The Faroe Islands announce the closure of the archipelago to preserve the natural habitat
Every year, some 110,000 tourists dive into one of the **most wonderful and acclaimed archipelagos on the planet: the Faroe Islands**. Located in the North Atlantic, halfway between ** Norway and Iceland **, they display amazing views and landscapes that manage to envelop you with extraordinary temperance.
Owners of an imposing beauty, the Faroes are made up of 18 volcanic islands, Although they still do not suffer from excess tourism, they are not exempt from the effects and consequences of the advance of climate change.
That is why in April of this year a the closure of the islands –except for 100 volunteers–, who during a weekend have worked jointly with the residents, in order to preserve natural habitat and improve infrastructure of vital areas.
After unrivaled success, the initiative has been relaunched for the 2020 season and will take place from April 15 to 17 , within the framework of a strategy of sustainability presented in the recent spring.
The initiative seeks to combat mass tourism
With 'Preserevolution' , as they have called the strategy, will seek to reach a responsible tourism in 2025 , stimulating positive changes for future generations and safeguarding both culture as nature , one of the fundamental pillars of the archipelago.
2020 EDITION
On this occasion, the announcement has conquered 5,500 people –65% more than in the previous edition– of 95 different nationalities, including Americans, Russians, Venezuelans, Zimbabweans, Taiwanese and of course, Europeans . Lawyers, architects, diplomats, film directors, all have been seduced by the volunteer campaign of the next year.
The projects have been identified together with the residents, the local municipality and tourism centers . The lucky ones will work side by side with the islanders to build trails, perform maintenance tasks and preserve essential areas of the site.
During April 15, 16 and 17, more than a dozen tourist sites will be closed to the public , this will include Slættaratindur , the highest mountain on the island, where they will deal with the retrieval of an alternate route to ensure safe ascent.
Volunteers will be provided lodging, food and transportation during their stay in the archipelago, with the exception of the flight to and from the country of origin, which will be the responsibility of the applicant.
Volunteers will build trails and preserve essential areas of the island
Unfortunately all places have already been covered , -the 100 volunteers were chosen randomly-, however, those who are interested in participating in the edition that will take place in 2021, **can register on the page** and will be notified when registration is open again.
‘We are humbled by the enormous interest and obviously we have thought about inviting more people to be part of the maintenance teams, but this year's initiative showed us that between 10/14 projects and 100 people is a manageable number. Also there is a lot of work involved in organizing , both for the various municipalities, the tourist information and for us, so for now we would like to keep it in one project a year' they declare from Faroe Islands tourism a traveler.es
Although certain initiatives have shown interest in combat overtourism , the Faroe Islands hope to become a inspirational example for the rest of the communities. We hope they arise innovative proposals and we can give back to the nature all that he has given us.
Closing will take place in April 2020