Romanian trail project wins EOCA Outdoor category

Each year, conservation bodies worldwide apply to the European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) for funding for a specific project which conserves threatened species or habitats, and which has a link to outdoor recreation. The winning projects are chosen by on-line voting worldwide. This year, after some pierce competition with a Dutch mountainbike trail project, the winning project in the Outdoor categorie was another mountainbike trail project from the Romanian NGO Funda?ia ADEPT Transilvania. Out of 55 applications received in 2013, Funda?ia ADEPT Transilvania’s proposal’Discover Târnava Mare by bike’ was shortlisted for the ‘outdoor projects’ category (for projects that use walking/biking tourism as a tool for local incomes and nature conservation). The proposal was made possible by co-finance from Funda?ia Orange, a charity established by Orange Romania, and the application was supported by the German outdoor recreation company Vaude. The other competing projects were from Gabon, Madagascar, Scotland, Netherlands, Sweden.On-line voting took place from 14-28 March. Funda?ia ADEPT received strong support from the public, and from partner NGOs such as Plant Life International, Fauna & Flora International, World Wide Fund for Nature. In spite of strong competition, Funda?ia ADEPT won with over 10,000 votes (10,608), 44% of total votes caste in the category, after a campaign based mainly on Facebook. Funda?ia ADEPT will now be funded by EOCA and Funda?ia Orange with €35,000 to create a 15 km all-weather mountain bike trail, providing local employment, linking three villages and involving 70 green tourism providers, 5 schools and hundreds of small-scale farming families, in the Tarnava Mare area. For further information contact Cornel Stanciu on +40 (0)752 264582, or on cornel@fundatia-adept.org