Beleco

www.beleco.cz

GRID Arendal

Nature Conservation Forum
PRODUKCE RADIM PROCHÁZKA

The project is a campaign whose activities will result in a significant increase of awareness and public education in the area of biodiversity and ecosystem services. The project will consist of five main activities: A1 A sociological study A2 A public campaign A3 An educational campaign A4 Publicity A5 Management, Nature protection is a matter of public interest but in the Czech Republic it is not always perceived in this way. On the contrary, a great majority of the population has labelled it an ideology going against interests of the society. There are several reasons for this - representatives of nature protection organisational are mostly unable to comprehensibly explain the value of nature (aesthetic, scientific, historic and moral) and the price of ecosystem services and communicate with the public on a good-standard level. Isolation of nature protection is further multiplied by the numerous legislative restrictions against the citizens who are unable to understand the purpose of these restrictions. The society is often confronted with medialised cases where nature protection is presented as an inhibitor of economic growth. People generally think that nature protection is an exclusive task of a couple of selected organisations. The public lacks both connection to the nature itself and a reliable source of information about the latest research results and practical issues of nature protection on the basis of which people could develop an informed attitude to the medialised cases. The Czech Republic in addition insufficiently utilised energy of engaged citizens who due to their large numbers can significantly improve condition of the nature by low-cost activities. This project focuses both on the general public and their awareness of the value of nature and its functioning and on protectionists and their education. Its uniqueness is mainly in the massive campaign culminating by the first show of a full-length movie for classical film distribution. This will be the first movie in the post-revolution period showing the nature not through a commented documentary but as an active part of human story and discovery of a new world. The movie will be filmed by an experienced team of film makers with a contribution by the Czech Television and distribution by Bontonfilm. The film show will be preceded by a number of events teaching people to watch the nature and involving them in the movie preparation. The events will include competitions (photographic and video filming), excursions and art workshops. Educational videos explaining various natural phenomena and showing practical guides to active help to the nature will be made. Intense communication will be organised by means of an on-line campaign and through social media. The educational part of the project will enhance impact of the Nature Protection Forum through provision of additional information and data usable by the public administration and professional and amateur nature protectionists through this Forum. This will mainly include release of an online magazine on nature protection, initiation of discussions on various controversial themes, online seminars, meetings and knowledge share in the form of summaries of professional articles in the Czech language, legislative analyses and examples of good and bad practice. The project will be assisted by a Norwegian partner, GRID Arendal, the central force of the UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) project, who will provide experts with experience in communication with general public gathered all over Europe and in filming programmes on natural history for the BBC. The Czech company Produkce Radim Procházka has been one of the most successful film producer companies on the Czech film scene. The company has made numerous awarded movies including a series of short documentaries called "Living Heart of Europe". The team involved in filming this series for the Czech Television will also be involved in the present project (film director Marián Polák, screenwriter Jan Hošek). The Nature Protection Forum platform has regularly addressed more than 1,300 protectionists and about 300 of them have actively cooperated with the platform. Beleco (former DAPHNE ČR) is one of the leading Czech non-profit organisations performing professional surveys and expertises for Czech and international entities. Its personnel possess extensive experience in nature protection and contacts to academic and practical protectionists.

Approximately 573 615 EUR