WWF: News From Nature 🌿🐼

19 jul u 10:38

s.acanski

Whether you are swimming in the sea, river, or pool, or sitting by the air conditioner or fan, I hope you can cool off and make the most of this summer heat. Now is the time to grab a cold drink and relax with the latest summer news from nature. 🌱

Keep reading. 😉

🐟 We have removed the first river barriers in Croatia! 🐟

After the first barriers in the region were successfully removed from the Vezišnica River in Montenegro in 2021, this year Croatia witnessed its first barrier removal in Plitvice Lakes, which is simultaneously the second barrier removal in the region. Experts from Plitvice Lakes National Park and WWF Adria have so far removed 7 out of a total of 8 artificial barriers from the Bijela Rijeka stream, and the last one will be removed this summer, freeing the Bijela Rijeka’s flow, allowing almost extinct Danube trout in Plitvice Lakes to move freely along the entire river, and significantly reducing the risk of floods and droughts. The first trout has already been seen in the freed part of the flow! 🥰

Watch the video to see what the barrier removal looked like. 👆

👻 We are continuing with the removal of ghost gear on Croatian islands 👻

We are also trying our best to clean our sea from everything that harms it. Did you know that one of the most harmful forms of plastic pollution in the sea is ghost gear? This is abandoned, discarded, or lost fishing gear that we constantly talk about because it not only kills marine life, but it also harms humans. 🎣

We have already conducted several actions to map and remove ghost gear from the sea, and the most recent were two – near the world-famous cliffs on Dugi Otok in Telašćica and in the depths around the island of Molat. Diving club DPS Zagreb and WWF Austria helped us a lot. 🌊

You can read more about it here.

🎡Building an adventure park in The Gërmia Regional Park? 🎡

The Municipality of Pristina planned to build an adventure park within the Gërmia Regional Park in Kosovo, which is a protected area. The adventure park built in the first zone of protection within the Park would have terrible consequences for the sensitive beech forests and other natural heritage of that area. ☠️

Therefore, together with other non-profit organizations, we reported the case to the court, but also proposed another construction location and set some guidelines that should be followed. As the Court forbid this building last month, we are glad that we proved that with joint efforts we can promote good decisions and positive changes. 💪

Find out more on the link.

🐾 Why we need to protect large carnivores🐾

It is undeniable that humans and nature influence each other, and now climate change has entered the scene too, elevating these relationships to a higher, even more challenging level.

If we want to keep our forests preserved, healthy, and biodiverse, we must continue to deepen the cooperation of all institutions and organizations dealing with nature conservation, but we also need to include citizens – that was the conclusion of the panel “Mosaic Forest Ecosystems, Large Carnivores, and Climate Change” held on the International Day for Biological Diversity at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia. 🌳

You can see which other topics we touched upon at the panel with a click on the link.

💚 A historic decision for Europe – the Nature Restoration Law has finally been adopted! 💚

Speaking of the climate change, it’s excellent news that EU member states adopted the Nature Restoration Law two months ago. That is the crucial law for nature, combating climate change effects, all citizens, and the future of life in Europe. ✅

The adoption of the law went through a rocky road. Still, citizens, organizations, and the business sector sent a clear message to the new European Parliament and European Commission – the issue of biodiversity, nature protection, and investment in natural solutions to combat climate change effects, the well-being of citizens, and the economy must be one of the European political priorities. The daily climate extremes we face are just additional proof. 🇪🇺

Find out what steps are next here.

🎉Team “Methanians” won at the hackathon “Sustainable Energy Development in Coal Regions” 🎉

We are also so proud of our young people! High school and gymnasium students from Aleksinac in Serbia presented their great ideas at the hackathon, and the winning team „Metanci“ (called after the methane, natural gas) will have the opportunity to present their idea at the regional conference in Sofia! Alongside their idea, we heard five more phenomenal ideas for solving local, ecological problems in a sustainable, efficient, and not so expensive way. 🌍

🥳 We won the ESG leader award! 🥳

We won the ESG Leader award in the Education Program category for the organization, for training young people in primary and secondary schools through education in the field of nature protection.

At the first competition of its kind organized by Pricewaterhouse Cooper in Serbia, 60 applications were submitted in four categories: „Strategy“, „Innovation“, „Education Program“, and „Leader in Sustainable Development“.

We thank PwC Serbia for the opportunity, and we will certainly continue further!