(Second part of the Barcelona event news here)
The high-level policy event concluding the Interreg PROGRESS project gathered in Barcelona top decision-makers from National and Regional governments from Hungary, Ireland, Romania, Latvia, Toscana (Italy) and Catalonia. The event took place at the Representation of the European Commission in Barcelona, and was introduced by Ms. Laura Rahola, Chief of Communications, enlarged the European value of the event. The participation was of 45 people in Barcelona and 35 in live streaming. The event is not available in recording format.
The sessions were opened by Ms. Anna Barnadas, Secretary of Climate Action of the Government of Catalonia, as host country representative, and Mr. Stefano Baccelli, Councillor for Infrastructures, Mobility and Territorial Government, for the Tuscany Region, representing the coordinator of PROGRESS partnership.
In Catalonia citizenship gives higher value to human health than nature, This is why, a one-health message linking nature and human health is the way. Anna Barnadas, Government of Catalonia.
Ms. Barnadas valued PROGRESS in relation to the COP15 and the new Global Biodiversity Framework objective towards a sustainable use and management of biodiversity and a natural environment preserved, enhanced and restored for people. In this context, biodiversity and climate action must go hand in hand, in the transversal approach that PROGRESS proposes for governments and society.
Mr. Stefano Baccelli, viewing from Tuscany Region, contextualised PROGRESS in policy learning across city and landscape regional legislation, and in connection to data available now and on the future satellite tools in Tuscany, with reduction of land consumption as the goal.
We are facing an important change of paradigm in the field of nature conservation with green infastructure and ecosystem services, Joan Pino, CREAF.
Next, Dr. Joan Pino, director of CREAF, PROGRESS partner organising the event, referred to the green infrastructure as a cornerstone between biodiversity conservation and human benefits provided by nature, that land on the concept of ecosystem services.
Mr. Erwin Sweris, director of Interreg Europe programme (presentation here), summarized the 2014-2020 period and outlined the first calls of the new 2021-2027 programme. PROGRESS is 1 of 13 projects on natural heritage in the 2014-2020 programme, with 21 good practices included in the main Policy Learning Platform (PLP) database, and with contributions to workshops, policy briefs and stories by this PLP.
Finally, Mr. Besnik Mehmeti, coordinator of PROGRESS from ANCI Toscana (presentation here), summarized the main activities and results in numbers of PROGRESS and presented the new PROGRESS policy briefs, available at the website library.
After these initial presentations the event continued in three thematic panels all related to ecosystem services governance at the regional and local level:
- Pollination services.
- Mapping and territorial analysis of ecosystem services.
- Ecosystem services in urban environments.
See the news PROGRESS Barcelona: the thematic panels about the content of the debates.
In parallel to the thematic panels, the event allowed to present the updates on the deployment of the policy Action Plans in each of the 6 participating countries (see here the 6 PROGRESS action plans), which continue to implement the transfer of good practices in ecosystem service governance between the partners until summer 2023, with some partners well advanced in their implementation. The advances in Action Plans can be reviewed in this indexed presentation with all plans.
This was the last live event of the PROGRESS project; the project still continues to July 2023 with a final newsletter and further news, like the policy briefs and the infographics presentations.
Keep following PROGRESS website, newsletter and social networks!
