On Thursday, 24th November 2016, a press conference on the launch of the project LIFE ARTEMIS was held in Ljubljana on the edge of Nature Park Tivoli, Rožnik and Šišenski hrib. In the framework of the project a variety of activities will be performed to raise awareness on the harmful impacts of invasive alien species in forests.
The aim of the project is to raise the awareness of the general public and private forest owners about the damage to forests caused by invasive alien species. The project will establish an effective national framework for early warning and rapid response (EWRR) to the occurrence of alien species in the forest and improve the capacity for early detection of alien species in forests at the national level. Experts and volunteers will be included in this system. Until the end of 2020, a series of awareness-raising activities which will be performed in order to encourage the general public to jointly address the problems of invasive alien species.
At the event, the project collaborators from the Slovenian Forestry Institute, Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Nature Conservation, Institute Symbiosis and the Slovenia Forest Service presented the purpose and activities of the project. During a walk through the woods several examples of alien species, present in the forest Nature Park Tivoli, Rožnik and Šišenski hrib, were shown. The most harmful species in the area are chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica), black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), chestnut gall wasp (Dryocosmus kuriphilus) and maple canker (Eutypella parasitica).
The project is co-financed by the European Commission, the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning, Municipality of Ljubljana and project partners Slovenian Forestry Institute, Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Nature Conservation, Slovenia Forest Service and Institute Symbiosis.
You can follow the project on project’s website and Facebook page LIFE ARTEMIS.
Additional information:
Maarten de Groot, Slovenian Forestry Institute, project leader
Judita Malovrh, Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Nature Conservation, communication coordinator
