BLOCK 02 THE ANALYSIS The journalists´ experience The Natura 2000 Network is born with very scarce or no social participation at all in in its creation and definition stages. What is even worse, the public authorities, pressed for time, are not promoting social participation in the making of those management plans that will set out which activities will or won´t be allowed in the sites. The network has been dealt a hand of marked cards that force it to be, at the same time, the most important nature conservation instrument of the European Union and an opportunity for social and economic development on the basis of conservation itself. Besides, it was born without direct funding, without an EU budget that may allow it to reach its objectives. A communication and marketing plan It seems obvious that the first thing the public administrations with powers to manage the Natura 2000 Network must do is designing a communication plan that establishes objectives, identifies target audiences, elaborates adequate messages for each of those audiences, designs tools and channels to reach audiences, makes a calendar of actions to be undertaken and, once and for all, allots the necessary money for implementing all that. This communication plan should take into account the experiences, studies, needs and particularities of each of the autonomous communities to integrate them into a common project, an information point of reference on everything related to the Natura 2000 Network - at least from an administrative point of view. Complementarily, the next necesary step seems to be a marketing plan to make the most of the network; for the development of its own products, guaranteed by a brand, and the selling of those products. Without planning it is impossible to reach all these objectives. The scattered ideas and studies that the Natura 2000 Network has generated, although they are in some cases valuable experiences, are often only loose ends. “The first thing the different Spanish public bodies with powers in this matter should do is to design a communication plan for the Natura 2000 Network”. Communicate, Conect, Share, Talk, Cooperate and Create a Community With this in mind, we have developed the only medium in Spain that focuses on the Natura 2000 Network: www.rednatura2000.info. Our intention is to report on everything that happens in 27% per cent of the country´s territory, paying special attention to management good practices that show how conserving the natural wealth contained in Natura 2000 is profitable and beneficial from a social, environmental and economic point of view. It is true that we are obviously very partial to the Network, that we see it as a historic opportunity to show what sustainable development based on the conservation of biodiversity is. We are sure that it is necessary to conserve natural resources, but also that it is essential to manage taking the broader view that includes the sustainable development of the human settlements more directly linked to these sites. So we talk about rural development, entrepreneurial initiative, land use and management, species that inhabit it and opportunities to improve the living conditions of the people who live in it... We see very clearly that what lies behind each event are collective or personal stories that make us feel identified with the territory we inhabit. These stories are of special interest for us. So our task is to Communicate what happens in this space, with a particular interest in positive experiences, to Connect people, institutions, associations an interests through the web and social networks, to Share objectives, information, interests, work, experiences, feelings and emotions, to Talk with the users and followers and to Collaborate with institutions, public authorities, professionals, conservation and rural development associations and media that help disseminating these values. The final objective is to Create a Community. A COMMUNITY committed to the sustainable development of its territory, that sees production and conservation as two sides of the same coin, teamwork as essential, the contribution and participation in site management of the people who live in it as a basic tenet, who believes that without people it is very difficult to do conservation work and that social, open, democratic and committed participation is a requisite for the sustainable development of territories 42 Natura 2000 Network. Handbook for journalists
© Santiago Álvaro Natura 2000 Network. Handbook for journalists 43