On March 19, 2021, the Final Conference of the project “For everyone saved a tree” (FOREST) was held, which unites non-governmental and scientific organizations from Bulgaria and Serbia in the cause of engaging young people in activities related to forest protection. The project leading partner is the Bulgarian non-governmental organization “Youth Movement for Development of rural areas in Bulgaria” (YMDRAB). The other partners are the Center for Social Innovation in Nis (NIIT) and the Forest Research Institute – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (FRI-BAS) The project is funded by the Cross-Border Cooperation Program Interreg Bulgaria – Serbia. It started on May 16, 2019, but due to the pandemic of COVID-19 it was extended by several months and despite many difficulties, all planned activities were successfully completed.
Interreg – IPA CBC Bulgaria – Serbia Programme CCI Number 2014TC16I5CB007
The activities of the young people from the FOREST project related to the identification of wild plants and their habitats continued last week (October 2-4, 2020). This time their attention was focused on collecting materials from tree and shrub species from the forests of the Etropole Stara Planina and the Heavenly Pastures Park, Osikovitsa village. Under the guidance of experts from BAS and Sofia University, our young people managed to find over 75 different species.
Interreg – IPA CBC Bulgaria – Serbia Programme CCI Number 2014TC16I5CB007
After a break due to the pandemic situation, the project “For everyone saved a tree” (FOREST) resumed its activities and as an autumn crocus blossomed cheerfully in late September with the smiles of Serbian and Bulgarian youth…Autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale)… Brownray knapweed (Centaurea jacea)… Maidenhair spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes), Common liverwort (Marchantia polymorpba)… this is only part of the autumn aspect of the flowering herbaceous plants, ferns and mosses which the youngsters from Botevgrad and Nis had to collect from their local mountains and to prepare from them herbarium materials. In the period September 25-27, 2020, the Serbian youth visited the mountainous areas near the town of Niska Banya, famous for its healing water, while their Bulgarian peers wandered the paths full of spiritual energy around the Etropole monastery “St. Trinity ”and the captivating as a picture of Juan Miró park “The Sky pastures” near the village of Osikovitsa.
On the 20th
of February, 2020 in Forest Research Institute was held an educational course
for the Institute’s employees for working with the Joint Database on the
project “For everyone saved a tree” (FOREST), co-funded by the European Union
through the Interreg-IPA Bulgaria-Serbia Cross-Border Cooperation Program
2014-2020. The course contained three modules:
