More information
Description
This project brings active citizenship into solving consequences of climate change. Since 2017, mostly due to the climate change, there has been a massive extinction of Norway spruce monocultures in the Czech forests and the character of the whole landscape is changing rapidly. The goal of this project is to involve both volunteers and the general public in restoration of the landscape. In cooperation with Czech State Forest (Lesy ČR) we will realize 2 week-long workcamps, where volunteers will directly contribute to close-to-nature regeneration of the forests. The general public will be involved through a crowfunding campaign, in which we will raise the money to pay the costs connected with the realization of these workcamps.
Summary of project results
With the project, we responded to low civic engagement of a public, which can lead to catastrophic consequences in the surrounding landscape. In this project, we focused primarily on structurally affected regions, specifically the Moravskoslezský Region. At two selected locations, we organized 2 rounds of volunteer camps, during which 25 young people could get involved civically, in the concrete form of a week''s work in the field. They worked in cooperation with foresters on the restoration of a diverse forest, resistant to climate change. Through these activities, we demonstrated to the local community how concretely each of us can be involved in civic engagement. The project also included a donation campaign, the aim of which, in addition to collecting the necessary amount for the implementation of 2 rounds of Weeks for the Landscape, was also to raise awareness of the issue and provide the possibility of lower-threshold involvement (e.g. for parents with children).
Thanks to the project, we perceive a big shift in the attitude of young volunteers who had the opportunity to spend a week in a structurally affected region. We know from the feedback that it was a significant experience for them. In the same way, local residents were interested in the activities of civically engaged volunteers and evaluated their work and influence positively. We see this as an important mutual sharing of experiences and life attitudes.
Thanks to the donation and information campaign, we were able to focus more on the promotion of Landscape Weeks and bring their main idea and content to a wide range of people. Most of our donors do not have the opportunity to physically participate in our activities due to time and family reasons, and they perceive the financial contribution as an adequate participation in environmental protection. We maintain active contacts with our donors, we inform them about what we have achieved and what is less, and last but not least, we also welcome their feedback and opinions.