Cottages in the national parks of Slovakia have a chance to grow green
The Ekopolis Foundation and KOOR company, s.r.o. launching a new project in Slovakia, focused on ecologizing mountain cottages in national parks. The project, supported by the german DBU Foundation,will mainly deal with production, storage and energy saving, management of drinking and utility water, trash and waste water and fire protection.
The purpose of the project is to show concrete practical examples, that environmental technologies can also be used in difficult mountainous areas. The current first phase of the project, which will continue to the spring of the next year, maps current rates in cottages and identifies possible and identifies possible, which would be implemented in the cottages.
Twelve cottages, which have come to the shortlist , are in four national parks – inn the Tatra National Park and in the National parks of Low Tatras, Great Fatra and Muránska plain. For better test of different conditions, cottages were slected, so that there are large chalets and small cozy ones among them, cottages inaccessible other than on foot and cottage accessible by car, cottages owned by natural persons and legal entities and the state. Ecological measures will be supported by at least six of them, while the DBU Donor Foundation will decide on the final selection on the basis of supporting documents and recommendations, to be provided by the Ekopolis and KOOR Foundation, s.r.o.
Ing. Michal Kováčik, project manager for KOOR, said: „The cottages, on which the project can be realized, , the operational efficiency and user comfort of the visitors will be greatly increased, while operating costs will be reduced.The project also has an educative character, it can ne use as an inspiration for visitors of cottages to behave environmentally at home. ”
„With this project we would like to contribute to improving the conditions for mountain cottage and cozy visitors while reducing the impact of their operations on the valuable environment in which they are located. Tourists who use these mountain huts as a backdrop for learning about nature will not only get better service but also get opportunity to learn about modern green technologies. Last but not least, the project fits into our activities, which for more than 20 years have improved the conditions for sustainable tourist use of valuable Slovak nature, ” the director of the Ekopolis Foundation, Peter Medveď, told to the project.
The Ekopolis Foundation has 25 years of experience in managing grant programs focused on the democratization of civil society and environmental sustainability. The German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU) supports a wide range of projects that concern ecology, the environment, and the conservation of architectural heritage. KOOR, s.r.o. is a Slovak company acting in the area implementing energy saving solutions and reducing the negative impacts of human activity on the environment.