International Workshop on Tourism, Culture and Wetlands Tunis, 12-13 February 2014

International Workshop on Tourism, Culture and Wetlands Tunis, 12-13 February 2014

The international workshop on ‘Tourism, Culture and Wetlands’ was organised in Tunis, Tunisia on 12-13 February by Med-INA in cooperation with MedWet and a number of local partners, such as WWF Tunis, Direction Generale des Forets, Société de Promotion de Lac de Tunis and Les Amies des Oiseaux. The workshop was organised in the framework of the project ‘Culture and wetlands in the Mediterranean: using cultural values for wetland restoration’. More than 30 participants, international and locals took part in the event. On 12 February, two field trips were organised, one in Ghar el Mehl wetland and one on the Island of Chikly, in the Lake Tunis.

During the workshop, the activities of the project were presented, which took place in three diverse pilot sites, in Larnaka Salt Lakes in Cyprus, in Lake Karla in Greece and in Tunis Lake in Tunisia. Moreover, the role of tourism as a cultural agent was studied, followed by relevant presentations from the pilot sites. The three sites have a different relation with visitors, which ranges from difficulties in the management of large numbers of tourists to efforts for the attraction of more visitors. The workshop was concluded with lively interventions by many participants, on the role of the cultural services on wetland restoration. The presentations were in English and in French.

You may download the workshop agenda here.

Workshop presentations

  1. Purpose and Objective of the International Workshop – Nejib Benessaiah, MedWet Coordinator [PDF]
  2. Presentation of the project ‘Culture and Mediterranean wetlnads’ using cultural values for wetland restoration’ – Irini Lyratzaki, Med-INA [PDF]
  3. Recreational Carrying Capacity Study of the island of Chikly, Tunisia – Prof. Maria Jose Vinals, Polytechnic University of Valencia [PDF] 
  4. Tourism and wetland restoration (keynote speech) – Prof. Vassilis Kanakoudis-Anastasia Papadopoulou, University of Thessaly [PDF]
  5. The Legacy of Larnaka Salt Lakes – Alexis Michaelides, former Deputy Mayor of Larnaka [PDF]
  6. Tourism and urban nature – Andreas Karakatsanis, Larnaka Municipality [PPT]
  7. Planning and management for tourism growth at Lake North, Tunis – Nacer Ben Maiz, Société de Promotion du Lac de Tunis [PPT]
  8. Lake Karla: restoration and environmental education – Maria Chamoglou, Managing Authority of Lake Karla [PPT]
  9. The ‘new’ Lake Karla: lessons learnt – Prof. Ifigeneia Kagkalou, Managing Authority of Lake Karla [PPT]
  10. Culture practices and nature conservation in North Africa – Sana Mzoughi, WWF Tunis [PDF]
  11. The contribution of cultural services to wetland restoration – Thymio Papayannis, Med-INA [PDF]