Conference “ECOLOGICAL NETWORKS – INTRODUCTION TO EXPERIENCES AND APPROACHES”

IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and BIOTICA Ecological Society organised the International Conference dedicated to the development and creation of regional sectors of Pan-European Ecological Network (PEEN), on 13-14 October 2011 in Chisinau.

The Conference was organized in frame of project “Development of the National Ecological Network of Moldova as part of the Pan-European Ecological Network, with emphasis on transboundary cooperation”, supported by the Norway Government.

The goal of the conference was to present the project achievements, and also approaches and state of ecological networks development in a broad regional and methodological contexts (including NATURA 2000 and opportunities to use that instrument wider than in  the European Union borders), share experience and discuss problems aiming at further implementation.
The conference started with the presentation of the concept of ecological network, done by Kalev Sepp, IUCN Vice-President. After this the current state of developments and plans on the National Ecological Network, as well as economical basis for its creation in Moldova and also information about other important issues in relation with related actions in Moldova were presented.

During the conference pan-European examples were presented, such as state of Ecological Network in Ukraine, implementation of the Pan-European Ecological Network in Russia, experiences with ecological networks development in Romania, Developments of Pan-European Ecological Network in Central Asia. The conference continued with the presentation of regional examples related to development of ecological networks in Moldova and adjacent countries.

Conference presentations can be found here >>>>>.   

Information about the conference on the IUCN site can be found here

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“Evaluation and Strengthening of institutional and human capacities under ENPI/FLEG activities” project

BIOTICA Ecological Society was selected to implement during 2011 the project “Evaluation and Strengthening of institutional and human capacities” under ENPI/FLEG activities in the frame of the European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument – Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (ENPI-FLEG) program. Under the direct supervision of the ENPI-FLEG WB Country Program Coordinator BIOTICA will be responsible for providing analytical and logistical services for:

1. Conducting the process of evaluation and strengthening of institutional and human capacities of entities subordinated to the Forest Agency Moldsilva, including through the organization of training sessions on administration level;
2. Development and implementation of training programs related to the application of forestry legislation for different forest lands owners (public, communities, private);

The training sessions covers following topics:
1. Strengthening of institutional and human capacities of entities subordinated to the Forest Agency Moldsilva, including for the organization of educational process in forestry;
2. Development and implementation of training program on the application of forestry legislation for different owners of forest lands (public, communities, private sector).

“Common building of the future for the internationally recognised integral zone of the Lower Dniester and upstream” project

On 2 October 2010, BIOTICA ES organized an activity of demonstrating a tourist route in the region of Lower Dniester, which included various tourist objects from both banks of the Dniester. The goal of this activity was to test the functionality of the tourist product elaborated within the project “Common building of the future for the international recognized integral zone of the Lower Dniester and upstream”, realized with the assistance of the program “Support to Confidence Building Measures” project financed by European Union and implemented by UNDP. At the same time, by demonstrating the tourist route, BIOTICA promoted the tourist potential from this zone on the basis of a complex tourist offer that includes natural, historical, cultural values, initiating cooperation in the field of tourism and environment protection among local public authorities, economic entities, NGOs etc from the both banks of Dniester.

At this event took part about 50 representatives of central and local public administration, tourism agencies, NGOs, scientists from both banks of Dniester, as well as representatives of the Nijnednestrovck National Park from Ukraine.

The participants visited the fortress from Bender, medieval church from Causeni, wine factories from Talmaza and Gradinita, pheasant farm from Talmaza, and some of those more than 50 points for nature observation identified in the frame of the project. During the excursion was presented information related to antic history, values of landscape and biodiversity of the Lower Dniester Ramsar Site in order to diversify the existent tourist product especially in relation to the regions were tourist objects are situated.

Such a demonstration of tourism potential existent on both banks of Dniester in Ramsar Site that include in an interesting form the ecologic component was organized for the first time in Moldova by BIOTICA ES.

The participants to the event were satisfied to visit beautiful places unknown for them, and the information presented during the excursion made it more interesting and pleasant.  

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Agri-environment measures for conservation in the wider Europe

In the frame of the Agri-environment measures for conservation in the wider Europe project implemented by IUCN  in cooperation with BIOTICA Ecological Society and NECU (Ukraine), were organized a series of trainings for farmers, NGOs and representatives of local public authorities. In Moldova the trainings took place in Stefan Voda (16-17 August 2010) and Soroca (19-20 august) and gathered about 25 participants each. During the trainings was presented information related to Agriculture Policy in European Union and Moldova and agri-environmental schemes, eexperiences from implementation of agri-environmental programmes in the EU, issues of the Agri-environmental Programme in Moldova, such as usual good farming practices - reference level for agri-environment, soil quality maintenance and crop rotation, pest management for sensitive crops. Also information on High Nature Value farmland in Moldova was given. Participants discussed on rural tourism in Moldova, its trends and principles and potentials for rural tourism development in the Lower Dniester and Unguri-Holosnita Ramsar sites. Participants received information about the experiences of creation of alternative tourism offer in Ichnyansky National Park, Ukraine and development of sustainable tourism offer – experiences from Narwianski National Park, Ramsar site, Poland. At the end training participants tried to work on creating a vision for development of alternative sources of income in the Lower Dniester region. The participants of both trainings were satisfied with the information obtained and manifested their wish to participate in the agro-environmental activities in their regions.

IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) in cooperation with BIOTICA Ecological Society and NECU (National Ecological Centre of Ukraine) with support of Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized a study tour in Poland for farmers, NGOs and local authorities representatives from Moldova and Ukraine. The project, financed by, focuses on high‐nature‐value areas of Ukraine and Moldova, and assists local communities, farmers and their associations, in diversifying production methods and identifying alternative markets.

The tour was organised in Poland between 11th and 17th of July 2010. Selected participants visited south‐eastern (Podkarpacie region) and north eastern (Podlasie region) parts of the country, which are characterised with high nature values and high share of agriculture. The participants observed the implementation of alternative methods of production and other income sources as for example agri‐tourism, organic agriculture as well as will be introduced to EU policies, such as agri‐environmental programmes. The participants during their stay in Poland visited many organic farms, tourist farms and national parks. They had the opportunity to get to know their Polish colleagues experience and to apply this knowledge during their activity in Moldova.

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“Common building of the future for the internationally recognised integral zone of the Lower Dniester and upstream” project

On 30 of March an informational tour was organized for tourist operators, representatives of state institutions, NGOs and other stakeholders. The goal of the tour was to establish partnership between tourist organizations and operators from both banks of the Dniester River. For the first time in the region was proposed a complex program that includes elements of commercial, historic, ecological and rural tourism. Tourist operators, representatives of state institutions, NGOs and other stakeholders participated within the tour.

The informational tour was organized in the frame of the project “Common building of the future for the internationally recognised integral zone of the Lower Dniester and upstream”. This activity was organised with the assistance of the “Support to Confidence Building Measures” project financed by European Union and implemented by UNDP.

The first visited place was the Historical Memorial that was built on the territory of abandoned cemetery where more than 500 Russian soldiers and officers were buried. Also some Romanian soldiers and officers were buried here that were here in 1941-1945.
Then participants of informational tour visited the historical complex “Bender fortress” where saw the process of restoration of towers and the territory of the fortress, also they visited the museum where the guests found out many interesting information about Bender fortress.

The participants of the tour visited the place where Dniester is dividing into two branches: Dniester and Turunciuc. On the river bank, Mr. Alexei Andreev, Chair of BIOTICA informed the participants about the importance of this territory for biodiversity conservation at national and European levels. Mr. Igor Rotaru, Eco-Turism Expert, told about tourist potential of Turunciuc island and adjacent territories.      

Then the excursion continued in the Museum of wine of Grigorii Corzun situated in Ternovca village not far from Tiraspol, where participants could see a wide collection of wine from more than 100 countries.

The excursion ended within Bulgarian farmstead, where the guests tasted traditional Bulgarian dishes and got informed about culture and life of Bulgarian living outside their home country.