One of the basic principles of ecotourism is to provide benefits for the local population and nature conservation. Tour operators offering programs presented on the Discover Dinarics portal, have agreed to allocate part of the tourism revenues to non-governmental organizations working in the field of nature conservation and large carnivores in the Dinarides. NGO’s applied for the Discover Dinarics funding through an open call, and we selected them based on their previous activities related to large carnivore conservation. This year, the funds of the Visit GoodPlace agency, Slovenianbears and Public Institute Snežnik were donated to Dinaricum Society from Slovenia and to the Center for the Environment from Bosnia and Herzegovina. We asked the representatives of both non-governmental organizations about the importance of the received funds for their organization and planned activities:
Rudi Kraševec, president of Dinaricum Society: “Dinaricum society is committed to large carnivore conservation in the Dinarides and beyond. We are involved in the wolf monitoring activities; we are checking the appropriate use of beehive and livestock protection measures donated within LIFE DINALP BEAR project. Donations, such as Discover Dinarics funding, enable us to organize activities like field monitoring with volunteers, winter snow tracking, bear trail hiking and professional excursions. These activities contribute to the research of large carnivores and raises awareness about the importance of their conservation for the Slovenian biodiversity. ”
Aleksandra-Anja Dragomirović, Center for environment, Biodiversity and Protected Areas Program: “Center for Environment through its activities carries out research on the bear population in BiH. Through donated funds we were able to promote the activities related to the engagement of volunteers and collecting of the necessary non-invasive samples. Through education of volunteers, we managed to raise awareness among the general public about our work and large carnivore research as a prerequisite for further sustainable management of large carnivores in accordance with EU recommendations, as well as for the development of sustainable tourism (hunting tourism, research tourism, etc.) .”
Organizations and projects that would like to receive Discover Dinarics funding in the next year can apply HERE.
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