On March 30, 2018, the employees of our reserve became participants of the round table “The role of non-profit associations in preserving the natural and closely related cultural heritage and development of rural settlements.” The meeting was held at the Delegation of the European Union in the framework of the training seminar of the Ecological Center “Zapovedniki”.
The round table discussed issues of mutually beneficial cooperation of rural residents, protected natural areas and non-profit organizations for the preservation of natural and cultural heritage, the development of ecological tourism and the revival of the rural Russian province.
The welcoming speech was delivered by Mirko Kruppa, the head of the political department of the EU Delegation to Russia. Then Director of the Ecological Center “Zapovedniki” Natalia Danilina briefly told about the projects implemented in 2014-2016 with participation in the financing of the European Union, as well as the project “We Save the Future Together …”, work on which is now supported by a grant from the President of the Russian Federation for Development civil society in 2018.
Victoria Kosmatova, project manager of the Ecological Center “Zapovedniki” presented the project “We Save the Future Together”. The project is designed for one year. The project provides for webinars on environmental and rural tourism, the development of civil initiatives in rural areas, the creation and functioning of non-profit associations, etc. A series of training seminars, trainings and internships on the organization of interaction between non-profit associations, specially protected natural areas and local rural population is also planned. Support will be provided to rural non-profit associations that promote the participation of the population in the preservation of heritage through the development of tourism. It is assumed that the project’s experience will be generalized and replicated through publications in the media, the Internet, social networks. Based on the results of the project, a compilation of articles on the successful experience of rural non-profit associations on this topic will also be published.
Aris Adlers, Chairman of the Alliance for Interdisciplinary Sustainable Development, spoke about the possibilities of attracting local partners to identify local potential for the development of economic activities in rural areas.
Inessa Natalich, a resident of the village in the Kaliningrad region, described how she restored the building of the old German school and made it a museum. She bought this building back in the 90s to preserve the memory of the school her mother used to work in. Then, with the help of a grant from the European Union, she made a museum. Now she lives in one half of this house, in the other she organizes excursions for tourists. Now she saved from the destruction of the old beer factory, where she plans to open the Center for Rural Tourism and train “people’s guides” to create jobs in the village and make the rest available.
Vyacheslav Merluschkin – the director of the Altai regional public organization “Development of civil initiatives” Astra” spoke about stimulating the activity of the local population and interesting approaches in the development of rural tourism.
Elena Bugaeva, deputy director of the Mordovia State Reserve, shared her experience of cooperating with the local residents and regional authorities.
We hope that such events will be held as often as possible and create real opportunities in the field of mutually beneficial cooperation with the nearest “neighbors” of the reserve, the popularization of ecological tourism. This will help preserve the nature of our region, and also benefit from applying in practice decades of knowledge about the nature of the reserve and the region as a whole.
