a global threat that is every bit as serious as climate change".

"The reasons that we are losing biodiversity are well known: destruction of habitats, pollution, over-exploitation, invasive species and, most recently, climate change," Dimas will tell the conference in Athens. "The compound effect of these forces is terrifying."

At another high-level conference in London on Wednesday, organised by the CEH, leaders from business, government, academics and NGOs will warn that ecosystems underpin human lifestyles from air, water and food to resources for industry.

Professor Lord May of Oxford, a former government chief scientific adviser and president of the Royal Society, said: "Our massive and unintended experiment on the planet's reaction to unsustainable levels of human impacts is approaching crisis point. The future is not yet beyond rescue, provided we take appropriate action with due urgency."

The EEA report says although there have been some conservation successes, including halting the decline of common songbirds, the "overall status and trends of most species and habitats give rise to concern".

Figures for the habitats and species awarded special protection under the EU habitats directive reveal that across 40 countries of Europe and the former Soviet Union, 50-85% of habitats and 40-70% of species were in an "unfavourable" condition, and many more could not be assessed because of a lack of information.

Across Europe, the biggest declines from 1990 to 2000 had been for bogs and fenland, heathland and coastal habitats. Woodland, forests and lakes had grown, but these increases were dwarfed by the biggest habitat expansion, which was "constructed, industrial, artificial habitats".

Populations of some European common birds stopped falling in the 1990s, but all groups of birds had fallen in numbers since 1980, and other species groups like butterflies, amphibians and pollinating insects had declined dramatically, said the report.

The report notes that habitats and species in the habitats directive were chosen because they were under threat, and so were harder to conserve.

"Ecosystems generally show a fair amount of resilience," it adds. "Beyond certain thresholds, however, ecosystems may collapse and transform into distinctly different states, potentially with considerable impacts on humans."

Reforms to be put to the conference in Athens include better management of protected areas, which now make up more than 17% of the European Union territory; targets for economic sectors, such as transport, to ensure they do not have a negative impact on the environment; and more work on putting a "value" on ecosystem services so conservationists can argue their case against developers, said McGlade.

"This is not about putting a price on everything, it's a value. This will transform the discussion because somebody can say 'you're eating away at our capital - grassland', or whatever the landscape or species is."

In a statement, Defra, the UK environment department, said the government fully supported strong international targets, but said many conservation schemes were working.

"For example, England's Sites of Special Scientific Interest are in better condition than ever at 88.4% in favourable or recovering condition compared with 57% in 2003," it added.

Globally, last year's annual "red list" of endangered species from the IUCN conservation organisation warned that the world's mammals face an extinction crisis, with almost one in four of 5,487 known species at risk of disappearing forever.

in The Guardian, 24 de Abril de 2009

FOTO: Ilha das Berlengas