ENGREEN - We celebrated the World Wetlands Day 2021

On 1 February 2021, the Škocjan Caves Regional Park (PŠJ) organized a successful online event on the occasion of World Wetlands Day 2021, entitled "The Wealth of Wetlands between Veliki Snežnik and Little Venice". The event was held in accordance with the slogan of this year's World Wetlands Day "Water, Wetlands and Life". Participants agreed that there is no life without wetlands and underlined the importance of preserving, restoring and managing wetlands and other green infrastructure, which is one of the goals of the ENGREEN project.

After the introduction by Renata Rozman from PŠJ, ENGREEN project manager, dr. Gordana Beltram from the Ministry of the Environment and Territorial Planning and coordinator of the Ramsar Convention on the Protection of Wetlands in Slovenia emphasized that "… this year, at the forefront of World Wetlands Day is the connection between water and life, thus going to the heart of the importance of wetlands." The Ramsar Convention, dedicated to the conservation, protection and sustainable use of wetlands, is celebrating 50 years since it was signed by 171 countries.

Borut Peric from PŠJ took the audience on a virtual walk through the underground wetland in Škocjan Caves. He said that especially in the wider area of ​​the Škocjan Cave Park, the Man and the Biosphere program showed how important the participation of local people is. The Škocjan Caves Park was entered in 1999 as the first underground wetland according to the new criteria of the Ramsar Convention.

Gaia Fior from the Association for the Protection of Ponds and Wetlands in Friuli-Venezia Giulia emphasized the importance of small karst ponds with an extremely diverse fauna. Cinzia Gozzo from VEGAL, on the other hand, spoke about the Caorle lagoon in Veneto, which is one of three large wetlands along the Adriatic coast north of Venice.

You can see interesting presentations in the attachments and on the Facebook channel of the ENGREEN project: https://www.facebook.com/ProjectENGREEN/videos/879653442855988

There is also an interesting prize game on the topic of wetlands on the Facebook profile, which can bring you a set of practical prizes of the ENGREEN project: https://www.facebook.com/ProjectENGREEN/photos/a.178272617232900/2830587...

You can participate in the prize draw until Wednesday, February 9, 2021 until 10 pm.

The key message on World Wetlands Day 2021 is "Let's preserve and restore wetlands for water and for life from Big Snežnik to small Venice and beyond!"