By Bass Verschuuren.

Soti nan 2 - 6 Novanm 2011, kèk 30 Ewopeyen patisipe nan yon atelye sou la Valè espirityèl nan kote ki pwoteje nan Ewòp. Organised by the German Agency for Nature Conservation, the workshop took place at the International Academy for Nature Conservation on Isle of Vilm and was the first of its kind in organised in Europe. The proceedings of the workshop are expected to be completed and distributed in electronic format at the end of January 2012.

Nan kòmansman ane sa a nou te wè premye a Ewopeyen atelye sou kominote zòn konsève held in Gerace Italy and a later a syantifik seminè sou sit sakre natirèl in Zurich Switzerland. Ewòp sanble ap reveye nan wòl a ki nan kominote, kilti ak jwe espirityalite e yo ka jwe nan konsèvasyon nati. Atelye-sa-sou valè espirityèl yo nan zòn nan pwoteje afime rekonesans sa k ap grandi ak enterè.

Prezantasyon yo divès yo nan Bosni, Estoni, Polòy, Almay, Ikrèn, Espay, Itali, Fenlann ak anpil lòt peyi, klèman te montre ke tout otou Ewòp relasyon moun a ak zòn ki antoure natirèl ak paysages kiltirèl yo souvan karakterize pa eksperyans espirityèl. Andwa ki te renome pou divèsite biyolojik yo ak valè lwazi byen vit parèt kòm yon pati nan yon twal nouvo valè.

Caves, mòn, wòch ak sous dlo yo konnen ki moun abite nan move lespri nati a kèk epi yo dwe pouvwa plas la pou kontinye tradisyon lontan nan pratik espirityèl yo bay lòt moun. Sakre sit natirèl ki egziste tout toupatou nan Ewòp. Gen kèk, like Neolithic burial mouths or pre-historic petroglyphs mark the places of power that where once central to cultures that have long since vanished from the surface of the earth. Some of those places are being reinvigorated by those seeking a spiritual relationship with nature. New places however, are also marked as sacred and bestowed with spiritual value.

As one will expect, thousands of sacred naturals sites are also managed by religious organisations in Europe, and long netwroks of pilgrimages linking them are being conserved or revitalised. Whether the participants were discussing the religious forests of the Catholic and Orthodox Church or those sacred to indigenous Saami and Estonians their special ways of forest use is marked by a spiritual dimensions. The interests of these stakeholders as well as their historic relationships need to be carefully taken into account of protected area management. “This offers a real practical and in cases political challenge that arises from bringing intangible values into the realm of protected areas management and planning” says Josep Maria Mallarach Co-coordinator of the Delos Inisyativ sit.

Josep-Maria se kounye a kowòdone pwodiksyon an nan yon manyèl enkòpore eritaj la mèb nan planifikasyon zòn ki pwoteje ak jesyon avèk Seksyon an Panyòl la Europarc federasyon an, which will be launched next summer. If this succeeds it may be serve as a good model for other European countries that need guidelines for better taking into account spiritual values in their protected areas.