The third technical meeting of the Mediterranean Consortium for Nature and Culture took place in Guadalaviar in Aragon, Spain from the 11th to the 14th July 2016. The meeting was hosted by Trashumancia y Naturaleza, the Spanish partner of the Consortium and all member organizations participated, namely SPNL, DiversEarth, Yolda Initiative and WWF North Africa. MedINA was represented by Thymio Papayannis, Director and Alexis Katsaros, project coordinator for the Consortium. The third technical meeting came seven months after the second one which took place in January 2016 in Tunisia. Its purpose was to allow the partners to discuss in person about the implementation of the project, the work that has been undertaken in each country regarding transhumance and fisheries, to hold a Steering Committee meeting and to look at issues of communication, fundraising and participation in international conferences.
On the first day partners presented the progress they have made regarding the second phase of the ‘Understanding and supporting cultural conservation practices in the Mediterranean’ project and discussed further actions for the project’s continuation. The second day the communications and fundraising working groups led by Divya Venkatesh and Sandra Spissinger from DiversEarth, respectively, discussed the progress that has been made in these fields in the past few months and collectively decided how the Consortium will proceed in promoting and funding its future activities. A discussion, led by Liza Zogib from DiversEarth, focused on the presence of the Consortium and its members in several important conferences during the following months (WCC – IUCN in Hawai, UNFCCC in Marakesh, etc). A Steering committee meeting was held during both days and allowed its members to discuss a number of executive matters such as the internal regulations of the Consortium. On the final day of the meeting Trashumancia y Naturaleza organized a field trip where the Consortium team had the opportunity to visit the Museum of Transhumance in Guadalaviar, to travel around the area and have contact with Spanish transhumant shepherds.