Founding partners

WWF Netherlands and Molecaten
They together founded PAN Parks in 1997. WWF Netherlands is also our main funding partner.
Molecaten is a Dutch leisure company providing support in the field of tourism.

Conservation partners

Certified PAN Parks
Archipelago National Park, Finland
Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park, Georgia
Central Balkan National Park, Bulgaria
Fulufjället National Park, Sweden
Majella National Park, Italy
Oulanka National Park, Finland
Paanajärvi National Park, Russia
Peneda-Gerês National Park, Portugal
Retezat National Park, Romania
Rila National Park, Bulgaria
Soomaa National Park, Estonia

More on certified PAN Parks

Prospective PAN Parks
These parks are on the right path to become a PAN Park. Some have already gone through a desk assessment, developed a schedule and started taking steps to meet the requirements of the PAN Parks quality standard. With others there are ongoing talks about future co-operation.
Bavarian Forest National Park, Germany
Dzūkija-Čepkeliai National Park, Lithuania
Rodna National Park, Romania
Sumava National Park, Czech Republic

Other conservation partners

Birdlife International
Birdlife was an important supporter of the European Wilderness Resolution. Its European Forest Task Force workshop stressed the importance of wilderness conservation in Europe.

Countdown 2010
PAN Parks became a member of this initiative in 2007. We worked together in organising the Conference on Wilderness and Large Natural Habitat Areas in Prague in Prague during the Czech EU Presidency in May 2009.

Europarc Federation
Europarc Federation has developed the European Charter on Sustainable Tourism so the two organisations share experience particularly on sustainable tourism development. There is a regular exchange of information between Europarc and PAN Parks in order to improve visitor management in protected areas. Europarc also signed the Wilderness Resolution.

Eurosite, Free Foundation and Stichting Ark
These organisations in co-operation with WWF Netherlands develop the Wild Europe Field Programme. PAN Parks co-operates with the initiative by nominating some of its protected area members as potential locations for the field programme.

IUCN ROfE
The Regional Office for Pan-Europe co-operated with PAN Parks Foundation in organising the Conference on Wilderness and Large Natural Habitat Areas in Prague. The conference was a milestone in wilderness conservation. Our co-operation with IUCN ROfE continues through the Wild Europe Initiative, which both organisations are members of.

IUCN/ World Commission on Protected Areas Europe (WCPA)
The two parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the intention to improve the management effectiveness of protected areas. We set out to clarify the linkage between the PAN Parks verification system and the IUCN Protected Area categories, and maximise the information flow between the two organisations with particular attention on the lessons learned about measuring management effectiveness of protected areas. The chairman of WCPA acts as PAN Parks verifier.

Large Herbivore Foundation
There is continuous communication regarding potential projects in PAN Parks. Several potential parks were identified, also prospective PAN Park Soomaa was selected as a potential area for a common large herbivore project.

Wild Europe Initiative
PAN Parks became a member of the steering committee of the initiative, which works for creating a platform for a joint voice on wilderness and wild areas across Europe, helping catalyse and co-ordinate appropriate action to address the threats and opportunities facing these areas, in the context of an overall strategy. The members of this steering committee are independent legal entities, which implement their activities on their own or in co-operation with other organisations.

Wilderness Task Force
Our Foundation started co-operation with the Task Force in order to learn from the global experience of wilderness conservation. As a result of our co-operation, PAN Parks has a seat in the advisory committee of the 9th World Wilderness Conference.

WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme Office
The Carpathian Mountains host a lot of large protected areas which have the potential to become certified PAN Park. One of them, Retezat National Park, has already become a PAN Park. We co-operate with DCP in order to enlarge the network of PAN Parks in the Carpathians.

WWF International
WWF International signed the Wilderness Resolution, which resulted in the European Parliament report. PAN Parks co-operates with its European Policy Office as an advocate for improved conservation of wilderness areas within the European Union.

Other WWF offices
We co-operate with several WWF offices, mainly in countries where there is a certified or prospective PAN Park.


Communications and marketing partners

Exodus
Performance Improvement
Conservation Capital
NHTV
Forestry Service Group

Click here to get more detailed information on Communications and marketing partners