Eco-Saturdays in SEV Dropie with new adaptation elements, Living Lab application and climatic playground

An Eco-Saturday for public is an opportunity for nature lovers and supporters of environmental education to see the new adaptation elements in SEV Dropie shortly after the reconstruction of the old "tanya" (solitude), but also the area of the Dropie ecocenter itself. Visitors can walk along the new Living Lab educational trail, or play the Eco-Creator game.

Minister of the Environment Tomáš Taraba, General Director of the Slovak Environment Agency Juraj Moravčík, representatives of municipalities, DSS clients in Okoč and children and educators from CDR in Kolárovo attended the ceremonial opening after the reconstruction of SEV Dropie which took place on August 30, 2024.

The opening of the renovated area and Eco-Saturdays in the ecocenter were preceded by the final conference of the Living Lab project, which took place on July 30^th 2024 in SEV Dropie.  Among the invited guests were, in addition to the General Director of SAŽP Juraj Moravčík, representatives and managers of the Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic, representatives of municipalities, teachers, collaborators on the project, and our friends and supporters.

As part of the Living Lab Dropie project, several outdoor educational or leisure time elements were built, which serve as examples of good practice in the field of environmental education and adaptation and mitigation in connection with climate change today. The most extensive reconstruction works were carried out on the more than 120-year-old homestead, "tanya" (solitude) - the building will be used as an Information Center and an exhibition hall of the bearded bustard for visitors to the center. A completely renovated building with photovoltaic panels and a heat pump will provide space for environmental education from a historical, cultural and regional aspect. Other examples of adaptation and mitigation elements in the area of ​​the ecocenter are: a renovated waterworks building with its own well, a rain garden, a sewage treatment plant, a root cleaning plant, a climatic playground, a garden and an orchard supplemented with lots of greenery and edible bushes, and an educational space next to the administrative building - gazebo for outdoor learning surrounded by a perennial garden, raised beds for growing vegetables and fruits, fields for growing cereals and tuberous crops and self-watering pots with medicinal herbs. Furthermore, solar lighting, a charger for e-bikes were installed and the terrain was improved with additional green planting and barrier-free access.

The Living Lab application conveys information about adaptation and mitigation measures through tasks that visitors and students solve with the help of tablets. Individual tasks are opened to the researcher on the tablet when he comes to the station that deals with the issue in question. The visitor moves between the stations according to the map of the area in the tablet. The tasks do not follow each other chronologically, the visitor can start a walk along the educational trail at any of the nearest stations.

The Eco-Creator game is also accessible through the Living Lab application, and works with the help of a video wall. Players can learn interesting information thanks to illustrations, animations and the game itself, which is graded for kindergarten, elementary and high schools. The game deals with environmental topics such as water retention in the landscape, reducing the temperature in urban settlements, increasing biodiversity and agricultural landscape in a protected area. It provides inspiration for adaptation elements applicable in the rural landscape as well as in cities.