Sustainable tourism in the Landscape of the Year

The area selected as Landscape of the Year is only marginally developed for tourism. The idea behind this project – jointly organised by Naturefriends International and Senegalese Naturefriends with their partners – is to launch (Senegal) or to restore (Gambia) responsible tourism in the region, with a view to providing new or additional sources of income for the population. This is also in line with the ideas and plans of the local authorities.

Landscape of the Year 2018/2019 Senegal/The Gambia: Stakeholder meeting in Koungheul, Senegal

From 21 to 23 July 2017, a stakeholder workshop was held in Koungheul in preparation of the Landscape of the Year (LoY) 2018/2019 Senegal/The Gambia. The meeting was attended by about 20 participants from the villages participating, ranging from village chiefs to members of the local LoY-committee through the representative of the Ministry of the Environment, the head of the local forestry authority and the press.

Since the beginning of July 2017, Günter Abraham has been on duty as Managing Director of Naturefriends Austria. He followed Reinhard Dayer, who has led the association very successfully for 44 years.
In conversation with Andrea Lichtenecker, Günter talks about his motivation for his commitment to Naturefriends and his future plans.

Brussels, June 20, 2017 – More than 250 non-government organisations from across Europe have today released an alternative vision for a more democratic, just and sustainable Europe. [1]

Intended to influence the debate on the future direction of Europe, this alternative vision is endorsed by organisations representing a multitude of public interest issues, including labour rights, culture, development, environment, health, women’s rights, youth, and anti-discrimination groups.

Accompanied by a colourful social programme, the first African Landscape of the Year will be officially inaugurated in January 2018. At the beginning of this month, Mamadou Mbodji, President of the African Naturefriends Network, and Ingeborg Pint, NFI consultant for Africa, travelled the region to coordinate the activities planned for the years 2018 and 2019 with locals.