Building and reconstruction of PAs infrastructure

As part of its Carpathian Programme, the Frankfurt Zoological Society works in the following areas: expansion and management plans for protected areas, biodiversity monitoring, community outreach, and environmental education. Although the specifics of working in nature reserve fund (NRF) institutions are closely related to being in the field, offices and other premises are indispensable.

Sometimes, these buildings are in quite poor condition, either unusable or non-existent. We are talking about the administrations of nature protection institutions, visitor centres and environmental education centres, utility buildings and houses for environmental inspectors, which are located in hard-to-reach places.

In times of full-scale war, funding for nature protection institutions is insignificant, which is why FZS takes actions here to support:

• Reconstruction of the existing infrastructure (overhaul of the roof, insulation of the facade, replacement of windows),
• Building of a new one (visitor centres, houses for tourists and rangers),
• Care and maintenance.

In making a major intervention not only in the infrastructure, but also in the cultural landscape to which it belongs, we have adopted the following principles and approaches:

• Preservation of local architecture and crafts

• Ecological and local materials and labour
• Care and maintenance instead of building new
• Unified design that will give recognition to NRF institutions

Besides various buildings FZS is working on developing eco-educational spaces in all the nature protection institutions of the Carpathian Programme (13 protected areas!) and renovating tourist infrastructure in project protected areas:

• As for environmental education spaces, these are existing separate buildings or designated spaces within administrative buildings that will be specially equipped and filled with educational and research materials and have an appropriate environmental education programme. Schoolchildren and other visitors will be able to get acquainted with the activities of the institution and learn more about nature. The tourist infrastructure will include information and tourist marking (marking of about 1,500 km of trails and tourist navigation and information equipment of institutions), as well as work on tourist services of nature protection institutions.