Description
Environmental risks associated to the loss of the biodiversity, which is linked to climate change are one of the main issues raised by a number of strategic documents both at the EU as well as national level. At the regional level it is necessary to change the policies regarding information and environmental education, and to improve transparency in the protection and management of forests. On the other hand, the real problem is the low level of public awareness in this regard, including those resulting from the close proximity of the forest and the Tricity problems such as the lack of the social acceptance for forest operations (felling) in the Tricity forests, increasing level of the anthropopressure and the lack of the public involvement in forest management . Project goal: to raise public awareness on the biodiversity in connection with the climate change and the economic value of ecosystems by carrying out a comprehensive program of education and information on the Gdansk RDoSF. Project outcome: Change of the social attitudes towards public awareness within the loss of the biodiversity in connection with the climate change and the economic value of the ecosystems. Project outputs:The development of the public education system, under which activities will be carried out, ie soft. Conferences, training seminars, educational cycles, a media campaign, educational festivals, competitions, educational trips and so on, The development of electronic information systems of society, Expanding the level of social acceptance of conservation activities of the State Forests.Target group: residents of Pomerania, in particular those from the Tri-City and surrounding areas, local authorities, Pomeranian NGO’s, the State Forests units. The partnership: Forestry Extension Institute - FEI of Norway shall implement and adapt to the Polish conditions an innovative educational models. In addition,
Summary of project results
The basic context of the project is that there is a fact of losing of the biodiversity is a common problem and together with the climate change is one of the key factors that has a strong influence on our environment. Also on the local/ regional level there is a need of the change of the policies concerning the information and ecological education due to the situation that the Tricity area borders with a vast forested areas. The main objective of the project was to raise public awareness on biodiversity on the Gdansk Regional Directorate of the State Forests terrain. This idea was to be developed by the complex education and information program on the Gdansk Regional Directorate of the State Forests premises. Through this program the beneficiary achieved the sustainable change in perception of the actions of the State Forests among the inhabitants of the Tricity area and proved that forest management is an important issue in terms of caring of the environment. The tasks in the project were grouped into 4 main Work Packages that is soft actions – conferences, festive, education materials, development of the electronical systems to inform society – web page and mobile application, actions in the forestry districts in terms of setting up hot spots as well as improving the educational paths and last but not least project management. The project target was to raise public awareness. The set of the actions was chosen in a way to fully cover the targets set in a project proposal. Over 3.5 mln people took part in the education actions within the project in the Tricity area, around 1000 people have had been reached by the educational materials produced in the project, over 500 people downloaded mobile application, over 1000 people visited project web page. All in all, the actions of the project induced high interest among the local and regional NGO’s that started the discussion on the basics of the forest management and benefits for both the environment and the people. Another essential issue there is fact that the small investments done within the project in the Forestry Districts will be sustainable and therefore will service for the next years the tourists and local people – 2 modernized educational paths, 72 information boards, web page and application.
Summary of bilateral results
The basic reason for the international cooperation was to exchange the best practices in terms of the forest education with our Norwegian partner the Forestry Extension Institute - FEI. This was achieved through a series of consultations with their main forest educator mr Bjørn Helge Bjørnstad. Their model program learning with forests was introduced to our forest educators together with methods and its basics. Basing on that the common education materials were prepared and evenly dispersed among Poland. Las but not least the, FEI was also responsible for consulting the final shape of the mobile application developed within the project. The Regional Directorate of the State Forests together with FEI signed formal letter of cooperation in this project and is looking forward to further develop the cooperation in the future years. Successful project cooperation strongly contributes to this and allows for the next common actions. As mentioned above, the partnership contributed in a material way to the project providing useful materials and methods of the forestry education.