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Description
According to reports published by the Provincial Inspectorate of Environmental Protection, the Environmental Protection Programme, and the Air Protection Programme, the environmental pollution problem is very serious in the Małopolskie province, affecting watercourses, rivers, lakes, woods, and the air in particular. As an organisation that has for several years been working in the field of environmental education in this region, we can see that the number of such initiatives is still insufficient. Inhabitants of our province rarely engage in pro-environmental endeavours, whereas the problem of disposing of waste in forests or burning garbage in heating stoves is very common. The evaluation of our previous projects shows that youths are motivated to do something for the environment, but they need support and specific opportunities to get involved. Reaching this group will have positive impact on their parents and will teach future generations to take care of their surrounding environment. We will address these problems by organising fieldwork workshops for kindergarten and school children and youths. Together we will clean up woods, measure water and oil pollution, build homes for insects, and create mind maps of solutions addressing burning environmental issues. Then we will organise a contest for sustainable initiatives and will implement 10 winning ideas for projects in schools or the immediate vicinity, proposed by young people from our province. Finally, we will organise the ‘Be ECO’ festival, including a canoeing trip combined with collecting litter on the bank of the Dunajec river. In our project we will be supported by the Gródek nad Dunajcem commune which we have been cooperating with for years and which will help us organise the canoeing trip and promote the project among schools, as well as Małopolskie Sokół Cultural Centre, which will help us with the promotion and recruitment on the provincial level, thanks to its wide reach and experience.
Summary of project results
The challenge we wanted to respond to in the project was related to the low environmental awareness and lack of involvement in pro-environmental activities of the inhabitants of Malopolska, in particular the Sadecki Subregion. This area, although rich in natural resources, was struggling with the problem of pollution and inefficient management of resources. The project aimed to raise the environmental awareness of children and young people, which is key to the sustainable development of the region. The lack of environmental awareness had consequences in the low involvement of local residents in local pro-environmental initiatives and a limited number of such initiatives, which exacerbated the problem of environmental pollution.
The main idea was to make children and young people aware of the importance of protecting natural resources and to promote responsible environmental attitudes. Our aim was to fill a gap in environmental education, which had so far only been implemented on a small scale in schools and kindergartens. Activities such as the annual world clean-up day were insufficient to effectively change the environmental attitudes and habits of the population. Therefore, the project envisaged intensive and varied educational activities and the involvement of the local community in practical pro-environmental activities.
One of the activities implemented as part of the project was field workshops. We conducted these workshops in forest areas and clean-up sites, which allowed them to experience pollution problems first-hand. Participants learned the principles of protecting water and forest areas, caring for insects, and carried out water and soil tests using the EcoResearcher suitcase.
We also implemented bottom-up initiatives in the area of environmental protection. These were competitions for environmental microprojects in which educational institutions and informal groups participated. Twenty initiatives were carried out as part of the competition, involving almost 3,000 recipients. The microprojects included a variety of activities such as children''s classes, environmental competitions, events and actions in schools to promote environmental awareness.
We also organised the ''Be Eco'' Festival, which included a canoe trip down the Dunajec River to Lake Rożnowskie, during which participants collected litter from the water''s edge. The clean-up campaign involved Nowy Sącz canoeists, water rescuers and local educational institutions. In addition, we held an Ecological Initiative competition, the winners of which were awarded an educational trip to Zakopane.
The project''s target groups were diverse and included children and young people from kindergartens and primary and secondary schools, primarily from the Sadecki Subregion. In total, more than 700 people took part in field workshops and more than 2,800 participated in grassroots environmental initiatives. In addition, more than 4,000 people, including residents of the Gródek nad Dunajcem Municipality and representatives of local institutions, participated in the "Be EKO" festival.
One of the results of our activities was a significant increase in environmental knowledge among project participants. More than 80% of them increased their awareness of the consequences of littering in rivers and lakes and the need to conserve water resources. In addition, 120 people increased their knowledge of participation in public environmental issues and 600 people increased their knowledge of civic engagement in environmental activities.