Investigating the Prvej pond at Belej

ACTIVITIES IN MARKING WORLD BIODIVERSITY DAY INITIATED

With Biodiversity and Agriculture being the theme of
this year’s International Day for Biological Diversity, the Association
“Our Children” and the Public Institution Priroda have undertaken
a project entitled Inventorising Ponds in the Territory of the Town of
Mali Lošinj. Participating in the project are the pupils of the Mario
Martinolić Elementary School and their teachers, as mentors (partly within
the framework of the GLOBE program), as well as the members of the Photo
Club Lošinj.

We began this year’s program of investigating ponds on
5 April 2008 with a visit to the ponds located around Belej (Sergovi,
Rovinji, Prvej) and then to the ponds around Srem (Pogana). Another visit
to a number of ponds in the Punta Križa area is foreseen for 26 April
2008. Some 30 pupils and their mentors have participated in the field
research, together with their mentors, experts in the fields of ethnology,
biology, geography, chemistry, and locals as guides. Research consists
of establishing the properties of each pond, the living world within and
around the pond, and interesting flora and fauna, and taking water samples
to determine acidity, oxygen content and other chemical, physical and
biological parameters. Each pond is described and its importance to rural
life, in the past and now, is noted. Photographs are taken of the ponds
and their position is recorded on maps. Existing stone fences and lesa
(gates made of wood sticks used to enter a fenced field) are also photographed,
and any damage to them is recorded. An ethno workshop is also planned
for 26 April on the Smrečje estate in the Punta Križa area, where locals
skilled in lesa-making will explain the importance of lesa to children
and show them how lesa are made using traditional tools. The children
will have an opportunity to learn why these wooden gates are vital in
preserving traditional rural landscapes and traditional sheep farming
on the islands of Cres and Lošinj.

Also, on the island of Lošinj, plans are underway to
mark Ambroz Haračić Day, which is linked to World Biodiversity Day, with
an exhibition of photographs of the plant life of the Cres and Lošinj
Islands. A short presentation will also be held on the folk names of beneficial
and traditional agricultural plants and their usage in the past. The presentation
will involve school children and their elders as narrators. This is intended
as our contribution to Biodiversity and Agriculture, this year’s theme
of the International Day for Biological Diversity.