Anniversaries: Malta, France and Gelderland

As the year of two coastal celebrations: the golden jubilee of the NTEWNI’s Neptune Coastline Campaign and forty years of the Conservatoire du Littoral (CdL), the coast featured highly in 2015 and was the subject of our first networking event of the year. (Other popular webinars included the use of drones in conservation and beginners’ social media.)

At the end of September Oliver Maurice spent 2 days at the Meeting of European and Mediterranean Coastal Agencies and the Coast Day Celebration at the invitation of the CdL. It was an excellent opportunity to network, and to spread the word about INTO. Dame Helen Ghosh was also there and signed an MOU between the NTEWNI and CdL. Continuing the coast theme, we also joined a coalition of NGOs (including RSPB, Birdlife International, IUCN and Greenpeace) calling, successfully, for the designation of large-scale marine reserves in three British Overseas Territories.

2015 also marked the fiftieth anniversary of Din L’Art Helwa and the seventy-fifth of the Gelderland Trust. We were thrilled that Simon Molesworth was able to spend some time in Malta marking the occasion with Din L’Art Helwa and contributing to numerous discussions about environmental, planning and heritage issues with politicians, officials and Trust members.

Catherine Leonard attended similar celebrations in Gelderland. It was a wonderful opportunity to visit some of the Trust’s properties and meet supporters and stakeholders. The seminar was well attended and included speeches by Dame Helen Ghosh as well as the President of the German NRWFoundation – another group that has been inspired by the National Trust model and also celebrating their 30th anniversary in 2015!

You can read Catherine’s blog about the celebrations here.