Project Update: August 2009

A Moldovan-Ukrainian local workshop with participation of local administration, village authorities, the NGO community, local stone manufacture/business, district forest administration, tourism agents and local youth group was organised at the Cosauti local authority in order to join forces on transboundary conservation. A larger bilateral protected area would boost habitat conservation and local biodiversity and help local (rural) communities integrate into the regional agro-eco-tourism activity.

The local youth group was encouraged and a Moldovan-Ukrainian Centre was set up at the Cosauti local authority. They were provided with a separate room in the authority’s building and a computer and internet connection. Their magazine Enigma is also backed up.
For several years we have been supporting the local waste group active at the municipal landfill. They were provided with the necessary outfit (gloves, bags, extractor fan) and fuel for transportation. We organised 'clean days' when, together with local children and people, we gathered waste (plastics and glass) in the Cosauti Landscape Reserve, near the Garla rivulet and on the banks of Nistru river.

In cooperation with local authority, local business community (stone manufacture) and local waste group we undertook habitat restoration activities and set up two authorised areas with stone benches and recycle trays at the Cosauti Landscape Reserve. We were actively raising awareness among visitors/tourists and involving local people, mainly the young, and NGO communities in our field activities.

A booklet entitled UnforgettableTtrip Soroca (Moldova) – Busa (Ukraine) (in Romanian, Russian and English) was published in cooperation with Galati branch of the Romanian Ornithological Society and disseminated in both countries.

There is a vivid interest of communities of both countries towards the non-border cooperation and tourism. The future of local landscapes on both sides of the river is directly linked to local people‘s lives. We plan bilateral activities for the future. Two groups from both sides working on a larger protected area’s project would help boost our intentions.