Storkriket offers a festival full of excursion destinations!
Storkriket in the municipalities of Sjöbo, Lund and Eslöv is a 110,000 hectare area with special natural environments and very high species richness, at the same time 150,000 people live in the area and even more go there in their free time. The location is so unique that the three municipalities are working on an application to UNESCO to be allowed to form Storkriket Biosphere Reserve.
If the application is approved, this will be the first biosphere reserve where it is planned to use cultural and creative industries to help both develop and preserve a natural area. If everything goes as planned, this will be ready by the summer of 2025. However, a lot of activities are already underway. For example, September 9-17 is the third Biosphere Festival.
- We have a wide range of events and the program offers many opportunities for an excursion. I believe and hope that we have something for everyone,” says Ylva Nilsson, communicator for the Biosphere Cooperation.
Sustainable local development is at the heart of the event and it involves very diverse elements. During the Flyingebygden harvest festival, locally produced food is offered, while artist Maria Westmans has an exhibition at the art hall in Sjöbo. There will be opportunities for guided walks in scenic areas, meditation at Billebjär, visits to the Stork Project's stork enclosure and experiences on Geology Day. During the Open Book event at Idolfs loge in Holmby, visitors can read aloud from their favorite books. An event in Lund is the event Hold (BAR) in Stadshallen, where Professor Kalle Åström from Lund University gives an inspirational lecture on how AI can promote sustainable development. The centre of the festival is otherwise the countryside of all the three municipalities of Stor.
- We are committed to local development and we want to highlight the actors present here and show their breadth. By engaging local actors, we can go further in the area of sustainability,” says Ylva Nilsson.
The festival begins with an opening ceremony at Boklunden in Torna Hällestad, where there will be an open house, exhibition and presentation of some program points. At the same time, Storwill also tell you that the application to become a Biosphere Reserve has now been completed and is being referred for referral. Referrals are sent to a wide range of national, regional and local actors, but anyone who wishes can submit their comments. The lengthy document and a guide on how to take on the document will be available at home page and there is also an e-service for anyone who wants to submit comments. The application will go out for referral on 1 September and until 31 October it will be possible to submit comments. (See also local government websites.) The goal, of course, is to become a granted biosphere reserve and move from candidate to approved site and according to the timetable it could be completed in the summer of 2025.
Why is it so important to incorporate culture into sustainability development?
- The fact that we have a cultural perspective makes us different from other Biosphere areas, says Ylva Nilsson. Culture is very broad, because we are talking about culture both as the cultural and creative industries that are an economic force in society but also as an opportunity to put societal issues at the forefront, to challenge existing structures, to spark debate and thought, and as a way to visualize the future. We see that the cultural dimension is something that can be focused on in order to move on to a more sustainable society. In our geographical area there are both Lund University and active associations within this theme, which means that we have a good opportunity to take a closer look at this right here.
More facts
Biosphere is about the interaction between humans and the environment and the word biosphere encompasses all living things on Earth and the environment in which it lives.
Once upon a time, a large area of Storkriket was covered by an ice lake. The lakes in the area - Krankesjön, Häljasjön, Bysjön and Vombsjön - are dead ice caves that arose when blocks of ice became left behind. In this unique natural environment there is a great diversity of species, while many people depend on the area for food production, water supply, recreation, and more.
Around 2010, the municipalities of Lund and Sjöbo carried out work around Klingavälsån. Then the idea that the area could be a biosphere reserve was also born in the UNESCO program “Man and the Biosphere”. There are currently over 700 such biosphere sites in over 100 countries, seven of which are located in Sweden. In 2017, a preliminary study was carried out which led to the municipalities of Lund, Sjöbo and Eslöv making a joint application for a biosphere candidacy, with the goal of becoming the country's eighth biosphere reserve.
Unesco is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization responsible for the designation of areas as biosphere reserves. Biosphere sites are part of a global network: “The World Network of Biosphere Reserves”.
