The development of the Poloniny National Park is to be facilitated by the new international project Greenhealth. Its aim is to make the region's sites more accessible and to build it into a tourist attractive environment, but with an emphasis on nature protection. One of the partners of the project is the Prešov Self-Governing Region (PSK). It will cooperate with both the Poloniny National Park and the Astronomical Observatory in Kolonice. In Poloniny, it will build on the ongoing and planned activities focused on sustainable development and ecotourism.
The Prešov regional municipality has become one of the seven partners of the Greenhealth project (they are from Slovakia, Spain, Croatia, Sweden, Poland, Ireland and Germany), whose main idea is to improve the resilience of protected areas. This is done through 'soft' activities aimed at strengthening the links between biodiversity conservation and human health. Through the project, PSK will directly support the Poloniny National Park in designing and creating new tourism products. In addition to the Poloniny National Park, its cooperation partner is the Astronomical Observatory at Kolonický sedlo, which is a remote workplace of the county Vihorlat Observatory in Humenne.
"Poloniny is one of our jewels and it is a region that has a huge, perhaps as yet hidden, potential in terms of tourism and tourism. We are trying to develop it by building cycle paths and smaller infrastructure, by supporting small and medium-sized businesses through special challenges aimed at building accommodation facilities and innovating services, and last but not least by helping local communities. The Poloniny National Park certainly has a lot to offer and its sites deserve attention so that even more tourists will come here. The Greenhealth project in particular can help us significantly in this respect, both by providing examples of good practice from abroad, but also by building professional capacities and preparing new projects, of course, all with nature conservation in mind," Milan Majerský, Chairman of the PSK, explained in this context.
The activities of the Greenhealth project will specifically focus on the design and creation of new tourism products, such as nature stays, Nordic walking, cycling routes, forest spas or forest therapies
Its initial phase will be the establishment of Local Living Labs. The Lab foresees the participation of regional and local stakeholders, expert partners, representatives of protected area or health policy organisations, academia and relevant local and regional authorities in regular meetings. They will address the topic of the impact of protected areas on human health and subsequently develop a specific investment or action in the area.
The next activity will be the preparation of sub-regional studies of the partners involved and then, through participation with the local living lab, the preparation of a joint study including SWOT analysis and plans. The project also foresees the implementation and participation in international training workshops and, at the very end, the elaboration of an action plan that will be implemented through the selected strategies.
Project Greenhealth "Sustainable protected areas as a key value for quality of life" has been approved under the Interreg Europe programme, and its lead partner is the Autonomous Community of Murcia - General Directorate for the Environment. It should contribute to the long-term objective of the PSK, to which it committed itself in 2018, namely to develop the endogenous potential of the Snina district.
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