Page 10 - ALG Issue 2 2015

Head Office
International Assembly in Luxembourg 27th–28th February
I attended the assembly as a representative of the NAS. There was a full agenda for us to get through and after the initial formal affairs had been dealt with, we set to work deliberating and discussing.
Members in the UK. Watch this space!
The Charlie Hebdo events also brought forward an action plan to
encourage and improve “living together in diversity” with intercultural activities, activities aimed at young people and
actions against hatred etc.
We need your help! Please send information
about allotment projects that encourage intercultural integration, specific projects for young people teaching tolerance and mutual respect through gardening; please send photographs (it is very important that we have permission from those pictured in any photographs - a model release
form is available on the website). We must try
and be a part of this as I know we have many excellent projects to showcase. Please send them to me as soon as possible so that I can forward
The Office-International works in co-operation with International Organisations as an INGO (International Non-Governmental Organisation) and at the Council of Europe. At the European Union meeting in January, the working group on Climate Change and Human Rights of the NGOs Commission, “Democracy,
...we have many excellent projects to showcase
Social Cohesion and Global Challenges”, produced
a paper on the subject. This document was sent to
the bodies preparing the Climate conference in Paris
in December of 2015. It was accepted as a useful
document, explaining well the links between Human
Rights and Climate Change and will be taken into
consideration. The June event in Strasbourg on this subject will make further representations where the European Commission will present their views. After this event and its conclusions, we may find it useful to forward the ensuing paper to our European Parliamentary
them on to this important campaign. Due to the publication date of this magazine, we are very short of time for sending these in to Strasbourg for the June meeting.
Karen Kenny, President
Campaign; Gardening without pesticides 2015
The delegates decided with unanimity to take part in this campaign. The International Office will participate with a call to all allotment and
home gardeners to garden in an environmentally friendly way.
Pesticide Action Week will already
have taken place when you read this
and congratulations to you if your site participated and did anything to publicise the event that took place from March 20th to 30th. The International Assembly are concerned with this and try to support in various ways across the nations. One such supportive article, produced by
the German delegation, presents the “Five steps to environmentally–friendly gardening.”
This is an example that we may
all follow in our local newsletters and websites. If you have missed out, then perhaps you can organise a pesticide free week later in the year and bring it once more into the local agenda as part of an open day or other event. http://www. env-health.org. There is a lot of useful information on this website you might enjoy; just click on the pesticide page for more information.
The report of the Cost meeting in Riga in September made interesting reading and is part of ongoing and important research concerning ‘Urban Allotment Gardens in European Cities: Future Challenges and lessons learned.’ This
is something close to all nations’ hearts as we all face competition for space in the urban environment. We also have
a great need to influence the architects and planners of our towns and cities
and impress upon them the importance of urban growing spaces as an integral part of planning for the future. We cannot afford to be complacent; we must keep
abreast of all developments in our local areas and ensure that we have a voice from the very beginning of the planning process. We must look to government policy and strategies concerning same and help them to fulfil their promises.
A discussion took place concerning
a statement “Allotment gardens are old fashioned, Community Gardens are modern. Allotment gardens are good for elderly people, Community gardens for young people”. How can we change this image?
Overall the opinion was that this statement was not appropriate as in almost all countries allotments were seen as continuing to attract more and more young people, especially young families. There ensued a discussion on the definition of community gardens and there were some differences as to how each country saw and defined them.
The Term ‘community garden’ appears to mean various things in each country. My opinion is that in Britain they are two distinct things; one catering for the individual tenant with the ability to feed their family and the other as an area of communal land that involves sharing of any produce. Both have their parts to play in the community.
The plea goes out once more for your projects, news and views that may be included in the International magazine Hyphen. We are an important and historical part of the allotment movement internationally and as such, we need to make sure that we are in the forefront of allotment development. This involves the updating of sites, creation of new sites and the amazing projects which we have throughout the country. We must tell the world.
DIPLOMAS
Diplomas can be applied for various projects;
• For ecological gardening (gardening with nature)
• For social activities
• For innovative projects
Please put your projects forward so that we may ask for these international Diplomas for your site and your project.
Already there will be two diplomas for the Dutch and one each for the German, Luxembourgish, Norwegian and French. All of these are to be presented at the International Study Session in Luxembourg in August of this year.
New publication - the delegates decided to publish a brochure on how to sensitise children and young people to nature through the allotments and on how to integrate gardening into school life by working on an allotment. The brochure will be published in German, English and French.
You can keep up with International events at http://www.jardins-familiaux.org.
As part of the International movement we are an important member. We have a lot to offer and to learn from others. At home, allotments are about community and we are part of an international community of allotmenteers. We are working for the benefit of all people wishing to enjoy the many benefits of all the different types of allotment gardening around the world.
Karen Kenny, President
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