updated August 2006

ECOVAST ASSEMBLY 2006

The ECOVAST Biennial General Assembly will take place at Hotel Suza, Bratislava, Slovak Republic on Sunday October 15, 2006, from 11am – 5pm. The Agenda is available here. The International Committee will meet on Saturday 14 October from 2pm – 4pm and the Working Groups from 5pm-7pm (Rural Architecture) and 8pm – 10pm (Landscape).

To complement the Assembly, there will be an International Conference - “Rural development in the knowledge-based society” - at Hotel Suza, Bratislava , Slovak Republic , on Monday October 16, 2006 – a more detailed programme will be provided later. Interpretation will be provided in Slovakian , English, German and French.

Themes for the plenary session will include strategies and initiatives for rural development and the current and future role of rural areas, the impact of renewable energy on villages and small towns, and the ASSET small towns’ project.

For more details of the Assembly, and of the study tour to Western Slovakia, Northern Austria, Eastern Czech Republic, and Northern Hungary , on Tuesday, October 17, 2006, click here.

A booking form is available here.

Minutes of the ECOVAST General Assembly 2005, held on the 5th November 2005 at Retz, Austria, are available here.

ECOVAST and Energy

ECOVAST’s aim is to promote the well-being of the people and the heritage of rural Europe. This mission is a permanent commitment, but it has to be constantly updated as the forces affecting the rural areas change. One crucial area of change is in the field of energy, with rising public and political concern about long-term supplies of fossil fuels, the impact on the world’s climate of continuing to burn those fuels, and the need to promote both energy conservation and alternative sources of energy. This wide agenda poses both a challenge and an opportunity to the people, the economies and the environment of rural Europe.

This issue will be discussed at the 2006 Assembly. Read about ECOVAST's proposed statement on Energy and its relation to rural well-being here.

You can also see a copy of the President's presentation on this issue here (in .pdf format)