On the 25th of September 2020 in course of the EU Green Week, the webinar ‘Green Carpathians’ took place, organised by the project consortium of Interreg CE Centralparks, together with the Interreg DTP projects TransGREEN, ConnectGREEN, the recently launched projects Interreg DTP SaveGREEN and LIFE SwiPE, as well as the Carpathian Convention.
The keynote presentation was held by Harald Egerer, Head of UNEP Vienna office Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention, who welcomed all speakers and participants of the webinar, and introduced the biodiversity hub and of the Danube-Carpathian region. He also gave an insight into the policy framework of the Carpathians and its integration with the EU Policy framework.
The second presentation, conducted by Gabriella Nagy from CEEweb for Biodiversity, concentrated on the introduction of the ConnectGREEN project, focusing on ecological corridors mapping and management, and spatial planning in the Danube-Carpathian region. Next, Isidoro De Bortoli, project coordinator from Eurac Research and project manager of Centralparks presented the Centralparks project and potential opportunities and role of the Carpathian Network of Protected Areas in the project. Following, Hildegard Meyer, project coordinator from WWF Central and Eastern Europe gave a presentation of the TransGREEN and SaveGREEN projects, the issue of habitat fragmentation and the importance these projects in ensuring Carpathian connectivity. Last but not least, Roselina Stoeva from WWF Bulgaria and project manager of the recently started LIFE SwiPE project introduced the importance of increasing the effectiveness of wildlife crime prosecution across Europe.
The webinar was moderated by Irene Lucius, Regional Conservation Director of WWF Central and Eastern Europe. The rich agenda covered biodiversity protection in the Danube-Carpathian region from a variety of perspectives, and featured and interesting exchange with participants. It created an opportunity to learn more about the natural values of the Carpathians and the main threats to their biodiversity, provided a platform to be inspired by previous initiatives and go into fruitful discussions about tasks for the near future.
Download the presentations and watch the recording below: