In January, the Esch2022 team handed over the reins to the CCPHVA (Communauté de Communes Pays Haut Val d’Alzette) and the PRO-SUD syndicate, as well as to the 19 municipalities that were part of the European Year of Culture.

Together with the CCPHVA, we are currently developing a project to preserve the heritage of Esch2022.

Click here for more details.

The class of the urbanism option from the Lycée Josy Barthel in Mamer discovered Belval in the spring and thought about how to better integrate nature and natural spaces into the new district.

After a visit to the site, the idea was theorised in class.

You can read the students’ conclusions here.

In March, we visited the Moselle Sud Biosphere Reserve and their “Aire terrestre éducative” concept to get inspiration for our ATE pilot project in Rumelange.

Here you can find all the information about the “Aire terrestre éducative” in Rumelange.

At the end of April, the PRO-SUD syndicate celebrated its 20th anniversary at the Ariston in Esch.

On this occasion, the 11 municipalities, the Minister of Regional Planning and the Ministry of the Environment signed a declaration of intent to transform the Minett UNESCO biosphere into a climate-neutral biosphere reserve in the near future.

Read the declaration of intent here.

In May, companies, schoolchildren and the whole family were invited to Ellergronn for our biodiversity days.

The inauguration of the Minett Trail, the 90-kilometre hiking trail through the 11 PRO-SUD muncipalities, was the highlight of the “Dag an der Natur an um Minett Trail” and the traditional family festival, organised together with the Nature Protection Center Ellergronn, the Nature and Forest Agency (ANF), Visit Minett and the City of Esch, also saw the first local food market, which was very well received by producers and consumers.

In spring, more than 10 school classes learnt all about the Minetter Schof and the role of transhumance in our biosphere reserve through our MiNELL – Nature Lab.

Further information on this workshop for school classes can be found here.

16 young adults from all over Europe took part in our second youth forum BeYouthSphere in Ellergronn in July and developed an awareness-raising campaign for the Minett UNESCO Biosphere.

All information about our youth forum can be found here.

In August, our travelling podcast Minett Mash-Up made a stop in Fond-de-Gras.

Throughout the year we have been out and about with interesting guests in the lodges of the Minett Trail.

All episodes of the podcast can be found here.

One of MiNELL‘s autumn activities was a visit to the largest orchard in Luxembourg. A pomologist told the participants all about traditional Luxembourgish apples and pear varieties in the Bongert Altenhoven.

Together with the ‘naturmusée’, the UNESCO Global Geopark Mëllerdall, the Musée de l’Ardoise of Martelange and the Luxembourg Commission for UNESCO, we organised a visit to the Doihl mine on the occasion of the International Day of Geodiversity to explain the uniqueness of our Minett.

A review of this excursion can be found here.

In October and November, the MiNELL workshop “De Bësch schmaachen” showed school classes and adults which edible plants can be found in our forests in autumn.

Find out how it tasted here.

The presentation of the book on the architectural competition for the construction of the Kabaisercher along the Minett Trail took place in December.

Discover the book published by the Ordre des Architectes et Ingénieurs-conseils (OAI) here.