On July 14-15, 2016, MedINA is organising a kick off workshop on the Greek island of Kythera, placed under the aegis of the Municipality of Kythera and Antikythera. The workshop is part of MedINA’s, MAVA funded, INCREAte project (Integrated Nature and CultuRe Approach) and the island of Kythera has been selected as the preliminary pilot site.
The INCREAte project aims to improve the management of Mediterranean environmentally sensitive areas through the development of a new approach for integrating cultural aspects into nature conservation. The approach is structured as a management standard with an adaptive set of principles and criteria, plus a full set of tools and operational guidelines. Furthermore, work in the pilot site will allow for the refinement of the approach.
The kick off workshop is entitled “Jointly planning for our place: a vision for culture and nature”, will take place in the Hall of Kythiraikos Syndesmos at the island’s capital. A number of local organisations and civil society groups have been invited, along with key resource persons with great knowledge of the island and its natural and cultural heritage. Implementing our project will actually incorporate standard principles of participatory planning via a series of thematic workshops for incorporating and building on values, perceptions and visions of the local population with regards to nature, culture and local development. At the end of the second day, an open doors session will allow interested individuals to come and find out about the workshop and our project, and also share their own ideas.