ROMANIA “MORE FOREST FOR MORE LIFE”

ROMANIA

“MORE FOREST FOR MORE LIFE” ARAD COUNTY COUNCIL PROJECT

2009 - 2015

ARAD COUNTY Our county is situated in the Western part of Romania and has 400.000 inhabitants and 7.754 squar kilometers surface. It containts 10 cities and 68 villages.

ARAD COUNTY COUNCIL

CITY CENTER ALMOST 100 YEARS AGO

CITY CENTER NOW

OVERVIEW OF ARAD CITY

NATIONAL CONTEXT REGARDING FORESTS Recreating and protecting the environment, is an obligation

foreseen in the Constitution of Romania. At the moment Romania has 6,4 mill Ha, which represents 0,27 ha/inhabitant and is far from the average of other European countries. The forestry law of Romania foresees that in the year 2030, the forestry surface will increase with 2 mill Ha. Thus, the administration of each county has to find terrains suitable for afforestation and to raise the forest surface.The problem, however, is, how do you do this with only a few funds and no qualified workers? Solutions for this problem, have to be found by public administrations.

In the last 50 years, forest surface in Arad County has gone down approximately 3000 ha. We need to aforestate this surface now! We have decided that part of this endeavour , approximately 800 ha, will be made by our project, through voluntary actions, with minimal costs, in the next couple of years. The rest of the surface will be planted by Romsilva Romania, an authority who administrates the national forest funds, in compliance with European and Romanian legislation.

Total forest area now 200,000 HaArea meant for afforestation

GREEN SPOTS IN OUR COUNTY

We relied on students, teachers, environment specialists and volunteer nature lovers, and as you can see in the following pictures and movies, our project succeeded .

THE LAB WAS MOVED TO THE FIELD…

SO, WITH STUDENTS AND TEACHERS…

WITH RESPECT FOR THE WORK THEY DO…

WITH RESPONSIBILITY …

WITH MANY NATURE LOVING VOLUNTEERS…

WITH YOUNG AND NOT SO YOUNG PEOPLE…

WITH THE HELP OF EUROPEAN VOLUNTEERS, FROM AN EXCHANGE ORGANISED BY

MILLENIUM CENTER ARAD:England, Finland, Italy, Hungary, Spain

WE TRANSFORM UNUSED LAND INTO A FOREST

With the help of all these people, we can now see, the future forest being born,

which will grow up together, with the ones who planted it.

Thus we had several locations all around the county, where different kinds of trees were planted.

Arad

Ineu

Chişineu-Criş

Nădlac

Pecica

Sântana

Apateu

ArchişGrăniceri

Olari

Pleşcuţa

Secusigiu

Şeitin

Şepreuş

Zăbrani

Over 2000 volunteers have taken part in this event, among them were teachers in environmental schools, students, future specialists in forestry domains, as well as young and old citizens, from all around the county.

Maximum benefits for the quality of life, with minimal

costs

Civic education, especially for the

younger generation

Climate protection and conservation of wild fauna and

flora

WHAT OBJECTIVES ARE TO BE FOLLOWED?

Restoring by afforestation of

800 ha of land in Arad county

WHAT WAS THE NOVELTY OFOUR PROJECT ?

INVOLVEMENT OF THE FUTURE SPECIALISTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

MOBILISING A GREAT NUMBER OF VOLUNTEERS ASSISTED BY SPECIALISTS

PLANTING MADE JUST IN THE OPTIMUM PERIOD OF THE YEAR

TRAINING ON THE FIELD FOR STUDENTS, UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF TEACHERS

THE SURFACES ARE PERIODICALLY CLEANED BY THE ONES WHO PLANTED THEM

STUDENTS AND TEACHERS, CAN PRACTICE IN THE OPEN

EACH SCHOOL HAS TO TAKE CARE OF THE PLANTED AREA FOR 3 YEARS

WHAT ARE THE RESULTS SO FAR?

157,000 trees and spawns planted 85 % of the planted spawns reached the vegetation stage, this meaning a very good efficiency, because we based this part on science.

50 ha of new forest,

minimal costs for the county public administration (1,250 Euro spent so far, considering that if labor and planting material had been purchased, costs would have reached about 20,000 Euro )

more than 2000 volunteers were involved (25 teachers 1,800 students, over 200 citizens).

OTHER RESULTS:

MASS-MEDIA MADE OUR ACTIONS PUBLIC

…And counties in our vecinity took our example

Links :http://www.administratie.ro/articol.php?id=37543 http://www.stiri.online-anunturi.com/consiliul-judetean-arad-finalist-la-premiile-epsa-2011 http://www.teenfest.eu/component/content/article/55-consiliul-judeean-arad-initiaza-actiunea-de

impadurire-prin-voluntariathttp://www.ziuadevest.ro/actualitate/8104-consiliul-judeean-arad-iniiaz-aciunea-de-impdurire-prin-voluntariat.htmlhttp://www.ecomagazin.ro/info/impadurire/http://www.aradon.ro/tag/impadurirettp://www.actualitatiarad.ro/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1641:consiliul-judeean-arad-iniiaz-aciunea-de-impdurire-prin

voluntariat&catid=3:social&Itemid=58http://www.cjarad.ro/uploads/files/info_judetean/an03_nr06/InfoJud%20III%206.pdfhttp://www.ecomagazin.ro/diplome-pentru-impaduriri/http://www.stiriong.ro/ong/mediu/actiunea-de-impadurire-prin-voluntariat-

WE HAVE ALREADY GAINED RECOGNITION AT NATIONAL LEVEL

We are certain that our project has all required elements in order to perform well and that it is a sustainable project. For this year´s planting campaign, we have identified 200 Ha of land at county level, which will be planted by voluntary actions. Furthermore, Arad County Council, already has planting programs in progress, financed by the European Community.

SUSTAINABILITY OF PROJECT

Financial Resources- Current Expenses

Travel expenses of volunteers - 650 Euro; Work tools (300 pcs spades) - 350 Euro; Purchase of plastic trash bags - 250 Euro; Planting Material - obtained free of charge from Arad

Forestry District. Soft drinks-available free of charge through sponsorship; Advertising materials obtained free of charge through

sponsorship from Ecological Services ASA Company and the National Roads Company.

That is simple. On the now blooming spots where we planted trees, we can see birds and small forest creatures. Thus we are certain that,

More Forest brings More Life with it.

WHY MORE FOREST FOR MORE LIFE?

ENVIRONMENT

INVOLVEMENT

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

ACHIEVEMENT

EDUCATION

PERFORMANCE

SUSTAINABILITY

AFFORESTATION

SUMMARY OF THE PROJECT:

What we develop ? What we want to obtain ?

PROJECT PARTNERS All local public administrations

Environment Protection Agency; Environment National Guard

Arad Forestry District;ASA Ecological Services Company;

SC POLARIS M Holding ; MILLENNIUM Center ;

Environmental Technical High School ;Forestry High School ;

Food Industry High School ;“Adam Muller Guttenbrunn” High School

Local Police Station Arad; National Roads Company;

National Park Lunca Mures; B&B Helios Arad

IF YOU HAVE FURTHER QUESTIONS REGARDING THE PROJECT, OR PROPOSITIONS FOR FUTURE PROJECTS, PLEASE CONTACT US :

optimal.arad@gmail.com IOANA LAZUREAN, OFFICE COORDINATOR

sbaniciu@gmail.com SABIN BANICIU, PROJECT COORDINATOR

Thank you!

THANK YOU

for your attention!