Unified information and communication system for nature conservation in NUTS II Moravia-Silesia

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

BACKGROUND

The Natura 2000 network had previously experienced challenges in being accepted by municipalities, landowners and land administrators in the Czech Republic. There are 40 sites of Community importance (SCI) and four Special Protection Areas (SPA) in the country.

OBJECTIVES

The general INFOMS project objective was to enhance development of effective communication as well as to support targeted dissemination of information, both to be used as a means of solving selected problems related to nature conservation and landscape protection in NUTS II Moravia-Silesia. Specific project aims focused on:

Eliminating conflicts and identified problems during the Natura 2000 implementation (in relation to communities and landowners);

Improving communication and information exchange between key participants of nature protection and increasing the number of involved institutions from the public and non-profit sectors;

Enhance awareness about nature conservation and landscape protection among priority target groups in order to enhance cooperation in solving selected problems in the given sphere and reducing the existing frequency of violating legal regulations on nature conservation and to increase number of Territorial System of Landscape Stability (TSLS) elements.

Targets involved:

Communicating with 50 communities and hundreds of owners and tenants of the lands where the protected territories are located;

Including more than 300 organisations in information flows and more than 10 organisations in co-operation schemes;

Achieving a 30% decrease in comparison with 2008 in unauthorised tree felling, in flora and fauna biotope damage in small-scale protected areas, and in disturbance of animals and erosion as a result of illegal motocross.

RESULTS

During the INFOMS project’s implementation, the project team (led by the Moravian-Silesian Region and six partners from diverse state and non-state sectors) proved to be an effective and sustainable example of cross-sectoral cooperation. All partners directly participated in designing and implementing a complex dissemination campaign that combined diverse tools (leaflets, posters, booklets, brochures, bulletins, books, panels and guides for the reconstructed nature trails, information boards and large scale billboards, specialised workshops, specialised websites, or documentary and educational films).

A broad spectrum of target groups was also reached. These included the general public, land owners, national, regional and municipal authorities, environmental organisations and experts, teachers and school children, managers and visitors of libraries and information centres, state and private companies, and also some ‘risky’ groups like people engaged in illegal motocross.

All planned activities were completed by the agreed end-date of the project and all foreseen dissemination materials were delivered, most of them in exceptional quality (regarding both the information value and graphic design). Most of the activities will continue after the project completion and will be complemented by other scaling-up projects and activities. The complexity, the corporate design (and corporate high quality of the deliverables) and in particular the true networking across state and non-state sectors are the unique innovative values of this successful project.

Final results confirmed that the project reached its specific objectives of (1) Eliminating conflicts and problems with NATURA 2000 implementation, (2) Improving communication and information exchange, and (3) Enhancing awareness on nature protection. For example, thanks to the project 15 new small-scale protected areas were declared without any conflict and other protected areas were under preparation.

Reconstructed nature trails attracted considerable visitor numbers and supported green tourism opportunities (the automatic visitor-rate monitoring confirmed a stable interest, ranging from 10 000 visitors to 60 000 visitors annually). Surveys carried out before and after the information campaign against illegal motocross and the awareness campaign on NATURA 2000 show increasing recognition of nature protection issues and increasing engagement of various stakeholders.

There is an indirect socio-economic effect related to better awareness about the natural beauty of the Moravian Silesian region, which has been generally considered as an industrial (brown field) region.

Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report and After-LIFE Communication Plan (see "Read more" section).