The project addresses the issue of sustainable development of national parks through implementing environmental technologies in order to reduce pressures created by high traffic volumes. It implements information and communication technologies for site development and therefore encourages sustainable forms of tourism both to and within the park areas. The planned improvements target the conservation of the natural assets of the protected areas in the most economically viable way.

Private mobility for recreational use already accounts for 40% of car usage, a rate that is growing fast. The negative impacts of mobility are mostly felt in rural areas and particularly in National Parks, which not only attract tourists but were created to preserve the natural functions and qualities of different regions. The aim of "Mobility and National Parks" (MOPARK) is to guarantee the sustainability of National Parks by applying environmentally friendly technologies in an economically viable way.

Expected Outcomes

The outcomes of the project will include a number of region specific developments in the physical and technological infrastructure aiming to balance environmental and tourist related issues and to provide knowledge exchange among the different partners. Other outcomes will include a website, newsletters, new tourist related products, best practice for applying environmentally friendly technologies, a reduction in the number of polluting vehicles and a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.

Activities

The approach taken in MOPARK is based around one primary question: How to guarantee sustainability of National Parks by applying environment friendly technologies in an economic viable way? In order to answer this question a number of practical possibilities for using environmentally friendly technologies in national parks under various regional conditions will be demonstrated. The work undertaken by the different partners will fall into three categories. Information and communication will aim to make people aware of the natural assets of national parks. Transport systems will aim to address the pressures created by groups seeking access to National Parks by using private transport. Activities undertaken include methods for better integration of public transport and private mobility by creating transfer points at railway stations and making the use of park & ride facilities and interchanges more attractive. Finally, Sustainable Vehicles will undertake projects looking at low-impact transports such as electric and solar powered boats (technologies that have been avoided in the past due to insufficient knowledge) and bikes designed for disabled visitors. Knowledge exchange on the costs will be important in this project. An exchange programme will take place and will be organised around these three categories with expert workshops and exchanges of experts.

Reported Outcomes

The project continues to make good progress. Pilot activities have been launched in all three fields of the project. In the field of Information and Communication an interpretation plan for the pilot area in England, the Bugsworth site, has been developed and installed during summer 2006. It is closely linked to ideas for establishing walking / cycling links between the canal terminus at Bugsworth and the Peak District National Park, developed by the High Peak District Council. Several partners have started pilots on GPS trails, providing information for tourists or other interested groups. Interpretive journeys on audio guides and Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) have been completed in Scotland. Training has been carried out to enable local staff to operate the equipment. In Germany, a communication process on mobility, tourism and nature protection has set in, involving GO and NGO participants. Progress can also be seen regarding the transnational theme "Transport Systems". In Sweden, a study was carried out on the opportunities for introducing recreation transport within the public transport between a National Park and the urban areas of Malmö and Copenhagen. In Alde Feanen, Fryslan, a sustainable route planner is in progress, where a map on the internet will present all types of public and sustainable transport to and within the national park. Fryslan (NL) has also executed a ?Wetterbus? in summer 2005. Combining bus and boat, it offers the opportunity to get from the city to the national park. Overijssel (NL) could launch the first Ottersloop for boat trips on the Otterfleet. The sloop offers more facilities as a "normal" sloop such as a GPS system and a small gas ring and. Four further sloops will be ordered in 2006. One focus of MOPARK is to improve the accessibility for disabled or elderly people. In Denmark, pathways, viewpoints and a primitive campsite have been installed for handicapped people. Pilots on Sustainable Vehicles are carried out in Fryslan. Three electro prams, four sailing prams and a ferry on solar cells for bikes have been put into practice. In Norway, first meetings for transport modes based on hydrogen have taken place. In Scotland, there was an official naming event for the solar boat which has been named Bata Greine (Gaelic for Boat of the Sun) on the 25th of July by their Deputy Environment and Rural Affairs Minister. Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, despite working with a number of local businesses including cycle hire and boat operators, they have been unable to achieve the Green Explorer cycling and walking package within Mopark. In Germany, the project action, Sustainable and intelligent traffic ways to, on and between the islands and halligen have held several regional conferences throoughout 2006. The positive output of this view on the regional process is that Schlweswig-Holstein government now supports the financing of the regional development here, this would not have been reached without the MoPark project. Project partners have made contact with several IIIB programme projects ProBioEnergy, Rural, Watercity International, Coastsust and Crosscut.