The Protected Landscape Approach - Centre for Mediterranean ...

The Protected Landscape Approach: Linking Nature, Culture and Community
Box 2.
The Quebec-Labrador Foundation/Atlantic Center for the
Environment (QLF)
Status: private, non-profit organization, incorporated in the United States and Canada.
Mission: to support the rural communities and environment of eastern Canada and New England
(United States), and to create models for stewardship of natural resources and cultural heritage that
can be applied worldwide.
Programme: International Program on Land Conservation and Stewardship.
Purpose: through this programme, QLF works with conservation practitioners and community
leaders to develop leadership skills and new strategies for conservation of natural and cultural
heritage.
Activities: QLF works in partnership with local institutions; the programme links the organization’s
domestic region of north-eastern North America with four target regions: Central Europe, Latin
America, the Caribbean and, more recently, the Middle East. The programme relies on an array of
methods for training, technical assistance, research and exchange, which are designed to reinforce
each other, and which are united under the broad theme of Stewardship. These include: an annual
fellowship programme in north-eastern North America; on-site workshops on stewardship topics;
retreat meetings for fellowship alumni; partnership assignments with alumni; community problemsolving
workshops; and study-tours for local leaders. Each of these projects is founded on the
principle of true exchange – one in which learning can take place on both sides.
Since the programme’s inception, several hundred conservation and community de velopment
practitioners from their four target regions have participated in fellowships, workshops and peer
exchanges. QLF’s growing cadre of alumni includes protected area managers, as well as leaders of
NGOs, local and regional government agencies, and community organizations. The programme has
evolved differently in each region, responding to the particular conditions affecting stewardship and
the needs identified by our partners, and also reflecting geographic factors. Although distinct, QLF’s
projects in each target region build on each other through the gathering of information about common
challenges and strategies.
Now in its eleventh year, QLF’s Central European Stewardship Program encompasses an array of
training, technical assistance, professional exchange and community-based planning projects. Its
geographic focus to date has been the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and the Slovak Republic,
with occasional participation from other countries in the region; there are now plans to extend the
program to several Balkan countries. In conducting this programme over the past decade, QLF has
worked in partnership with local NGOs and with the Environmental Partnership for Central Europe
Consortium-EPCE (which is operating in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania
and Slovakia). A core element of QLF’s work in Central Europe is the annual fellowship, which
brings 6–10 conservation practitioners to the New England region for an intensive month-long
programme incorporating seminars, a study- tour, individual placements with host organiza tions and
a group case-study project. Another key element is the Landscape Stewardship Exchange, a
week-long community problem-solving exercise; many of these have been con ducted within
Category V Protected Landscapes in Central Europe. (QLF’s and EPCE’s joint work to promote
landscape stewardship in Central Europe is described further in the chapter by Hukov and
Kundrata).
Source: Jessica Brown and Brent Mitchell.
The emergence of this new conservation model is reflected in the work of the Conservation
Study Institute (CSI), established by the US National Parks Service to develop leadership and
create a forum for discussing new directions in the field. A major role for CSI is that of raising
228