Wanted: bright ideas to protect European landscapes

Do you love getting outdoors and enjoying nature? Are you bursting with ideas about how to better protect our landscapes? Then the E-CLIC Landscape Competitions want to hear from you.

The E-CLIC project, an European Union initiative set up to help people familiarise and engage with their surroundings, is looking for ideas and projects based on the use of communications and technology to help protect European landscapes.

E-CLIC national landscape competitions are currently open for entries in the UK, Greece, Estonia, Slovenia, Spain and Germany. These competitions address different landscape challenges for each country. Additionally an international competition is now also open for entries from all other European countries. Entries to all landscape competitions are open to participants until 25th May.

Dr José Muñoz-Rojas, UK E-CLIC co-ordinator at the James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland, said: “Participants are invited to submit an idea or project based on the use of information, communication and technology devices and tools to face a challenge for the landscape, with respect to the principles of the European Landscape Convention.”

All competitions will run in three categories (secondary school pupils, university students and the general public) and the winners from each will have the chance to present their idea at an international E-CLIC meeting in Estonia.

To take part in the competition, participants should join the E-CLIC online community, choose one of the three challenges for landscapes in the UK, and complete the appropriate online registration form for their category at http://e-clic.ning.com. Resources are available to help entrants with their proposals, and entries can be submitted by individuals or teams.

Regarding the general aims of the E-CLIC project, Dr Muñoz-Rojas said: “Our main concern is to change peoples’ perception of EU policies, make them more familiar to the non-professional and encourage people to assess the impact of such policies upon their lives and everyday activities.

“Moreover, E-CLIC is encouraging the use of innovative methods to engage people in discussions about landscapes, taking advantage of new technologies and the internet, and focusing on the European Landscape Convention as an example of Europe-wide policy with a direct impact on the environment and economy of communities.”

For more information on E-CLIC see the project website at http://www.e-clicproject.eu/ and also the online community site at http://e-clic.ning.com.

Countries

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, United Kingdom