HISTORY

Birds of a feather flock together!

Nicole Nowicki-Caupin and Peter Nowicki
“Iall began in June 1987 during the European Year of the Environment. With the support of the European Commission, a great exercise of cooperation and communication started: the European Natural Sites Twinning Programme aimed to bring together European natural sites designated under the Birds Directive. Simone Veil, President of the European Parliament and Laurens Brinkhorst, European Commissioner for the Environment, came to Rochefort (France) to launch the programme at the Corderie Royale.

Two years later, the partners of the twinning programme decided to form an association under French law, which led to the formal birth of Eurosite. Led by Christophe Lefebvre from the Conservatoire du Littoral, Nicole Nowicki-Caupin, and Peter Nowicki, a European network of site management organisations was born. The association’s first General Assembly in Faro, Portugal elected Albert Klinkenbergh from the Netherlands as President.

From the beginning, Eurosite has offered a convivial space where site managers and nature conservationists can meet like-minded people, share questions and their answers, and support each other, knowing that they are not alone and that they can rely on their community.

1987 – Start of the European Natural Sites Twinning Programme

1988 – Conference on Twinning as part of European Year of Environment

1989 – Establishment of Eurosite as an association under French law (Rochefort-sur-Mer, France)

1994 – Relocation of Eurosite office to Tilburg in the Netherlands

1999 – Publication of the Eurosite Management Planning Toolkit

2004 – Eurosite becomes an employer with its own payroll

2007 – Establishment of Eurosite as association under Dutch law and relocation of legal seat to Tilburg

2008 – Dissolution of the Eurosite association under French law

2014 – Eurosite members agree on the new individual membership category

2014 – Eurosite members agree to develop ‘Friends of Eurosite’ agreements

2019 – Eurosite members agree to change the association’s name to Eurosite — the European Land Conservation Network

 

This website is co-financed by the EU’s LIFE Programme