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Description
The Noteć Forest is one of the largest forest complexes in Poland. It is the pearl of the Lubusz and Greater Poland forest areas. It is often called the Fire Forest, because there are many fires in its area. In 2020 alone, there were as many as 400 fires, and almost half of them were caused deliberately or unintentionally by people. In our project we want to contribute to reducing this statistic. We are aware that our actions will not result in the total disappearance of fires, but they can greatly reduce their number. We have invited young people from 52 primary schools in 26 communes surrounding the Forest to participate in the project. We will create a network of the Noteć Forest Guardians, in which we will mobilise 520 school students to take joint action to protect the Forest. We will work out rules and attitudes of wise movement in the forest, we will create the Code of Noteć Forest Protection, we will organize the Debate and Symposium of the Noteć Forest Guardians. In these activities we will be supported by an experienced partner, the "Pszczew Forge of Civic Activity, which will run a coordination and support point for groups from 12 communes lying along the southern part of the Forest. We address our activities to young people, because we believe that in near future the fate of our Forest will depend on them. We know that with one project we are not able to stop the Noteć Forest fires, but by building a wise forest policy and engaging young people we are able to develop wise attitudes, which will surely reduce the Forest fire statistics in the future.
Summary of project results
The Notecka Forest is one of the largest forest complexes in the country. It is called the Firewood because there are a lot of fires in its area - in 2020 alone, there were as many as 400 of them, almost half of which were intentional or unintentional human activity. With our project, we wanted to contribute to reducing this statistic.
In 2021, we invited young people from 26 schools from the communes surrounding the Forest to create a network of Guardians of the Notecka Forest. Together with them, we organized the first edition of the "Let''s Protect Our Forest Campaign" and local events raising awareness about the protection of forests against fires. Moreover, together with people participating in the project, we developed petitions and participated in local public consultations at the level of 23 communes, 8 poviats and 2 voivodeships.
In 2022, thanks to the efforts of people participating in the project, we invited more schools to cooperate. With the strength of 52 groups, subsequent events were planned, a petition was prepared and the second edition of the campaign was developed, the effect of which exceeded our expectations. 148 school institutions responded to our appeal. A "Giga card" was created for the Guardians of the Notecka Forest, consisting of 3,267 painted cards. We initiated the celebration of Forest Guardian Day (May 29), and the groups participating in the campaign visited fire brigades and forest districts to thank the Guardians of our Forest for their work.
In 2023, we organized a Debate for the good of the Forest and a Symposium of the Guardians of the Notecka Forest. For the needs of these activities, people participating in the project have developed a Code for the Protection of the Notecka Forest. During the organization of the Symposium, we encouraged participants to get involved in the process of social participation. Youth representatives present at the meeting learned how to start and conduct social dialogue with local authorities so that it brings measurable results.
During the implementation of the entire project, we prepared film materials. In the initial phase of implementation, we assumed that they would support the campaign promoting the network and encourage participation in the activities. We reached the planned number of participants before the broadcast date, which made the topics covered in the programs obsolete and the broadcast pointless. This led us to create another series of programs.
We held a panel discussion on social participation at the local level. As part of this activity, during the two years of project implementation, we submitted a total of 60 petitions to the offices. In schools, there was an increase in the involvement of educational institutions in the civic activation of young people at the local level. So far, only 16 schools covered by the project have in the past engaged students in social participation focused mainly on school life. For all schools, these were the first activities on a larger scale. In 2023, 52 groups were engaged to jointly carry out the second edition of the "Let''s Protect Our Forest" campaign, which turned out to be a huge success. In response to our appeal, we received art works by 3,267 children from 148 schools in the Lubuskie and Greater Poland Voivodeships. From the received works, we created thank you notes for firefighters and foresters, which were made available to all schools participating in our campaign. Then we initiated and celebrated a new holiday on May 29 - "Day of the Guardian of the Notecka Forest", so that the schools participating in the campaign could personally thank the nearest fire brigade or forest district for protecting our forests against fires.
During the classes, we developed several tools that effectively engage the school community in joint initiatives. Events such as "We Paint a Giga Laurel for the Guardians of the Notecka Forest" and "The Notecka Forest Guardian''s Day" turned out to be invaluable tools enabling regular actions, which at the same time create opportunities to conduct lectures focused on protecting forests against fires.
Thanks to these activation tools and the work of groups associated in the network of Guardians of the Notecka Forest, our school community not only participates in valuable social activities, but also gains valuable knowledge about environmental protection and the need to take care of forests.