The environmental challenges of the region, the cooperation of local governments and the culture and architecture of the region were the topics of the International Conference "Europe of the Carpathians", which took place on Saturday 15 June in Regietów in Podkarpackie voivodeship. It was attended by politicians and representatives of the world of science and culture from the Carpathian region, including Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. The host of the meeting was Barbara Bartoś, MP. The Conference was co-organized by the Regional Directorate of State Forests. This is the second edition of this series of meetings in Regietów. The previous one was held a year ago.

When opening the meeting Barbara Bartoś referred to the involvement of the Speaker of the Sejm Marek Kuchciński in the creation of the brand "Europe of the Carpathians" and its active promotion by organizing a series of various events. - Of course this most important conference "Carpathian Europe" is organized at the Economic Forum in Krynica. Every year we also have the pleasure to meet in Przemyśl or Krasiczyn. Since last year Regietów has been included in this map - said the MP.

The first panel of the Conference was devoted to the environmental challenges of the Karapat region, namely nature conservation and ecology. The panellists particularly emphasized the community aspect which helps to unite the efforts of many different small communities located in cross-border areas. The role of tourism was also emphasized, with particular emphasis on military tourism, which - due to the history of the region - occupies an important place in its cultural offer.

In the second panel of the Conference, participants discussed local government cooperation in several dimensions - security, infrastructure and development. Several important initiatives for the Carpathians on the European level were recalled, such as the Carpathian Declaration, signed during the Economic Forum in Krynica in 2018 by Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine and Poland. It opens the possibility to start work on the preparation of a macro-regional strategy for the Carpathians on the forum of the European Union and for closer cooperation of the countries of the region in many areas.

The last panel of the meeting, entitled "Culture and Architecture", focused on the issues of sustainable cultural tourism development in the Carpathian region and its natural heritage, cultural richness with particular emphasis on the architectural aspect, landscape and multi-ethnicity. However, what unites these different elements is the Wallachian culture common to all the peoples of the Carpathians, which is a very strong bond enabling mutual dialogue and relationship building. The ecosystem is not only about nature, but also, or perhaps above all, about people and the communities they create.

Among the participants of the event were: prof. Stelian Alexandru Borz from Transylvanian University, Mrs. Adrienne Kormendy - Consul General of the Republic of Hungary, Mr. Jan Hudacky - former Member of Parliament of Slovakia, prof. Viliam Pichler - Dean of the Faculty of Forestry at the Technical University of Zvolen in Slovakia, Prof. Zbigniew Myczkowski from the Krakow University of Technology - member of the Council for Nature Conservation of the Minister of Environment, Prof. Stanisław Małek - Head of the Department of Forest Ecology and Reclamation of Agricultural University in Krakow, Dr. Eng. Krzysztof Wielgus - Cracow University of Technology.

CIS

Photo by Marta Olejnik