Our Natural Environment

On Thursday afternoom the discussion thread was "Our Natural Environment". In this particular session, we set the activity in two phases:.
First, the teams were dividided by countries, and gathered to look for information about special places in their lands with the particularity of being part of their natural environment, information they will share with the other groups..
Second, we discussed about the impact of tourism on them, issues and possible solutions.:.

 Spain

The spanish team focused in the natural environment of Andalucia, even though they have several places along their country..

• Donaña National Park. Situated in the province of Huelva, at the South-West of Spain, it is known as one of the most important protected environmet of Europe. Recognized as "World Heritage Site" by the UNESCO, it holds the last specimens of the iberian linx. Also, several birds species live and travel to this place, like flamingos or storks..

• Sierra Nevada. Mountains located in Granada, in which it is found the heighest peak of the Iberian Peninsula, called Mulhacen, with around 3000 meters high. It's one of the most visited places in winter due to winter sports, although in summer is visited for hiking or endurance races..
  

• Taberna's Desert. Located in Almeria, it is protected as a wilderness area. It's very well known becaouse of the many western movies that were filmed in such a iconic place..
  

Hungary

The hungarian team showed us three awesome places..

Hortobágy National Park. Located in Eastern Hungary, it is a 800km² national park, rich in folklore and cultural history. The park is a part of the Alföld (great plain) and was the first designated national park in Hungary in 1973 and recognized by the UNESCO as World Heritage Site in 1999. It is the largest protected area in Hungary and the largest semi-natural grassland in Europe..

Thermal Baths. Hungary has an estimated 1300 thermal springs. Hungary's thermal waters are being used for 2000 years being the Romans the first people to use them in the first century..

• Ruin Pubs. The beginning of the 21st century was an exciting turning point in the nightlife of Budapest: in the dentral area of the city new places were opened one after another in tenement houses and factory buildings doomed to destruction. These were equipped with rejected furniture of old community centres, cinemas, and grandmothers' flats, bringing a retro feeling into these places. They were soon called ruinpubs and became popular very fast among the youth of Budapest...

Poland

• Hel Peninsula. It is a 35 km long peninsula which separates the Bay of Puck from the Baltic Sea. The width of the peninsula varies from approximately 300 m near Jurata, through 100 m in the most narrow part to over 3 km at the tip. Since the peninsula was formed entirely of sand, it is frequently turned into an island by winter storms. Until the 17th century the peninsula was a chain of islands that formed a strip of land only during the summer.
  A road and a railroad run along the peninsula from the mainland to the town located at the furthest point, Hel, a popular tourist destination. Other towns, ports, and tourist resorts are Jurata, Jastarnia, Kuznica,Chałupy, and Władysławowo..

• Zakopane.Zakopane is visited by over 250,000 tourists a year. In the winter, tourists are drawn to Zakopane for its excellent conditions for winter sports: alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, and ski jumping. In the summer, tourists come to enjoy hiking, climbing, and spelunking. Many come to experience góral culture, which is rich in its unique styles of food, speech, architecture, music, and costume. Zakopane is especially popular during the winter holidays, which are celebrated in traditional style, with dances, decorated horse-pulled sleighs called kuligs and roast lamb..

• Masurian lakeland. is a lake district in northeastern Poland within the geographical region of Masuria. It contains more than 2,000 lakes. The district had been elected as one of the 28 finalists of the New 7 Wonders of Nature.The Lakeland extends roughly 290 km (180 mi) eastwards from the lower Vistula to the Poland–Russia border, and occupies an area of roughly 52,000 square kilometres (20,000 sq mi). Administratively, the Lake District lies within the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. Small parts of the district lie within the Masovian. The lakes are well connected by rivers and canals, forming an extensive system of waterways. The 18th-century Masurian canal links this system to the Baltic Sea. The whole area is a prime tourist destination, frequented by boating enthusiasts, canoeists, anglers, hikers, bikers and nature-lovers. It is one of the most famous lake districts in Central Europe and a popular vacation spot, with the highest number of visitors every year..

Italy

• Dolomite Alps. They are a mountain range located in northeastern Italy. They form a part of Southern Limestone Alps and extend from the River Adige in the west to the Piave Valleyin the east. The northern and southern borders are defined by the Puster Valley and the Sugana Valley (Val Sugana). The Dolomites are nearly equally shared between the provinces of Belluno, South Tyrol and Trentino.
  There are also mountain groups of similar geological structure that spread over the River Piave to the east – Dolomiti d'Oltrepiave; and far away over the Adige River to the west –Dolomiti di Brenta (Western Dolomites). There is also another smaller group called Piccole Dolomiti (Little Dolomites) located between the provinces of Trentino, Vernoa and Vicenza. One national park and many other regional parks are located in the Dolomites. In August 2009, the Dolomites were declared a Unesco World Heritage Site..

• Venetian Lagoon. The Venetian Lagoon stretches from the River Sile in the north to the Brenta in the south, with a surface area of around 550 square kilometres (210 sq mi). It is around 8% land, including Venice itself and many smaller islands. About 11% is permanently covered by open water, or canal, as the network of dredged channels are called, while around 80% consists of mud flats, tidal shallows and salt marshes. The lagoon is the largest wetland in the Mediterranean Basin...

• Pompei. The city of Pompeii was an ancient Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area, was mostly destroyed and buried under 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) of ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesubius in 79 AD. Pompeii has been a tourist destination for over 250 years. Today it has Unesco World Heritage Site status and is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy, with approximately 2.5 million visitors every year..

Discussing about the impact of tourism in these places we found these issues:.

• In many situations, people are rude and don't take care about the environment.
• Tourism changes the natural course of evolution..
• Industry produces pollution, it's especially dangerous near populations and natural environments..
• Wastes destroy the wilderness.

We also concluded that we can do something again this huge impact in our natural environment..

• More Government controls over the industry..
• Improve population education on environment caring..