I would just like to propose a toast….

At the start of this month I visited Braga, in the north of Portugal, to take part in my EVS induction training. The 4-day event brought together around 60 volunteers in total; I was really surprised to learn how many people are taking part in this European exchange, as well as the variety of participating nationalities and diversity of projects. Here on Madeira we are stuck out in the Atlantic Ocean, about 1000km away from mainland Europe. The island has a completely different climate, landscape, governance, even its own idiosyncratic dialect and festivities, to mainland Portugal. So it is perhaps not always so apparent to me that, as well as working for SPEA in Madeira’s regional office, I am also actually part of a bigger, wider scheme – of EVS volunteers. For me, this was the highlight of my trip to Braga – meeting so many lovely and interesting people, sharing experiences, and being given the encouragement, ideas and motivation to develop our own individual projects. 

The day’s itineraries were packed with activities, games, discussions, reflection moments, not to mention full entrées at mealtimes and coffee breaks. On top of that, we had to - of course - take the opportunity to make “cultural visits” to Braga’s bars in our free time. (Least to say I didn’t sleep very much; I’m still amazed at how on earth I managed to successfully get back to Madeira – a journey of trams, trains and planes, without falling asleep or getting lost along the way!) We spent most of the time in the hotel training room, which might not sound very exciting, but actually the trainers of the event brought an enormous amount of creativity and curiosity to the tasks at hand.

Some of the stranger activities included “A Taste of Portugal”, (which we jokingly likened to being initiated into a cult). We sat blindfolded in a darkened room, absorbing cultural sounds, smells and tastes and touch such as olive oil, sea salt, Fado music, and the story behind “Galo de Barcelos”, the national symbol of the colourful Rooster. Another bizarre event was the last night’s “Crazy Dinner!” where each person had to undertake a secret, entertaining task written in a note underneath their soup bowl. Mine was to propose a toast every 10 minutes! Others had to sing a national song in their mother tongue, or run around the room screaming and giving people hugs. 

One of the more serious activities was titled “Intercultural Exchange”. The room was set up with several tables with 4 or 5 chairs each. We were to play a simple card game, where the winners and losers changed tables every few rounds. The twist was – we had only 5 minutes to memorize and practice all the written rules of the game on each table. After that, verbal communication was no longer allowed, the rules were taken away, and the game started. Of course as we played, it transposed that each table had apparently interpreted the game completely differently (despite the rules being very clear!), as well as having adopted its own set of “unwritten” rules. This was amusing in itself – seeing the frustration, confusion, and competitiveness arise in different people, all in silence. But the discussion afterwards helped us to draw symbolic connections between the simple game and our very real intercultural experiences in Portugal. During this and the many other activities in Braga, I think everyone found something useful, stimulating, and sometimes poignant to relate to what they were discovering through EVS.

 

So, all in all, it was also a very thought-provoking and motivational few days. One of the main themes running through the event was – European citizenship and active participation, (also our topic for this month’s blog discussion). The activities in Braga made me think more about the bigger picture of my EVS experience - of what it really means (to the world!) to volunteer abroad. Aside from being a major personal challenge, it is an excellent opportunity for the exchange of ideas, skills and cross-cultural learning. Just as the European Union was formed in order to promote political and economic stability between its member states, perhaps in a not dissimilar way, as international volunteers we can all work towards a common cause – to promote peace and partnership, in whichever fields of work we are engaged in.

So on that note, I’d just like to say a big “cheers!” - to EVS. To good times, great  company… To all of you…. to health…… to life….  

Teresa 


Images from:

seeyounexttrip.com, www.magnetic-marketing.co.uk, www.erothitan.com

Eu gostaria apenas de propor um brinde ....

No início deste mês, visitei a cidade de Braga, no norte de Portugal, para participar na minha formação à chegada do Serviço Voluntário Europeu. Este evento de 4 dias, reuniu cerca de 60 voluntários, e fiquei realmente surpresa ao saber quantas pessoas estão participando neste intercâmbio europeu, bem como a variedade de nacionalidades e diversidade de projetos participantes. Aqui, na Madeira, estamos “presos” no Oceano Atlântico, a cerca de 1.000 quilômetros de distância do continente europeu. A ilha tem um clima completamente diferente, assim como a paisagem, gestão, e até mesmo o seu próprio dialeto idiossincrático e as festividades, em relação a Portugal Continental. Por isso, talvez não seja sempre tão evidente para mim que, assim como trabalhar para SPEA no escritório regional da Madeira, também sou, na verdade, parte de um maior e mais amplo esquema de voluntários do SVE. Este foi, para mim, o destaque da minha viagem a Braga - conhecer tantas pessoas lindas e interessantes, compartilhar experiências, e sentindo o incentivo, ideias e motivação para desenvolver os nossos próprios projetos individuais.

Os planos diários foram embalados com atividades, jogos, debates, momentos de reflexão, para não mencionar nas refeições e coffee breaks . Em adição, nós tivemos - é claro - a oportunidade de fazer "visitas culturais" aos bares de Braga no nosso tempo livre. (Para não dizer que dormi muito pouco e ainda não consigo perceber como consegui chegar com sucesso à Madeira, após uma viagem de comboios e aviões, sem cair em sonhos ou perder-me no caminho). Passámos a maior parte do tempo na sala de reuniões do hotel, o que pode não soar muito excitante, mas, na verdade, os formadores do evento trouxeram uma enorme quantidade de criatividade e curiosidade para as tarefas que nos apresentaram.

Algumas das atividades mais estranhas incluiu "A Taste of Portugal" (que em tom de brincadeira pode ser comparada ao início de um culto). Sentámo-nos com os olhos vendados numa sala escura, absorvendo sons culturais, cheiros, gostos e toques, como o azeite, sal marinho, Fado e a história por trás do “Galo de Barcelos", o símbolo nacional do Galo colorido. Outro acontecimento bizarro foi a última noite no "Jantar louco!", onde cada pessoa teve de realizar uma tarefa secreta e divertida escrita numa nota debaixo da sua taça de sopa. A minha era de propor um brinde a cada 10 minutos! Outros tiveram que cantar uma música nacional na sua língua materna, ou correr ao redor da sala gritando e dando abraços às pessoas.

Uma das atividades mais sérias foi intitulada de "Intercultural Exchange". O quarto foi criado com várias mesas com 4 ou 5 cadeiras cada. Estávamos a jogar um simples jogo de cartas, onde os vencedores e perdedores mudaram de mesa a cada poucas rodadas. Tivemos apenas 5 minutos para memorizar e praticar todas as regras escritas do jogo em cada mesa. Depois disso, a comunicação verbal não foi mais permitida, as regras foram levantadas, e o jogo começou. É claro que, como o início do jogo, e à medida que trocávamos de mesa, constatámos que cada participante interpretou o jogo de uma forma completamente diferente (apesar das regras serem muito claras!). Além de cada um ter adotado o seu próprio conjunto de regras "não escritas". Foi divertido verificar a frustração, confusão e competitividade surgindo nas diferentes pessoas, todas em silêncio. Após o jogo, a discussão ajudou-nos a desenhar as conexões simbólicas entre o jogo simples e nossas experiências interculturais muito reais em Portugal. Durante esta e muitas outras atividades em Braga, acho que todos aprendemos algo útil e estimulante e, por vezes, relacionada com as nossas descobertas no âmbito do SVE.

No final, apesar de tudo, estes foram uns dias muito emocionais e motivacionais. Um dos principais temas debatidos no evento foi - a cidadania europeia e a participação ativa (também o nosso tema para a discussão no blog deste mês). As atividades em Braga fizeram-me pensar mais sobre o panorama geral da minha experiência SVE - do que ela realmente significa (para o mundo!) do voluntariado no estrangeiro. Além de ser um grande desafio pessoal, é uma excelente oportunidade para a troca de ideias, habilidades e aprendizagem intercultura, criada pela União Europeia com o fim de promover a estabilidade política e económica entre os países membros e, talvez de uma forma não muito diferente, como voluntários internacionais todos nós podemos trabalhar em prol de uma causa comum - para promover a paz e a parceria, em qualquer campo de trabalho em que estamos envolvidos.

Então, nessa nota, gostaria de dizer um grande "cheers!" - Para o SVE. Pelos bons momentos, boa companhia... A todos vocês .... à saúde ...... à vida ....

Teresa 

“Environmental Policies, European Citizenship and Active Participation”

The terms - collaboration and active participation, hold particular significance for me when I think about environmental issues. The global, ecological crises that face us today surpass all social and geographical boundaries; everyone has responsibility in these issues, and everyone shares the consequences. The world is just far too crowded now to support selfish pursuits. It makes sense then, that nations should collaborate to find solutions and take action to tackle environmental issues.

With this in mind, the EU can be seen as a body helping to make sure everyone is working with the same standards, and towards the same targets within environmental policy. In being part of the wider European network, individual states are under tighter pressure to keep pace with the rest, and comply with higher standards of environmental legislation. The European Commission can investigate complaints of breach of the Directive. Key sectors such as agriculture and fisheries which make a major impact on the environment are managed through common EU policies. In premise, this is good news for the environment. Now I will use an example piece of EU environmental legislation - The Nature Directives, and try to briefly explain the purposes of these policies in a European context.

(From Kipper Williams Christmas Cards 2011)

What are The Nature Directives?

The Birds Directive (1979) was the first major EU law to address the issue of nature conservation and management on an international scale. In recognition of wide-scale wild bird declines, this policy was created to protect, maintain and promote healthy populations of all wild birds across their natural ranges. Firstly, the directive necessitates a huge amount of baseline data to be collected on wild bird populations – numbers, trends, movements, general ecology and current threats. Using this, conservation actions can then be identified, including the designation of important habitats called Special Protection Areas (SPAs; assigned based on scientific criteria), and the creation of international action plans for bird species of particular conservation concern (those listed under “Annex 1”). The directive also details the laws by which certain species may be hunted and traded.

The Habitats Directive (1992) aims to promote the maintenance of natural biodiversity, and also encourage management of landscape features facilitating the migration, dispersal and genetic exchange of wild species. Around 1000 animal and plant species, as well as 230 habitat types are protected by The Habitats Directive. EU member states must maintain or restore natural habitats and wild species of European interest (those listed on the Annexes) at a favourable conservation status (more about definitions of words like “favourable” later), by establishing suitable protected wildlife areas called Special Areas of Conservation (SACs).

  Fig. 1. Areas in Europe currently protected under The Natura 2000 Network 

(sourced from ec.europa.eu/environment/.../20yrs_brochure.pdf)

Together, SACs and SPAs help to form a coherent ecological network of protected sites across the 28 Member States of The European Union, known as “Natura 2000”, which receives funding from The LIFE Programme. The latest Habitats Directive report from The European Commission boasts that over 26,000 protected sites have so far been designated for Natura 2000, covering about 17.5% of Europe’s total land and sea area, or an area of the equivalent size of the U.K (see figure 1). Member States are also required to produce regular reports on the progress made with implementing the directives, every 6 years for The Habitats Directive, and every 2 years for The Birds Directive.

Protecting Europe’s Birds

Europe is home to over 520 regularly occurring wild bird species, of which around 53 (10%) have a status of global conservation concern. Since its commencement, The Birds Directive has helped designate over 3,600 SPAs –sites specifically targeted to protect birds. Today, BirdLife International plays a major role in collecting bird data and identifying suitable protected sites for birds – called Important Bird Areas (IBAs). The value of the IBA inventory as a ‘shadow list’ of SPAs has been recognised by the European Court of Justice and the European Commission, and the IBA selection criteria is now viewed as a global model.

Fig. 2. Most designated SPAs in Europe overlap well with BirdLife International’s IBAs (http://www.birdlife.org/eubiodiversityreport2012/?page_id=3511)

 

However, according to latest figures many of Europe’s bird populations are still in decline. An assessment in 1994 estimated that 25% of all European bird species were undergoing substantial population declines. A more recent analysis in 2004 that used data spanning a 30-year period, found that of 148 of Europe’s common bird species, 39% have declined across 25 European countries. Farmland birds have fared particularly badly, with 300 million fewer birds today than in 1980, with the greatest decline rates in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Fig.3. The Wild Bird Index for Europe 1980–2010

Stay tuned for more detailed case studies from here in Portugal and Madeira, of some beneficial impacts of environmental policies to birds.

Teresa

References

Publications:

Deinet, S. et al. (2013) Wildlife comeback in Europe: The recovery of selected mammal and bird species. Final report to Rewilding Europe by ZSL, BirdLife International and the European Bird Census Council. London, UK: ZSL.

European Commission: LIFE Focus / LIFE for Birds. 25 years of the Birds Directive: the contribution of LIFE Nature projects.

RSPB: Law of the Wild: The European Birds Directive, meeting the challenge for birds and people.

Scheuer, S. (Ed) (2005). EU Environmental Policy Handbook, A critical Analysis of EU Environmental Legislation – making it accessible to environmentalists and decision makers. p344. Brussels: European Environmental Bureau.

Online information:

http://www.birdlife.org/europe-and-central-asia/programmes/conserving-birds-europe-0

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/pubs/pdf/factsheets/biodiversity_fsh.pdf

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/

http://europa.eu/about-eu/basic-information/

http://europa.eu/pol/env/flipbook/en/files/environment.pdf