The main function of Ukraine’s reserves and national parks is the conservation of natural ecosystems and biodiversity – the preservation of life. Since the beginning of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, people forced to flee from areas with intense active hostilities have found refuge in protected areas.
Employees of national parks and reserves are continuing to work diligently and support people who have been forced to move to these safer places. This spring, they will organize educational tours, workshops, and eco-quests. These will give people, who have to stay away from their homes temporarily, the opportunity to see, and feel, the beauty of nature in other regions and learn about the diversity of their homeland.
Separately, staff of protected area environmental education departments are providing classes for children. In the form of various games and activities, they study the plants and animals together and discuss the need to preserve nature. At this difficult time, children need special attention.
Materials for various activities have been developed by the employees of protected areas or are based on existing resources. For example:
- Handbook “How to create an eco-trail and run a nature school”
- Board games and materials on ecological education published by the Ukrainian ecological club “Green Wave”
We thank the staff of Ukraine’s reserves and national parks for their dedicated work and the support they are providing to people in this terrible time of war.