Unconventional Day for biological diversity

Coronavirus measures affected the celebrations of International Day for biological diversity, organized every year in May in Rakytovce sewage treatment plant for students from regions of Banská Bystrica and Zvolen. The organizers had to resort to unconventional methods to be able to introduce the children into the secrets of biodiversity.

For 2 consecutive years, a tour of Rakytovce sewage treatment plant for the local students had been held on International Day for biological diversity. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the tour could not be organized in May 2020. Therefore, the organizers – Ekopolis Foundation & Veolia – prepared an interactive map to show the life of the sewage treatment plant, including the useful information on biodiversity, to the children.

“It has been four years since we started to organize our biodiversity program in Rakytovce sewage treatment plant with collaboration of Ekopolis Foundation. We built a rainwater pond, installed few insect hotels and nesting boxes, and planted an entire forest of local trees and bushes. Every year, in order to celebrate the International Day for biological diversity, we organize Day for biological diversity for primary schools. On the day, the students would complete tasks related to nature conservation and ecology on different posts, and learn about biodiversity.” says Slavomíra Vogelová, Stredoslovenská vodárenská prevádzková spoločnosť, a.s. (Operational Water Company of Central Slovakia, plc.).

“Despite the current circumstances, we still wanted the children to enjoy this joyful event. These days, we are working on short videos about the posts that would children usually visit. We show biodiversity in details and try to explain the importance of climate change mitigation measures.” says Martina Ragalová, PR manager at Ekopolis Foundation. “The interactive map and the videos will be available on www.ekopolis.sk or www.veolia.sk and www.stvps.sk, so that anyone interested in biodiversity can access them.” adds Ragalová.

Check out the interactive map

International Day for biological diversity (May 22) is a United Nations–sanctioned international day for the promotion of biodiversity issues. It celebrates the day the Convention on Biological Diversity went into effect in 1992, in Nairobi, Kenya.

For more information visit this page.

Contacts:

Program manager: Martina B. Paulíková, paulikova@ekopolis.sk, 00421 915 811 195
PR manager: Martina Ragalová, ragalova@ekopolis.sk, 00421 908 371 289