Seminar to promote the cultural heritage on protected areas of Spain

The Technical Office of EUROPARC-Spain organized, in collaboration with the Silene Association and the Hiruela Town Council, a seminar to promote cultural heritage in protected natural areas in Spain, on 24 and 25 of March 2015, in the village of La Hiruela, in the Sierra del Rincón Biosphere Reserve (Autonomous Community of Madrid). Around fifteen professionals from eight autonomous communities participated. The purpose of this seminar was to share resources and experiences that will be promoted through the Geoportal “The cultural heritage of our protected natural areas” created by EUROPARC-España, and reflect on the challenges and opportunities of the promotion of natural spaces protected in through its cultural heritage. On the 24th they presented experiences and cultural resources, inventories and status of cultural heritage in different spaces, as well as the possibilities offered by traditional ecological knowledge. On May 25 the Hayedo de Montejo was visited, and a workshop on the integration of the values ​​and meanings of nature was developed in the information and interpretation of protected spaces, coordinated by the Silene Association, which followed the guidelines defined in The Immaterial Heritage Handbook: Cultural and spiritual values, which served to test the training modules defined at the World Parks Congress by the specialist group in cultural and spiritual values ​​of the protected areas of IUCN. This activity was subsidized by the Secretary of State for Culture.