19 April 2024 – The closing ceremony of the project ZAGON with the opening of a new nature trail in the Radenci field took place yesterday in Mala Račna at the Nature Conservation Centre Frog’s House.
On this occasion, the Mayor of Grosuplje, Dr Peter Verlič, and the Head of the Financial Mechanisms Sector at the Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development, Jadranka Plut, addressed the attendees of the closing ceremony. The opening of the ceremony in a beautiful natural environment was musically highlighted by Klara and Ernest Miklič, Duo Tvoja Glasba.
The Mayor of Grosuplje, Dr Peter Verlič, said that “the municipality of Grosuplje also has the colour green in its coat of arms. Those who come to Grosuplje from Ljubljana are impressed by nature. When they come to the municipality, they want to enjoy all the amenities that the city centre has to offer. And finding the right balance between development and nature conservation is a challenge, but it is also very important.”
“Congratulations to everyone who has been involved in this project and I wish that the Radensko polje will continue to enjoy high priority at national level and that we can continue to enjoy this contact with nature here in this beautiful part of the municipality of Grosuplje,” he added.
Jadranka Plut, Head of the Financial Mechanisms Sector at the Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development, underlined that “the project ZAGON is co-financed by the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism and the national co-financing under the Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Programme, which is implemented by the Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development.”
“The important role of biodiversity in the sustainability and resilience of our planet and life on it makes it crucial to continue supporting projects of this kind,” she added in her speech.
The ZAGON project focuses on forests and wetlands, which are characterised by their significant contribution to climate change mitigation. All the selected project areas fall under Natura 2000, whose qualifying species and habitat types are in a poor conservation status and have suffered significant damage due to climate change over the last ten years.
The unveiling of a new information board followed which marks the start of the new nature trail from Šica to mejica. The information board was unveiled by Jadranka Plut, Head of the Financial Mechanisms Sector at the Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development, Janez Pintar, Vice-Mayor of the Municipality of Grosuplje, Zdenka Grozde, Director of the Municipal Administration, and Miha Drobnič, Representative of the ZAGON project.
The new learning trail is long about 3 km, starting in Mala Račna at the Nature Conservation Centre Frog’s House, which is situated on an idyllic little island, next to the Šica water spring. The trail continues via Velika Račna and Kopanja to the floodplain forest, located about 300 m to the north-east.
The new learning trail in Radensko polje has been established within the framework of the ZAGON project, which aims to increase the resilience of ecosystems by improving stakeholders’ knowledge and competence for the successful management of these ecosystems and by implementing measures for their restoration.
The ZAGON project, which is co-financed by Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway through the EEA Financial Mechanism, brought together the Municipality of Grosuplje as the project promoter and the project partners the Institute for Tourism and Promotion Grosuplje, the Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Nature Conservation, the Slovenian Forest Service, the Slovenian Forestry Institute, and the University College for Green Development from Norway.
SOURCE: Municipality of Grosuplje