Our mission
Our common vision is to create a . place suitable for relaxation and education about the importance of local wetlands. A place with rich biodiversity, full of synergies with other projects and activities in the area, with a positive impact on residents or tourists. When planning a nature trail, we also think of people with autism spectrum disorders, to whom the trail a will be „friendly“.
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Current state of the wetlands
Over the last 100 years, intensive agriculture, river regulation and drainage of large areas due to the acquisition of additional agricultural land have had a major impact on „our“ wetlands in the Morava river alluvium. During the last century, most streams in the Zahorska nizina (lowland) were regulated. This required the construction of dams and the elimination of all significant meanders, which resulted in a reduction in the area of naturally flooded floodplains, deepening riverbeds and the consequent faster outflow of water from the area.
Another important cause of the loss of wetlands in Zahorie is the conversion of alluvial meadows into arable land directly by plowing. Fertilizers and herbicides are regularly used on arable land. Not only does this result in a direct loss of meadows and in wetlands, but the intensive use of chemicals increases the supply of nutrients throughout the river and consequently reduces species richness and the predominance’ of nitrophilous and invasive plant and animal species. The plowing itself has also caused an increase in soil erosion.
The importance of the wetlands
they control erosion
they improve water quality
they maintain the flow of rivers and streams
they provide home to at least one third of all endangered animal and plant
species in the world
they capture carbon
they go hand in hand with ecological and sustainable agriculture
highly productive and biologically diverse systems stabilizing the
microclimate
Location of the wetlands for the project
„Our“ wetlands are located on the western edge of the Zahorska nizina (lowland), in cadastral area of the village Male Levare.
In the south, they reach the Zahorie Protected Landscape Area and the Ramsar locality of ,Niva Moravy". In close proximity is the territory of European importance Gajarske alluvium of the Morava river. The northern part of the area with agricultural land is located outside protected areas, but its location provides an ideal space for connecting existing protected areas.
The scattered location of the individual renewed wetland systems creates scope for synergies with organic or sustainable agriculture in line with the new EU Common Agricultural Policy.
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Our goal
The main goal of the project is to restore at least 210,000 m2 of degraded land into wetlands by 04/2024, which belong to the Ramsar area of the Morava River in the cadastral territory of the village Male Levare.
The first sub-goal is to restore the degraded ecosystem of Morava river dead arm without intervention in the watercourse, with an area of min. 50,000 m2.
The second sub-goal is the restoration of agriculturally degraded wetlands to species-rich alluvial meadows with a min. area of 50,000 m2 and restoration of degraded and abandoned meadows up to 40,000 m2 and the implementation of stabilization measures to wetland ecosystems on another 70,000 m2.
The third sub-goal is that we also think of people with autism spectrum disorders, to whom the trail will be „friendly“.