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Protection of the Carpathians - Results from Romania
February 22 2022
In 2020 and 2021, we supported a project around protecting the unique Carpathians forests. The project consisted of two parts, one in Ukraine (reported here) and one in Romania. The initiative was run by NABU International, partnering with Sinca Veche Forest District, Piatra Craiului National Park, and ProPark, the main capacity building provider for protected areas and conservation in Romania.
The project aimed to increase the level of awareness of children and young people in biodiversity conservation and pristine forests ecosystems that provide critical environmental service to society. This was meant to be achieved by developing an environmental education program that prepares responsible adults in the interest of nature protection within the Carpathian region of Romania. The following are the goals accomplished between October 2020 and September 2021.
© Illustrator: Paula Stanciu
Working group
A working group was established with the project partners to establish together the concept of the activities, the thematic trail, and the content of the training need of the partner staff. Two meetings were organised at Sinca Pristine Forest District and the mayor of the Sinca Veche commune and the school principal.
A field excursion took place together with the partners in order to establish the stations and the priority values of the thematic trail, together with a local guide.
Educational programs
The program contained 2 lessons organised during the school, starting with the second semester in 2021. The lessons were planned as interactive sessions– containing two personalized maps with puzzles that emphasized the lessons:
1. History of forest habitats in Romania from the XIX century until the present time, following a local artist's beautifully designed map of Romania (2x2m). The map presents two scenarios – a puzzle of Romania’s forest distribution from the XIX century, covering 80% of the country in the forest, and underneath it a different map showing the current situation. Consecutive discussions were conducted, talking about how the situation has changed and what type of forests are found in Romania, and drawing conclusions together with the children from both scenarios.
2. Managed Forest vs Pristine Forests. A personalized map (2x2m) was developed and was used for representing Managed Forests and Pristine Forests. The children received a set of puzzle elements that they had to use to construct their scenario. The game was facilitated and explained by the educator during the lesson. After the construction of the scenarios was finished, the teams were asked to present their view and discuss on the role and importance of each site, emphasising the unique values and natural processes of the pristine forests found in Romania.
Materials developed and printed for the lessons: 2x2m map of Romania, puzzle map of Romania forest ecosystem distribution in earlier times, figurines for the two scenarios for managed and pristine forests.
Photos © ProPark
Thematic trail
The concept was written and discussed with the partners. The trail includes 2 interpretation panels and 6 stop stations with the main subjects for the audio guide.
The story of the thematic trail puts focus on the following stations: the story of the pristine forest, dead wood, insects and mushrooms, sapling and natural regeneration, natural phenomena or calamities, and the tallest fir tree in Romania. The stories were recorded in a professional studio and uploaded on the website developed especially for the thematic trail.
The website presents the UNESCO pristine forest, how to reach it and how to schedule a guided visit, rules of visiting the forest, the audio guide and “Find me” game, and what to expect once a visitor schedules a visit.
On the thematic trail, they organised field excursions with the children that participated in the school activities. During the excursion, the children were divided into teams and each received the Find me Brochure based on which they have to mark observations during the day and present them at the end. The brochure includes a list of 45 species of animals and plants, and was designed by an artist specially for this particular game.
All the developed materials are available for download on the above-mentioned website for free.
Brochure 'Find Me' for the thematic trail
Activities in schools and excursions
The team managed to work with 5 schools and 16 classes from the following villages: Sinca Veche, Persani, Rasnov and Zarnesti (all found in the proximity of the pristine forest and National Park).
The team implemented an educational program within these schools and organised for all 16 classes the two-lesson program followed by a contest in which the pupils had to develop their own poster and promote the main values of a pristine forest. From the 16 posters and presentations, 8 winning teams were selected that won the excursions in Sinca Veche pristine forest with a full day of activities and the excursions to other environmental educational activities at festivals during the summer at Fagaras Fest (Nucsoara) and Green City Forum (Brasov).
INDICATOR:
16 classroom groups, 32 lessons, 8 excursions in the pristine forest, and 2 festival educational stands, 1100 children involved
Photos © NABU and ProPark
And finally, two additional activities were organised within the project:
- 2-day training session with 10 participants from Padurile Sincii Forest District and Piatra Craiului National Park Administration teams
- 3-day capacity building meeting with 19 participants for pristine forest managers in Brasov, on the following topics: pristine forest management and directions for education, research, tourism, monitoring, and local communities
Social media
The project was mentioned many times in multiple Romanian media. Here are the links to a few examples:
- p. 24 in 'Zile si nopti', both printed and online https://issuu.com/zilesinopti/docs/zile_si_nopti_octombrie_2021
- https://www.bizbrasov.ro/2021/10/12/traseu-tematic-sinca-veche/
- https://www.infobrasov.net/padurea-virgina-de-la-sinca-primul-traseu-tematic-din-judet/