The 7th Meeting of the SEE Heritage Network

The seventh Meeting/workshop of the SEE Heritage Network had as its topic: “Cultural Landscapes and the Implementation of the European Landscape Convention in South East Europe – The Role of NGOs” and it was held from 11th until 14th of October in Novi Sad/Belgrade, Serbia.
The organizers of the event, on behalf of the SEE Heritage Network, were Suburbium and Europa Nostra Serbia. The project was supported by Cultural Heritage without Borders and the Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina.

The South East European (SEE) Heritage Network is a network of cultural heritage NGOs working in the South East European region. The SEE Heritage Network aims to raise awareness about different issues and problems concerning the cultural heritage in the region.

The main objectives of this meeting was to underline the following principles:
“As a reflection of European identity and diversity, the landscape is our living natural and cultural heritage, be it ordinary or outstanding, urban or rural, on land or in water.
The European Landscape Convention - also known as the Florence Convention, after the city where the convention was adopted - promotes the protection, management and planning of European landscapes and organizes European co-operation on landscape issues. It is the first international treaty to be exclusively concerned with all dimensions of European landscapes.”

The main goal of the meeting and workshop was to encourage NGOs in the SEE region to take on a more active role in implementing the European Landscape Convention. Also to inspire and encourage public authorities to adopt policies and measures at local, regional, national and international levels for protecting, managing and planning landscapes throughout the region of South East Europe and to incorporate public opinion in their decisions.
Besides the members of the SEE Heritage Network, there were representatives from the host country: Serbian Ministry for Spatial Planning, representatives from the Executive Council of Autonomous Province of Vojvodina - Secretariat for Architecture and Urbanism, Ombudsman of Vojvodina, experts, post-graduate students of the Department of Architecture and Urbanism, University of Novi Sad, experts from international NGOsfrom the Quebec-Labrador Foundation/Atlantic Centre for the Environment (Canada) and CIVILSCAPE, a Platform of NGOs in support of the European Landscape Convention based in the Netherlands.

The Proccess of formalizing the Network through the legal registration of its headquarters in Montenegro was finished. Therefore the network is equipped with the proper tools to carry out its mission to preserve and promote the entire region's cultural heritage. Through the meeting the possible projects between the member organisations were facilitated. The members also discussed about the internal Network issues.

At the7th Meeting, the Network launched its web page:
www.seeheritage.org