Third workshop of The Delos Initiative, Lapland, on the Diversity of Sacred Lands in Europe

The third workshop of the Delos Initiative took place from 1 to 3 July in Anar / Aanaar / Inari, northern Lapland, Finland. It was organised jointly by the Delos Initiative and Metsähallitus Natural Heritage Services (the agency that manages Finland’s state owned system of protected areas) that was the local host. The Ministry of the Environment and the IUCN National Committee of Finland also supported the event. The venue of the workshop was the Sámi Museum and Nature Centre Siida next to the site.

The indigenous Sámi people participated in the workshop both as keynote speakers and observers. The President of the Finnish Sámi Parliament Klemetti Näkkäläjärvi and Sámi Museum Director Tarmo Jomppanen, and the Head of the Metsahällitus Natural Heritage Service, Rauno Väisänen, gave the opening speeches and welcomed the participants to Finnish Sámi homeland. The workshop was attended by 30 participants from 14 European countries: Estonia, Finland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Greece, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and United Kingdom.

The sessions addressed the amazing diversity of SNS in Europe, including ancient sacred sites from diverse civilizations, SNS of minority religions, SNS connected by pilgrimage ways, and the recovery or creation of new SNS and pilgrimages, and the management of lands by Christian and Buddhist monastic communities. A specific session was devoted to evaluating the applicability of the 2008 IUCN-UNESCO Guidelines for Managers of Protected Areas on SNS. The workshop programme included a visit to a Sámi sacred site the Ukonsaari Island on Lake Inari and a hike to Pielpajärvi Wilderness Church. Ukonsaari is a case study that was presented at the first workshop of the Delos Initiative, in Montserrat, Spain, 2006

The workshop programme included a visit to a Sámi sacred site the Ukonsaari Island on Lake Anar / Aanaar / Inari and a hike to Pielpajärvi Wilderness Church. Ukonsaari is a case study that was presented at the first workshop of the Delos Initiative, in Montserrat, Spain, 2006.

The proceedings of the workshop will be published in book form in 2011, and like to the two previous proceedings, the volume will be also available in PDF format at different web pages: Silene, The Delos Initiative and IUCN Publications.