My Favourite Place
The "Nature Council" is a citizens' action aimed at informing and raising awareness of the place of living things in our lives and in our local policies. It's an invitation to citizens to put themselves in nature's shoes and ask the questions it would ask if it could sit at the local council table.
Overview of the project
CHOOSE your place – one of the places you like to visit. PLACE yourself in its shoes. LISTEN and SHARE the voice of that place.
Tell us why this place, big or small, appeals to you. Think of the questions it could ask a local council if it had the chance? How does it fit into our lives?
Then share this contribution with other citizens on our website.
With your support, we’ll be organizing open-air “Nature Councils” in some of your favorite locations. We’ll be inviting not only local authorities, but also experts and nature guides who can give well-informed answers to questions in a scientific context.
Based on these events, we will later organize a larger meeting – a “Nature Parliament” – where the citizens of our region can present informed and reasoned arguments on behalf of nature, as part of the democratic process.
To put nature at the heart of our local policies, we must first give it a voice.
Ongoing research
Project still in progress
More than 150 people took part in the Nature Council’s events in 2023
-> Beaver Valley: see the article on the web site: https://conseil-nature.be/2023/03/rencontre-nature-la-journee-en-images/
-> Natural gardens: see the article on the website: https://conseil-nature.be/category/rencontre/
10 favorite places submitted on the website, see: https://conseil-nature.be/portfolio/
Two political follow-ups (direct/written contact with local politicians)
More than 10 small group meetings with local citizens.
- A better connection between citizens and nature.
- More knowledge about nature.
- Raising awareness among local citizens and elected representatives of biodiversity issues/the EU Green Deal (Biodiversity Strategy/Nature Restoration Act).
- A group of committed citizens (20 people act regularly within the Nature Council). Social relations created and enforced.
No funding in general.
Limited funding for the "Jardins vivants à Palenge" event: BioDiverCité subsidies from the Commune de Durbuy: https://conseil-nature.be/2023/09/jardins-vivants-a-palenge/
organisation
The “Nature Council” is a citizens’ action aimed at informing and raising awareness of the place of living things in our lives and in our local policies. It’s an invitation to citizens to put themselves in nature’s shoes and ask the questions it would ask if it could sit at the local council table.
Finally, and very importantly, the “Nature Council” aims to support the implementation of the European Union’s “Biodiversity Strategy” at local and regional level, here in Wallonia – in the communes of Durbuy, Manhay, Erezée and Ferrières.
How do we want to achieve this?
A series of activities and events will help us understand what biodiversity needs to be healthy.