Environmental education Centre “Zapovedniks” organizes the International Forum of the Friends of Protected Areas. It will take place in Russia, Petrozavodsk, between 23 and 26 September 2019.

International Forum as an environmental festival

For the first time, Friends of Protected Areas (FPA), EUROPARC’s youth member association uniting over 600 000 participants from all over Russia, holds their International Forum in the form of an environmental festival. The gathering takes place in Petrozavodsk, the capital of Karelia region bordering Finland, from 23 to 26 September 2019. Running simultaneously to EUROPARC Conference, the General Assembly in Latvia will organize a live video call to get to know their youth counterparts and wish them a fruitful rally.

The Forum, organized by the Environmental Education Centre “Zapovedniks”, aims to foster environmental education of children, youth and adults, and to build public awareness on Protected Areas (PA) system. One of the main objectives of the event is to build a common platform for cooperation, share environmental information and experience, and encourage youth to actively lead the way to a sustainable future.

Involving the youth

In the same spirit as EUROPARC’s Youth Manisfesto, the FPA sees the importance of scaling up environmental education and giving youth a voice in tackling environmental issues. This year, the Forum will be held in the framework of the “Decade of Childhood”, declared by the President of the Russian Federation for the years 2018-2027.

The FPA movement aims to educate young and adult people through their involvement in the nature conservation and awareness on Protected Areas.

This year’s special and massmedia guests include, among others, Arctic and Antarctic explorer Dr. Artur Chilingarov, or astronaut Sergey Ryazansky.

Since 2001, the team has organized 6 FPA forums on different places in Russia. The forum is a large-scale environmental education event that gathers active youth, their mentors, protected areas educators and many others who care about nature of our Planet, friends of PAs, including PA volunteers, representatives of responsible business, and others.

For more information and the full programme, visit http://slet.wildnet.ru/.