From October 3 to 6, 2023, DARKER SKY has been presented at the EUROPARC Conference 2023 in Leeuwarden (NL). This special edition celebrated EUROPARC's 50th anniversary, while looking at the future challenges and opportunities of Protected Area management and 'Tribute to our landscape: where nature and people meet in harmony'. Around 500 delegates from across Europe from protected areas and Natura 2000 came together to exchange knowledge and information to create a better, greener, sustainable and climate-resilient Europe.
photo: Jan-Willem van Kruyssen
The DARKER SKY booth was located right at the entrance to the conference building and attracted a lot of attention. Darkness/DARK SKY is now an important theme in many European Protected Areas. The participants were particularly interested in increasing biodiversity and ecological connectivity and the measurement, monitoring and co-design methods.
Furthermore, the KID & Donkerte van de Wadden projects were also presented, there were field trips to, among others, Lauwersmeer National Park & Lauwersoog Harbour and the participants could keep their eyes peeled in the RUG Mobile Planetarium.
DARKER SKY attendees:
Cristina Nazzari (Common Wadden Sea Secretariat)
Jan-Willem van Kruyssen (Landmakers Coöperatie U.A.)
Koosje Lamers (MSc PhD-student, Faculty of Science and Engineering RUG)
Farhan Shah (master student RUG)
Andreas Hänel (Working Group Dark Sky der Vereinigung der Sternfreude e.V.)
#EUROPARC2023#EUROPARC50#WearetheNorthSea#NorthSeaRegion#interregnorthsea#natureprotection#darkersky
photos: Jan-Willem van Kruyssen