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Me and Mr. Luis Martínez Sáez at the Starlight Initiative offices
in La laguna, Tenerfie, Canary Islands. |
You have surely heard about the UNESCO’s World Heritage
sites around the World?
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) encourage the identification, protection and preservation
of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of
outstanding value to humanity.
This initiative is important right?
What about our night skies? What about our night skies over
our cities? What about our night skies in our darkest spots on the planet?
Should we protect it? Should we have a similar initiative for world heritage
night sky sites?
Mr. Luis Martínez Sáez, Director and founder of the
Starlight Foundation is asking the same questions and is eager to have the
answers.
This year I went back to meet with Mr. Martínez Sáez in La
Laguna, Tenerife and get a follow up on the progress of the Initiative. Last
year, the Starlight initiative had 1 destination that had received the
Starlight Certificate for dark skies ( Alqueva Dark Sky Reserve, Portugal) and this year the total was 17
destinations, including tourism destinations and natural reserves. 9 more
destinations are in progress of negotiation. El Montsec in Catalonia Spain and
El Parque Nacional Fray Jorge en chile are one of the Starlight destinations.
Here is a link to these Starlight destinations:
Some background. The Starlight Foundation is the body in
charge of the operational management of the Starlight Initiative, providing
human resources and means for the development of the Initiative.
The Starlight Initiative was launched in 2007 from a
proposal of the IAC supported by UNESCO - MaB Programme, UNWTO, IAU, and other
international conventions such as UNEP-CMS, SCBD, and Ramsar Convention, and is
designed as an international action in defense of the values associated with
the night sky and the general right to observe the stars.
The final aim of this Initiative is to promote the
importance of clear skies for the humankind, emphasizing and introducing the
value of this endangered heritage for science, education, culture,
technological development, nature conservation, and tourism.
Many of us have never seen a true dark sky. People living in
the cities see only the night sky as a peppered, here and there, dot of light.
Only the brightest stars are visible, including the planets and the Moon. The
light pollution of the street lamps and other source of light infringe our
seeing of the night sky. Constellations are barely visible to the naked eye.
You have to go further and further out of the cities to be able to see an
exceptional night sky.
It's crucial to understand that Dark Sky status does not
mean turning lights off. Rather it is about working with people and Councils to
create better and less wasteful lighting and promoting the night sky as an
asset for the region.
This problem of preserving good quality dark night skies is
a real challenge. The expansion of cities with light accumulation, slow
political involvement in concrete changes and bad lighting are all major
problems against the preservation of dark skies.
I have included the Starlight Foundation LOGO on my blog header to be part of this Initiative and support this Initiative. :)
Please have a look at the Starlight Foundation website:
http://www.starlight2007.net/
About Astronomy Club Toutatis, Kustavi, Finland
