July 10, 2021 - Paklenica National Park has launched a competition on its Facebook page in which all participants can become adopters of one of the UNESCO beech trees that are part of their World Heritage List by July 14.

Untouched beech forests of the Paklenica National Park are under the strictest protection and are part of the UNESCO property "Beech rainforests and original beech forests of the Carpathians and other regions of Europe". Furthermore, as reported by the Paklenica National Park, healthy and preserved old forests are extremely important in mitigating the effects of climate change.

The lifespan of a beech tree is more than 300 years, and a 100-year-old beech tree, for example, "eats" 2.5 kilograms of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and releases about 1.7 kilograms of oxygen in one hour. This is the amount of oxygen that 50 people need on average for an hour of breathing. Just imagine how much oxygen one beech produces in your life! In addition, such forest ecosystems represent the habitat of many other living organisms and contribute to the conservation of overall biodiversity.

To support the importance of preserving old beech forests, which are key to mitigating the effects of climate change, and great biodiversity, you have the opportunity to become the “adopter” of beech trees in one of the most valuable and best-preserved beech forests in Europe. In the comments below the post on the Facebook profile of the Paklenica National Park, in short, in five to six sentences, you should write why you should be the adopter of one of the UNESCO beech trees that is on their World Heritage List.

Participants whose most original reasons for the "adoption" of the letter are decided by the jury, become adopters of a tree and get the coordinates of the location where the tree is located so that they can personally visit their tree. In addition, adopters receive an annual pass for free entry to the National Park, a diploma "My beech lives in the UNESCO World Heritage Forest!", a card the name and surname of the adopter with a picture of his/her adopted beech, and to know what happens to the tree, the adopter will be occasionally informed of its condition.

The competition lasts until July 14, 2021, until 14:30, and the selected "adopters" will be published on the Facebook page of the Paklenica National Park, July 16, 2021.

Source: Turističke priče

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As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 15th of April, 2019, this past weekend, as part of a socially responsible project, the popular JYSK retail chain held a voluntary action to plant 10,000 European beech seedlings in two zones in the Medvednica Nature Park in Sljeme, above Zagreb, which have been most adversely affected by the weather's elements over last few years.

"We got together on Sljeme so that JYSK's volunteers, together with citizens, planted 10,000 beech seedlings donated by JYSK as part of our action. We're renewing the area in two zones of the Medvednica Nature Park, which died a couple of years ago after stormy weather.

''In addition to helping financially as a company through such projects, we want to help and in a different way to keep track of nature for the next generation,'' said Vesna Kukić Lončarić for JYSK Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.

The project was realised in cooperation with Croatian forests (Hrvatske šume), and the afforestation was carried out in the area around PD Risnjak within the Medvednica Nature Park. Despite the unfavourable weather conditions and even some snow, the afforestation action was supported by numerous citizens interested in the conservation of the environment who planted as many as 10,000 seedlings in the aforementioned locations. Among them was the famous Croatian singer Mirela Priselac Remi.

"We welcome JYSK's initiative and we'd like to thank them for their activities as part of their socially responsible business towards the forests. Such actions contribute to raising awareness among all citizens of the need for forest conservation and they are endangered by climate change and the irresponsible behaviour of individuals,'' she stated.

''Without the forests, there's no clean air nor is there any clean water, and such young and healthy forests as are sprouting here are our best allies in alleviating the consequences of climate change. There are multiple uses of forests, and only with responsible management can we manage to preserve them,'' said Damir Miškulin from Croatian forests.

For this project, JYSK collected funds from the sale of 50 percent of recycled plastic bags during the first three months of this year, which were donated for the purchase of seedlings for the purpose of afforestation. JYSK's objective is to raise public awareness of the importance of our forests and their development with a positive example, and continue to implement such projects throughout the year and throughout the whole of the Republic of Croatia.

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