Current activities

 

The current activities of Med-INA include the following:

Cultural values of wetlands:

In the framework of the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, 1971) and of its MedWet Initiative, we have been working in incorporating cultural values in the management of wetlands, through a project which analysed 22 Mediterranean sites. The results led to a CD-ROM Action for Culture in Mediterranean Wetlands (presented at Ramsar COP9 in Kampala, Uganda, in November 2005), and a book with the same title (in publication). Work is continuing in implementing Ramsar Resolutions VIII.21 and IX.19, which concern the cultural values of wetlands.

 Prespa Centre for Nature and Anthropos:

In the area of the Prespa Lakes, shared by Albania, FYR of Macedonia and Greece, we have been assisting the Society for the Protection of Prespa to establish a documentation and research centre, dedicated to the relationship of human beings and nature. The centre has started with the development of appropriate software and with a study of habitation and land use patterns during the past two centuries.   

 The Delos Initiative:

The Delos Initiative has been developed in order to investigate the possibilities of synergy in the conservation of the spiritual / cultural and natural heritage of protected natural areas in technologically developed countries. It has been developed in the framework of the Task Force on Cultural and Spiritual Values of Protected Areas (CSVPA), within the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (IUCN/WCPA). Med-INA has introduced the concept of this initiative, ensures its co-ordination (in collaboration with Josep Maria Mallarach, Spain) and hosts its web site. The work currently focuses on an analysis of sacred natural sites in Australia, Finland, Greece, Japan, Russia, UK and USA, with a workshop planned for November 2006 at the Montserrat Monastery (Catalonia, Spain).

Landscape research:

Since its establishment, Med-INA has shown a great interest on landscape issues, due to the fact that landscapes provide the appropriate framework for an integrated management of cultural and natural heritage. Participation in the technical work and meetings of the European Landscape Convention, in the Permanent European Conference for the Study of the Rural Landscape (PECSRL) and contributions regarding landscape issues to various journals are few examples of the Med-INA research work regarding landscapes, especially in the Mediterranean. Indicative papers include:

  • Papayannis, T. (2005), ‘Viewing Prespa: from the Aesthetic to the Functional’, Landscape Research Extra, No 37, Oxford, U.K., pp. 1-3.

  • Papayannis, T. and Sorotou, A. (2005), ‘Cultural Landscapes of Mediterranean Islands’ in Vogiatzakis et al. Mediterranean Island Landscapes, Cambridge University Press, (forthcoming)

  • Papayannis, T. and Sorotou, A. (2004), 'Mediterranean wetland landscapes: The case of Prespa lakes', paper presented at the Permanent European Conference on the Study of Rural Landscapes, Lemnos and Lesbos Islands, Greece, 16-20 September, (forthcoming in Die Erde)