Move4Nature and hiking as education: toolkit, expert interviews, hike clean ups and final conference
The extreme weather conditions (red alarm for high rainfall and no drinking water due to local flooding) accompanied the Move4Nature final conference and partners meeting in Slovenia, and once again reminded everyone that climate action is urgent.
The final conference was held in Jesenice in the Upper Sava museum on 26 October 2023, while the partners meeting took place in Radovljica on 27-28 October 2023. ENGSO Youth (EY) Chair Ugne Chmeliauskaitė, EY Committee member Alessia de Iulis, EY Policy and project manager Tiago Guilherme and EY Young Delegate Ariadna Moya participated in the event.
“Over the last 12 months, and through 8 hike clean ups and 1 hackathon, 374 participants, mostly young people, engaged with the Move4Nature project in two EU countries: Slovenia and Romania. Besides local actions, the project team also developed a toolkit and a series of expert interviews. “
The mayor of the municipality of Jesenice Mr Peter Bohinec opened the event and wished a warm welcome to the participants from all over Europe who joined the conversation about education and environmental protection through sport with a specific focus on hiking.
The event continued with a presentation of Move4Nature project and the role ENGSO Youth has in it, presented by EY Communication officer Polona Fonda and EY Projects manager Tiago Guilherme.
The first expert speaker Urška Ahac, kinesiologist and consultat in the field of integrative medicine, highlighted the importance and impact of role models on raising awareness about the environmental protection and climate action among children and young people. She was followed by Emily Bowie, mountain leader and project coordinator for Mhor Outdoor, who shared their practices on inclusion of refugees and LGBTQI+ community through hiking and led a workshop on raising awareness about the exclusion in outdoors sports. The conference concluded with a presentation of Move4Nature hike clean ups from project partners Center Veriga (Barbara Meglič) and AJSPT Suceava (Mihai Androhovici).
The event was also a great opportunity to meet and connect with our partner organisations European University Sport Association (EUSA), International Sport and Culture Association (ISCA) and Youth Health Organisation (WHO), which were all present at the conference.
The two following days the partners gathered for a meeting in the premises of the Sport Association of Radovljica to evaluate the activities implemented, discuss the local actions, upcoming reports and sustainability of the project.
Move4Nature is not yet finished: the project will officially conclude with an online seminar on 17 November 2023. More info to follow.