The same, but different: The European Green Belt Association holds its general assembly 2020 online and stays connected

This year’s peculiarity continues also for the members of the European Green Belt Association as they holt their general assembly on 5 November 2020 online. Despite travel restrictions due to Covid-19 and partly great geographical distances between the members’ offices, the event’s atmosphere was connective and charming.

Members of the European Green Belt Association at this year's General Assembly © EGBA

“It’s great to see everyone here”, says Gabriel Schwaderer, old and officially new chairman of the EGBA Board, while some members are thousands of kilometres apart from each other. For the first time, the general assembly (GA) of the European Green Belt Association, which takes place every two years, turned into an online meeting. 24 out of 32-member organisations, represented by at least one person, took part and also enjoyed to see each other.

Main purpose of the meeting was the election of the new Board. This part was supervised by André Maslo, chairman of the Ecological educational institution Upper Franconia, Germany.

Congratulation goes to the new members of the Board:

  1. Finnish Ministry of the Environment as GO representative of the Fennoscandian Green Belt
  2. Green Federation “GAJA”as NGO representative for the Baltic Green Belt
  3. Friends of the Earth Germany, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state branch as Regional Coordinator for the Baltic Green Belt
  4. Rete Italiana EGB as NGO representative for the Central European Green Belt
  5. German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation as GO representative for the Central European Green Belt
  6. Friends of the Earth Germany as Regional Coordinator for the Central European Green Belt
  7. Bulgarian Biodiversity Foundation as NGO representative for the Balkan Green Belt
  8. Lake Kerkini Management Authority as GO representative for the Balkan Green Belt
  9. EuroNatur Foundation as Regional Coordinator for the Balkan Green Belt
  10. IUCN / Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECARO) as the advisor of the Board

 

Each candidate was nominated prior to the GA during respective regional conferences.

It was also great to see that all members are ready to continue to work towards the vision of the European Green Belt Association – to conserve and restore the EGB and its function as an ecological network connecting high-value natural and cultural landscapes – and have thus also officially approved the new Programme of Work for the next two years 2021-2022.

Lastly, the Board officially and warmly welcomes a new member from the Baltic region: The NGO Latvian Green Movement. The organisation is mainly active in the field of environmental awareness raising and the protection of dunes along the coast of the Baltic Sea. For more information see: http://zalie.lv/en/