The European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas is a practical management tool that enables protected areas to develop and implement their tourism activities in terms of sustainable development. The core element of the Charter is working in partnership with all relevant stakeholders establishing a Sustainable Tourism Forum, including inter alia local communities, tourism businesses, local development groups and conservation NGOs. Based on the ten Charter Principles for Sustainable Tourism, the Forum develops a common sustainable tourism strategy and a 5-year action plan. A positive influence on and new impulses to tourism development have been seen in and around the Charter protected areas resulting in new ideas and projects. The European Charter has been successfully implemented for more than ten years. 45 protected areas in seven European countries already belong to the Charter network, providing numerous model examples of how to develop and implement tourism activities that are ecologically, economically and socially balanced.

Partnerships
Many Charter protected areas have already started to build partnerships with local tourism businesses. The Volcanic Zone of Garrotxa Nature Park and the Tourism Association Garrotxa have been cooperating since 2001 in accrediting tourism businesses as Information Points of the nature park. As part of the Charter Action Plan, Harz National Park has started to certify national park friendly accommodation (Nationalparkfreundliche Unterkünfte) which fulfil special quality criteria, get involved with environmental protection activities and receive regular up-to-date information from the national park. The Charter protected areas Pilat regional nature park and Cevennes national park are two of seven protected areas located in the Massif Central, France, who came together and founded the IPAMAC association, elaborating an experimental methodology that commits all the partners and the volunteer businesses to carry out a concrete action plan which must respect the principles of sustainable tourism recommended in the European Charter.

In 2005, the EUROPARC Federation started the process of drawing up a framework for protected areas across Europe to implement the European Charter Partnership Programme — Charter Part II. All the approaches and experiences from the Charter protected areas in working with tourism business were highly valuable and considered for its development. The European Charter Partnership Programme enables individual businesses in the tourism sector, working with protected area authority, to become recognised as European Charter Partners of their relating protected area under the umbrella of the EUROPARC Federation. The official text of the European Charter Part II was finalised and approved in May 2007.

European commonality — local flexibility
Finding an approach that works for all Charter protected areas located in different European countries with diverse national, regional and local background and realities was and is the major challenge. Tourism businesses wanting to become a European Charter Partner therefore need to fulfil requirements on two levels. The European level ensures the required commonality in implementation across Europe, as well as compliance with the principles of the European Charter. Essential is the participation in the Sustainable Tourism Forum established by the protected area, where all partners have the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas. The activities of the tourism business should be compatible with the sustainable tourism strategy and the management plan of the protected area. With the support of the protected area the tourism business develops a three-year action plan listing specific activities to be implemented during the partnership, e.g. compiling visitor statistics, energy saving measures, development of interpretive guided nature tours in the protected area.

Signing the Partnership Agreement enables the Charter partner to use the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas logo on their literature, website etc. As Charter partner the business will benefit from ‘positive discrimination’ inter alia in training and information campaigns, listing in promotional and information materials and activities of the protected area (web, brochures, visitor centres, fairs, etc.) and the EUROPARC Federation. The European Charter Network enables them to network with other national and European Charter businesses or participate at meetings of the Charter Network.

On the local level, each EUROPARC Section or national or regional Charter network are encouraged to work on a methodology for implementing the European Charter Part II to be validated by EUROPARC. At protected area level, the specific requirements for tourism business will be agreed by each protected area’s Sustainable Tourism Forum. Thereby, EUROPARC will achieve a flexible partnership approach which reflects existing local quality marks and eco-labels (Green Tourism Business, Green Dragon, QIT, Marca Parque Natural, ‘Q’, Viabono for example), differing local needs and varying situations together with the commitment of the individual tourism sector business to sustainability.

Vital partners for the future
The European Charter Partnership Programme will give tourism businesses the opportunity to distinguish themselves as vital partners of the protected area on the basis of defined requirements and activities. Mike Pugh, Business Development Officer of Forest of Bowland AONB states that “being a Charter Partner shows that the businesses have made an effort and commitment to support Sustainable Tourism. As the Charter logo will be recognised by customers and visitors the benefit will benefit from better marketing opportunities. Also the feeling of being part of something bigger — on a European wide level — and the ‘esprit de corps’, identifying with other like-minded businesses has been seen as a benefit”. Other benefits are high-quality information about the protected area, reducing operating costs through audit and sustainable use of resources, opening new markets such as tourism based on discovery of the environment and targeting new customers attracted by the protected area, all leading to higher visitor satisfaction.

The implementation of the European Charter Partnership Programme will start in the course of 2008 and many protected areas are eager to strengthen the links and deepen understanding with their partners in the business community. The Partnership Programme is not a rigid certification scheme but relies very much on the mutual commitment, engagement and confidence of the protected areas and the tourism businesses. The challenge will be to motivate tourism business to voluntarily commit to a closer cooperation with the protected area and to develop sustainable tourism offers and to clearly elaborate the benefits for the Charter partners for example by circulating experiences from model examples. Bruce Hanson, the Broads Authority Head of Tourism said: “Visitors are increasingly discerning and there is strong evidence that they will choose a green business in preference to one that is not environmentally aware. It not only helps the environment but makes very good business sense as well”.

Integrating Tourism and Biodiversity
As stated in the CBD Guidelines for Biodiversity and Tourism Management, “authorities and managers of protected areas have a special role for the management of tourism and biodiversity”. The European Charter provides a valuable instrument to apply the CBD Guidelines on protected area level. EUROPARC Federation is looking forward to promote the European Charter and the European Charter Partnership Programme at the COP-9 with information on various model examples from the Charter protected area: ‘Tourism Garrotxa: An Association acting as the Charter Forum’, ‘The Charter Sustainable Tourism Strategy in the Forest of Bowland AONB’, ‘Sustainable mobility in the Mercantour National Park’, ‘Diversified environmental education in the Syöte National Park’, etc.

Petra Dippold is European Charter project officer, EUROPARC Federation — Office Bruxelles.