News

Organisation: NAJU Hamburg 

Website: www.naju-hamburg.de

Dates: 19 March 2016, 15 October 2016, 18 March 2017, 21.October 2017 

Place: Hamburg-Borgfelde, Germany 

Description of the activity:

First of all we talked to the city council and got the permission to take care of particular area in a public park in Hamburg. There we started our project with removing some grass and spreading out sand to make the soil more nutrient-poor. After that we planted local wild flowers and bushes on our meadow. Another highlight of the meadow is our insects hotel. It was a big challenge because we planned and made it ourselves and had to fix it in the ground with a foundation out of cement. In our hotel the insects can hide from predators and lay their eggs.

Together with about 30 volunteers under 27 we look after the meadow regularly. We cut the grass only two times a year. In 2017 we also got the chance to extend our meadow and plant even more beautiful flowers.

To inform the pedestrians and visitors we also set up an information desk where they can read everything about our project and the different species using the hotel and the meadow.

What was the environmental problem:

A lot of insects especially wild bees are prone to extinction because of missing food supplies and uninformed people. Particularly in big metropolises such as Hamburg biodiversity and green areas decline. Creating new open space with wild local flowers and plants help insects to find food and also improves the climate in the city.

The result of the activity:

The result of our project is a green open space with a lot of beautiful local flowers and insects. Because our meadow is part of a intensively frequented public park in the city central a lot of people use it and are interested in our meadow. The rest of the park is poor of species.

Environmental challenge accepted - Public vote

Main page of the project

Organisation: Student scientific society of natural sciences

Website: Facebook page

Dates: 2016 October – 2017 May

Place: In various towns of Lithuania: Vilnius (Life Sciences Center of Vilnius University, Youth Center "Zalianamis", orphanage "Gile"), Kaunas (Vytautas Magnus University), Balbieriskis (Balbieriskis primary school), Uzpaliai (Uzpaliai primary school), Ignalina (Museum of bees)

Description of the activity:

We did insects hotels workshops for more than 100 people (school pupils, orphans, youth, adults) in different Lithuanian cities and towns. Workshops included short presentation about insects: what are they, why they are important, what ecological problems they face and how can we help them. In practical part we made insect hotels from cans and reeds (suitable for different beetles, hymenopteran e.g. bees, wasps) and hanged them together with participants in green areas of the towns we were.

What was the environmental problem:

Insects suffer from loss of suitable habitats in anthropogenic areas. We, as naturalists, understand insects' importance in ecosystems and feel responsible to protect them with the help of society. Insects hotels is simple and effective way to improve living conditions for insects in problematic areas. We organised workshops for different social groups in various places in order to educate people and create additional microhabitats for insects.

The result of the activity:

Over 100 people attended our workshops, improved their knowledge about insects and made their own insects hotels. Insects are nesting in hotels we made, it helps the insects to survive, enlarge their populations and enrich biodiversity in anthropogenic areas.

Environmental challenge accepted - Public vote

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Organisation: Student scientific society of natural sciences

Website: Facebook page

Dates: July 2012, October 2016, March 2017

Place: Meteliai regional park, Vilnius, Labanoras regional park

Description of the activity:

• In 2012 we removed common bulrush (Typha latifolia) from ponds, inhabited by turtles (Emys orbicularis).
• In 2016 we planted trees in the green area of the city, close to Vilnius University.
• In 2017 we removed common reed (Phragmites australis) from intermediate bog, which is important habitat for rare and protected plants species (Saxifraga hircula, Pinguicula vulgaris). 

What was the environmental problem:

• If pond is covered with too much vegetation, it gets less sunlight, warmth and becomes unsuitable for turtles. As they are included in IUCN list, protected in Lithuania and included in Lithuanian Red Book, the team removed bulrush in order to improve turtles' living conditions and increase their population.
• Green areas in the city are important not only for recreation, but also as habitats for various plants and animals species. While city is growing, natural areas are disturbed, so it is important to restore them. Trees the team planted will form a mature stand in the future.
• In many places in Lithuania intermediate bogs are overgrowing with common reed. This process has negative impact on protected plants species (Saxifraga hircula, Pinguicula vulgaris), which are specific for this habitat. Scientific research show, that right wetlands management has positive effect on populations of these plants. Removing of common reed is one of the most effective way to make the positive impact on populations of these plants.

The result of the activity:

• The living conditions for turtles were improved, further ponds management is done by regional park.
• About 30 trees of several species (pines, birches, common hornbeams, maples ...) were planted and green area close to University restored.
• Conditions for mentioned plant species were improved and further wetland management as well as researches are made by regional park.

Environmental challenge accepted - Public vote

Main page of the project

Organisation: Information group represented by Arlis Alikaj

Dates: 5 June 2017

Place: Librazhd, Albania

Description of the activity:

We created every week voluntary initiatives for cleaning the river and giving the message to maintain it. Created a long term cooperation with the council of municipality for protecting the river and a Community ad hoc group for activating as many citizens as we can to prevent other damages to the biodiversity, agricultural business through the Shkumbini river.

What was the environmental problem:

Shkumbini is a very polluted and in high levels of urban wastes, hospital wastes (till late) and from irresponsible citizen. The main purpose shows clearly, the sadness of a group a youth fighting to keep the river clear and sensibilise the city before its too late because they are missing old times when they could swim in this city. But now in 2017 they are losing it and all you can see breaks your up. The Shkumbini which is called the lung of city is being polluted and its slowly dying taking also the life of ''citizens''. What can youth do is learn from their small victories and become a example for other citizens in our own city doing something big by being inspired.

The result of the activity:

The Community created boundaries with the local government institutions responsible for the environment. Also youth created a coalition with schools to lobby and create the green culture with additional hour talking about the only river of the city and environment in Albania.

Environmental challenge accepted - Public vote

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Organisation: Socialinių idėjų dirbtuvė (CoolŪkis project) 

Website: http://www.coolukis.lt/

Dates: The project has been going on since winter of 2016.

Place: Vilnius and Kaunas, Lithuania

Description of the activity:

We connect people who want to grow their own vegetables, fruit or flowers with people who have land that they would like to share for gardening. People register for free online or by calling us and we match them up based on their preferences. They then arrange to meet and decide if the match works for them. If it does, they go on to garden together and socialise while sharing land, knowledge and skills.

The landowners are often elderly people who can no longer maintain their gardens and so the project aims to help them not only with garden work, but also to feel more needed and useful. This is another aim of the project – to reduce social exclusion of the elderly, all by creating opportunities for people to live more sustainably themselves.

We have also organised around 10 free gardening and sustainable lifestyle workshops so far, produced educational materials and we write a blog that educates on living more sustainably. Workshops are run by student volunteers who are mostly ecology students. This gives them an opportunity to learn valuable presentation skills and to share their knowledge. Through our activities we are promoting sharing resources, living a healthy and sustainable lifestyle.

What was the environmental problem:

More and more people are moving to cities which leads to them losing touch with nature.  By giving them an opportunity to spend time in nature and garden we are bringing them closer to nature, educating them about how food is grown and preserving our gardening culture. We promote organic gardening which also reduces people’s impact on the environment.

Through the workshops we run and our blog we are helping people to live more sustainably, which has a positive impact on a variety of environmental problems. Composting workshops help reduce waste that would end up in the landfill leading to better waste management and composting means people are creating a natural fertilizer making chemical fertilisers obsolete which also have a negative impact on the environment. Other workshops such as our insect hotel workshop help to maintain biodiversity.

The result of the activity:

So far about 30 people have been gardening at 14 different garden places, growing organic vegetables around Vilnius and Kaunas. About 200 people have come to our gardening and sustainable lifestyle workshops overall, where they learnt the basics of gardening, how to garden, compost indoors, make insect hotels and natural cosmetics. Even more have read our blog and follow our Facebook page (almost 2000 followers) where we spread awareness and educate about how to minimise your impact on the environment, how to live more sustainably and what other people are doing to solve environmental problems.

Video about the project:

Environmental challenge accepted - Public vote

Main page of the project