At the Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, on Tuesday, December 18, 2018, starting at 12.00 hours, a Seminar for environmental inspectors will be held within the project “Nature Protection from Invasive Plant Species”, which is realized within the second call of Interreg – IPA Cross-Border Program cooperation between Hungary and Serbia.
The lead partner of the project is the Provincial Secretariat for Urban Planning and Environmental Protection, and partner from Hungary is John von Neumann University (Neumann Janos Egietem). The project started on January 31, 2018 and will last for 20 months until September 29, 2019. Total budget of the project: 284.491,00 EUR, and the contribution of the EU (IPA) fund amounts to 85% or a maximum of 241,817.34 EUR.
The main objective of the project is to reduce the environmental risks and prevent the negative effects of climate change in protected areas in the border region of Hungary-Serbia by conducting joint actions in monitoring and mapping invasive plant species and controlling the ambrosia. Project activities should contribute to preventing the spread of invasive species, providing better ecological status of protected areas and better living conditions for the population and the economy. Project areas will include four protected areas in the frontier pegion: Special nature reserves; Selevenjska pustara and Ludaško jezero, the region of exceptional characteristics of the Subotica sand, and the park of nature Palić in the territory of the city of Subotica and the municipality of Kanjiža in Serbia and the National park Kiškunšag near Kecskemeti in Hungary.
Expected results of the project are: Established monitoring system as the basis for analysis of the distribution of invasive plant species, establishment of seed bank of invasive species in the soil in the project area, monitoring the concentration of pollen invasive plant species and its interaction with air pollution in the border region; the ambrosia was suppressed by various types of treatment in project areas in the border region to a total of 270 ha; Raised awareness of relevant stakeholders and institutions in relation to invasive plant species; Establishing an EKO network of knowledge and experiences.
The seminar for environmental inspectors aims to familiarize with the problem of invasive species in protected areas, environmental pressures and possibilities for solving problems in order to prevent the spread of invasive species with special emphasis on legislation and implementation of regulations in practice in order to ensure better ecological status protected areas and better living conditions for the population and the economy.