In May, we organized a study visit to the Czech Republic for colleagues from Moldova. With representatives of local government institutions, protected areas, NGOs and volunteer inspectors, we visited four protected areas, a sustainably managed commercial forest and one of the largest river revitalizations in our country.
Have a look at moments from the trip in the photo gallery.
We kicked off the intensive six-day study tour program in Prague with a lecture by a representative of the European Ranger Federation (ERF) and a follow-up debate on the possibilities of cooperation between ERF and the newly formed Association of Moldovan Rangers. We also visited the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic with representatives of the MD state institutions, where we focused on the division of competences between nature protection authorities in the Czech Republic and on the legislative protection of Czech nature guards. On the way to the Krkonoše National Park we stopped for a visit in Klokočná, where the employees of LZ Konopiště introduced us to sustainable management in their production forest. At the Krkonoše Environmental Education Centre we discussed the use of drones in nature conservation.
All presentations can be found for browsing and downloading here.
To demonstrate the tourist load of KRNAP we also went to Sněžka, on the way we discussed the tools used by the National Park Administration for communication with the public. The next day, we visited the Adršpach-Teplice Rocks NPR accompanied by local nature guards who shared their practical experience with us and explained the mandatory equipment of a nature guard. This was followed by a short visit to the village of Zdoňov, where we were shown practical measures for water retention in the landscape. The penultimate day was also connected with water, we visited Litovelské Pomoraví and then the revitalized Bečva River with the employees of the Protected Landscape Area Administration. The main topics were river revitalization and river-related habitats, as well as relations between the MPA Administration and interest groups such as fishermen and hunters. On the last day of the expedition, representatives of the Administration of the Moravian Karst Protected Landscape Area gave a comprehensive presentation on the Czech experience with the implementation of Natura 2000 and the activities of the Administration of the Protected Landscape Area.
Read more about the study tour here.
The study tour was implemented within the framework of the project "Czech Support for a Better Management of Protected Areas in Moldova", implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Challenge Fund and "Natura 2000 Moldova: Promoting a European Approach to Nature Conservation in Moldova" with the support of the Transition Promotion Programme of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic.
