Beneficiary:   Bieszczady National Park

Slovak partner:   Poloniny National Park

Implementation period:   01/06/2017-31/05/2018

Realized project value: € 57 519.85 , including ERDF co-financing: € 48 891.86,

Strengthening cross-border cooperation between the Polish and Slovak local communities from the area of MRB "Eastern Carpathians" in the field of nature and landscape protection, ecological education and tourism development was the main goal of the micro-project implementation. Based on the cross-border paths and the cooperation of two border national parks, activities activating communities from the Polish-Slovak border area were carried out. Educational training for young people and adults under the Mountain Guardians program was conducted on the basis of cross-border paths, which allowed for building social support for the protection of the natural and cultural heritage of border areas, as well as for the exchange of experiences and the development of international cooperation in the field of tourism and education in the future. An extremely important effect of the cross-border cooperation was the promotion of the natural and landscape values of both national parks, as well as the entire Biosphere Reserve through activity on social networks, which enabled access to information to a wide group of recipients. The developed application integrated with the map encouraged people to visit the border region, explore natural knowledge and learn about the culture of the region by people of different age groups, including people with disabilities.

The main activities carried out under the project:

• Implementation of the "Strażnicy Gór" program , the essence of which was the implementation of an educational system covering children, youth and adults, preparing the inhabitants of border areas for social work for the protection of natural and cultural heritage. During the stays, participants learned about the natural and cultural resources of the Polish-Slovak part of the International Biosphere Reserve "Eastern Carpathians". The summary of the stay was to complete the knowledge test and to fit together with the presentation of the Mountain Guardian certificate. The nominated Mountain Guardians then conducted education and information in the BdNN educational tent on the most frequented route to Tarnica. 3 6-day stays were organized on the Polish and Slovak side of MRB KW, in which 66 people participated in total (33 people from Poland and Slovakia). On the basis of this program, social support was built for protective activities of both national parks.
• Creation of a mobile application integrated with the Tourist and Nature Map and Guidebook . The scope of the developed application includes the distribution of interesting objects on the map divided into categories (description, photos), an interactive grid of selected natural and natural-historical trails and paths, 2 3D models of non-existent objects: the manor house in Sianki and the church in Wołosat, the plant and animal encyclopedia module , module of mountain panoramas 360 and spherical panoramas of interiors from selected objects, the function of a QR code reader and Augmented Reality reader. A map has also been published in three language versions (Polish, Slovak and English) at a scale of 1: 90,000. The reverse of the map features descriptions and figures about the Eastern Carpathian MRB. The guide, in turn, contains the characteristics of individual protected areas included in the MRB KW, natural and cultural attractions and selected nature paths and trails, as well as the rules of navigating the border national parks of the Połoniny National Park from Slovakia and the BdPN - on the Polish side. The publication contains a lot of photos and figures as well as codes that refer to the mobile application performed as part of the task.
• Organization of an event promoting the micro -project, which included, among others, open Polish-Slovak meeting with lectures, artistic performances of Polish and Slovak participants and a competition. On the second day of the event, with the participation of the Slovak group, information and education activities were carried out on the most frequented routes in the Bieszczady National Park in educational tents - Wołosate-Tarnica. 30 participants came from Slovakia and they were employees of the Poloniny National Park - Micro-project Partner and Slovak Mountain Guardians. About 250 people took advantage of the information and education campaign on the trails.

We are pleased to announce that the BdPN application was awarded at the Mobile Trends Awards 2018 Gala . The application "Bieszczady & MRB Eastern Carpathians" was nominated in the Education and Tourism category. Mobile Trends Awards is not only an award for companies that have successfully used mobile technologies in their projects, but also the most prestigious national award, also known as the Oscar of the mobile industry.

We also encourage you to view the materials of Fr.   the effects of the implemented micro-project