*NEW COURSE* 26th May to 2nd June 2022 Course Full Wildflowers, Alpine Landscape Management and Heritage Tourism in the Julian Alps of Slovenia We are delighted to offer a new course based at the Bohinj International Wildflower Festival in the Julian Alps of Slovenia with our host trainers, Turizem Bohinj. Turizem Bohinj are experts in […]
Re-scheduled: 30th Aug – 6th Sept 2022 The course will be centred around Tampere University and will include a presentation from Scottish participants to Finnish students; there will be visits to conservation, commercial and urban forest a national park, either Seitseminen or Helventinjarvi National Parks.
The aim of this course is to provide people working in Scottish upland land management the opportunity to see and hear how native woodland has been responding to changes in grazing pressure in the part of Scandinavia most environmentally similar to Scotland. Participants will visit a variety of biodiverse, reforested landscapes from exposed coast to mountain top, where climate and geology are very similar to our own, and where multiple land uses such as forestry, hunting and farming, are often practised together.
Aims & Themes: exploring small scale sustainable farming; hay making & orchards within a cultural landscape; the challenges of sustainable rural development, community engagement and heritage management. Participants will learn about subsistence farming as opposed to intensive farming, as well as traditional ways of managing the land. Hands on work like hay making with a scythe, fruit gathering, making preserves.
Hunting, land rights and conservation; predator management and conflicts; cross-border management and monitoring
Update 12th February 2022: We have new dates for NET courses in 2022. The decision of the UK government to leave the Erasmus+ programme will not affect this project. We will update participants of any new travel insurance and visa regulations. Participants from the postponed course in 2020 will be offered first choice on any rescheduled […]
Getting to know Dehesa San Francisco demonstrating organic agriculture & agroforestry in action on marginal land; cooperatives and rural economic diversity; conservation of habitats, species and soils.
Project: Village Voices Sustainability & Identity in Rural Cyprus. The theme of our project was Sustainable development through cultural heritage and rural community activities. The cultural and natural heritage of Cyprus, community heritage and engagement, craft and rural development. The aim of this project for me was to look at how small local and traditional […]
It was interesting to hear that despite training opportunities there is not much uptake by young people to follow a career path in crafts. Many leave rural areas and head to the larger towns and cities for employment. The model of an apprenticeship whereby the individual receives training through a dual system is an approach which works well. This involves a combination of theoretic training in an educational establishment combined with practical training in a crafts enterprise.
The Association was set up after our host Velis and her co-worker Iva were touring the villages of the Plateau more than a decade ago and looking into ways they could help the region develop for the benefit of the residents. They discovered people in neighbouring villages with similar interests but no communication between them, a lack of accommodation for visitors, and rich cultural and natural heritage – worth sharing – that had been ignored, mistreated or neglected. Relying on the memories and experiences of local people, they found and cleared up some of these sites, installing interpretation and path networks, and advertised them in tourist guides. Visitor numbers went from 15,000 per year to more than 250,000 in only a few years