Look forward to World Heritage Day, April 18 (weekly blog, 14 February 2016)

A blog from Catherine Leonard – Secretary General

It has been a fairly quiet week in the office, because I had my head down to complete the application for funding to support our advocacy efforts to address climate change. Today finally submitted – fingers crossed!

One exciting thing is that INTO’s newest volunteer, Jorge, has started work on our World Heritage Day project, which will give us the opportunity to do what we do best: innovate, share our stories and work together to change the policy environment in which we operate.   This year’s theme is the heritage of sport and as Jorge is from Galicia, he is very aware of World Heritage issues as they relate to the sport of walking the Camino de Santiago!   (Here are some pictures below from our walk along the English Way, featured in my 2014 blogs.)

We will work with our network of Trusts around the world to collect examples of current threats and greatest opportunities / achievements which Jorge will collate and share, drawing out particular themes as the focus for media and other advocacy work.   Alongside this, Putri is planning to run a social media campaign for the public to nominate their favourite places around the world.   We want to use World Heritage Day as a platform to raise awareness of global conservation issues and, here in the UK, to advocate the British Government’s ratification of the Hague Convention by the end of 2016.    We’ll tell you more as the project develops.   And do share your plans with us!

On the home front, it’s been feeling very springlike here this week.  Snowdrops are out and the bees are flying.   I embarked on some (dreaded) spring cleaning this weekend, but (more excitingly) eventually got out into the vegetable patch for the first time in ages.   I also completed a seed order … trying celeriac, beetroot and soya beans for the first time this year!