3 Days of project Work - and a field trip

It’s quite a story, having a two year international project and meeting each other twice a year. Now we already had our 5th international URBforDAN meeting in Budapest, perfectly organized and handled by our partners there. And we can say, that the teams from Ljubljana, Budapest, Vienna, Zagreb, Belgrade, Cluj-Napoca and Ivano-Frankivsk, we all have really grown together and build our collaboration on trust, mutual support and cooperation.

DTP meeting on a Danube Island

The meeting in Budapest took place appropriately to the Danube Transnational Programme on Margaret Island in the middle of the Danube. Ms Dóra Kokaí, project manager from the City of Budapest, welcomed all project partner before Szabó József, the CEO of FÖKERT, greeted all participants and explained some of the particularities of Budapest and the Danube river. He emphasized the importance of the healthy city forests and commented that they are proud of the URBforDAN project. After that, Mr. Luka Sešel from the Leading partner Ljubljana welcomed the participants – and so we were ready to start with project content.

News and feedback on our workshops

We were all brought up to date in the workpackages. Tina Simončič and Samo Škrjanec from Slovenia Forest Service were welcomed as new members of the team. Klemen Strmsnik, external support from Ljubljana, reported, that COL is quite happy with the achieved results on WP3 where the Stakeholders were successfully mobilized in the workshop - and the other partner also report from their third workshop. Followed by Tina Simončič, new WP4-leader, with presentations and discussions on the operational plans and strategic parts of the IMMPs, the Integrated multi-use Management plan, that will be developed till the end of our project.

From Margit Bridge to Liberty Statue

In the early evening, the Steering Committee and Quality Management Board has come together to discuss project progress and changes, to welcome new members like Tina and Samo, to approve outputs and to agree on the procedure to achieve best results in our awareness-rising-project-video. The day ended in a wonderful dinner on a danube ship, going from Margit bridge far south passing the parliament, the famous chain bridge, Royal palace and the liberty statue.

a field trip with best provisions

Day 2 the morning was about the Operational plan and its main features plus the setting-up of the equipment in the urban forests. The afternoon was dedicated to a field trip on Hármashatár Hill, where an on-site presentation of planned equipping of the focus area was being held. We have learned a lot about the special requirements and circumstances of the Hungarian project area. And as in every field trip, let’s say traditionally, our colleagues from Zagreb spoiled us with a delicious snack of sausages, bread and side dishes, all homemade!

Next stop Cluj-Napoca

The third and last day of our meeting started with the presentation of Ecosystem service mapping using remote sensing method followed by groupwork exercise regarding the urban equipment in the forests. Samo Škrjanec presented the concept for a “Best idea competition” in each partner city, where we search for new equipment possibly being implemented in the urban forests. Dejan Tripkovic from the City of Belgrade afterwards presented the planned UPF-Smartphone App, which should be for all age groups, used for promotion and education in the forests.

Next meeting will be in Cluj in March, already looking forward to! But for now: Thanks a lot for the great organization to our Hungarian hosts!

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