Act for a Safe and Healthy Environment, 01-09 aprilie 2010, Săcelu, România

Act for a Safe and Healthy Environment, 01-09 aprilie 2010, Săcelu, România, Youth and Regional Development Association

The project is a 9 days youth exchange that aims to support the protection of the environment, will take place in the mining town of Motru and will bring together 32 youngsters from 8 European countries. The theme of the project is environmental protection. This regards the special need for youngsters to act against pollution that we identified in our countries. Due to the vast areas that environmental protection covers, we will try to have a holistic approach that will allow the participants to see the “big picture” at the end of this project. The project will also involve the local community and the activities will be developed both on theoretical and practical parts. On the one side we will have debates of the participants with the local authorities from Motru and Gorj County, but also with representatives from the institutions in the field (such as the Agency for Protection of the Environment) NGO’s that deal with environment protection or media speakers. The practical parts will consist in cleaning parts of the river Motru and its surroundings, creating a symbolic men from a part of the cans that we will recycle, promoting a information campaign into the town regarding the subject and visiting coal mines and exploitations which are a considerable factor of pollution in the area. Main activities: -integration of the group; -presentation of the situation in the participanting countries; -presentation of the subject selected by each participant; -meeting the representative of authorities and NGOs focused on environement; -ecological activity in the area of Motru; -creating a simbolic men - statue from the cans that we will recycle; -visiting the mining exploitation; -workshops on issues of environment.

Our project reflects a very important concern in the Europe, the way the environment is protected and the human right to a safe and healthy environment. In a time when the international organisations speak about Green Public Procurements to create a green market, there are still places like Motru region where more significant issues regarding the environment should be solved. Here, the coal industry has created ecological problems that affect the everyday living of the inhabitants. Thus, the objectives of our project are: -to compare the different aproach toward the concept of “environment protection” in the participating countries; -to involve youngsters from local community in environmental activities; -to create consciousness of the youngsters for new environmental projects in the future; -to enrich the participants with theoretical knowledge about environment protection and their rights to a safe environment.

The project is financed by EUROPEAN YOUTH FOUNDATION – Council of Europe.