ECO KARST FINAL CONFERENCE

ECO KARST project has come to the successful ending and the Final conference was held in Postojna, Slovenia. Around 100 project partners, experts, academia, government officials, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders from 10 different countries gathered on this occasion. The event represented a perfect opportunity to discover synergies between nature conservation and sustainable local economic development in the karst areas of the entire Danube region. It included three main activities: Open Space Conference, ECO KARST fair of Pro Biodiversity businesses and field trip to discover a number of best practices within and outside of karst protected areas in Slovenia.

ECO KARST VIDEO WON AT DTP VIDEO COMPETITION 

ECO KARST video, submitted to the Interreg DTP video competition, has been selected as the first winner! ECO KARST team was invited to the 8th EUSDR Annual Forum in Bucharest by the Joint Secretariat of the Interreg DTP to officially receive the award for the best DTP video! Miss Nadira Berbić, a representative of Center for Energy, Environment and Resources - CENER 21 (WP2 leader) received the Award and carefully prepared gift package on behalf of the ECO KARST project. CENER 21 expressed many thanks to all project partners and especially to the Lead partner - Slovenia Forest Service for a precious contribution during the creation process! The jury of the DTP video competition paid the attention to the story behind them, their creativity and if they were very effective into showing the targets and achievements gained by the project, taking also into account the impact the video had on Social Media platforms. Around 800 participants at the 8th EUSDR Forum have seen the video! Wow!
 

MEET the best pro biodiversity entrepreneurs in 7 countries along the danube region

The best Pro Biodiversity (PBB) entrepreneurs were awarded at the end of the ECO KARST project. Discover all PBB awardees in short stories below. 

PRO BIODIVERSITY AWARD IN BUKK NATIONAL PARK, HUNGARY

The Pro Biodiversity Award ceremony in Hungary was held on May 30, 2019, and entrepreneurs were awarded in three categories. Attila Szabó won in the existing business category. In the category of the business idea, Tamás Szabó was awarded. Lóránt Tóth, wood carver and folk artist has received a special award. 

THE BEST pbb ENTREPRENEURS AWARDED IN CROATIA

A press conference and PBB award ceremony was held in Žumberak-Samoborsko gorje Nature park. The event was a part of the whole-day programme organized to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Žumberak-Samoborsko gorje Nature park, which gathered around 70 participants.

PBB AWARD ceremony organized in romania

Twenty-one businesses from various fields such as wood processing, forest fruit and mushroom processing, medicinal plants processing, livestock breeding and dairy production and tourism service providers joined the competition. 

KALKALPEN NATIONAL PARK AWARDED 4 ENTREPRENEURS 

Strengthening awareness of biodiversity conservation is a major concern of the Kalkalpen National Park. Within the ECO KARSTS project, four Pro Biodiversity companies were awarded for the highest contribution to the sustainable development of the area, identification with the Kalkalpen National Park and contribution to regional cooperation in the region.

PBB award ceremony held in bosnia and herzegovina

A PBB Award Ceremony was organized by the Cantonal Public Institution for Protected Natural Areas Sarajevo and CENER 21 in Bijambare Protected Landscape. The Minister of Spatial Planning, Construction and Environmental Protection of Canton Sarajevo awarded one applicant with the award for the best Pro Biodiversity Business and one applicant for the best Pro Biodiversity Business idea. 

pbb award ceremony in serbia

To live in the area of the National park, is a special privilege considering the natural values, but exactly due to natural treasure that is protected, life in the Natonal park represents a special commitment and certaing limitations in business activities. Guided by this principle, Tara National Park awarded 3 best Pro Biodiversity (nature and biodiversity friendly) business ideas, that will be implemented in the Park.

the best pbb entrepreneurs awarded in slovenia

Rural tourism with a social component, grandfather's farm with a mill processing of cereals and six members of the family devoted to sustainable farming. This is the winning combination of this year's PBB Award organized in Notranjska Regional Park within the ECO KARST project.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

ECO KARST team would like to thank to all project partners, pilot areas, associated partners as well as various stakeholders for their valuable contribution to  the project. As Project Manager, Mrs. Ana Bordjan emphasized at the Final Conference - this has been an incredible journey with hard-working, intelligent, genuine and creative people from 9 different countries along the Danube region. It was a pleasure to develop a new methodology with recognized scientists that could be widely used in the future and it was even greater pleasure to implement it in 7 ECO KARST pilot areas. We were honoured to meet all hard-working and creative entrepreneurs who devoted their life to maintain a great relation with nature, while improving their life and creating a new business value. We are grateful for all lessons learned and all of the inspiration we got familiarizing with protected karst areas in Slovenia, Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. 7 protected karst areas now have tangible results that would help them to achieve their targets in nature protection and enhancing biodiversity, while at the same time enabling a better quality of life for the local people. As Local Action Plans will become a firm baseline for public policy, decision making and investments in each of the protected karst areas, ECO KARST team is looking forward to see the first results in the coming period. We strongly believe that our Common Strategy will be a reliable guidance for the protection and sustainable use of ecosystem services in protected karst areas accross Europe.

Once again, thank you all for the great collaboration! Looking forward to cooperate with you in  future initiatives!

Explore ECO KARST project results and learn how to replicate it in your region 

Check ECO KARST photo gallery