An official opening ceremony of the Carpathian Wetland Centre took place in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia on Wednesday the 4th of June 2014.
The Centre was established in the renovated historical building belonging to the State Nature Conservancy of the Slovak Republic, which safeguards functioning of the Carpathian Wetland Initiative (CWI).
Representatives of donors as well as CWI’s members and supporters were present. Among them Mr Tobias Salathé ( Ramsar Secretariat Senior Adviser for Europe), Ms Adriana Kušíková (Ministry of Environment of Slovak Republic), Ms Libuše Vlasáková ( Ministry of Environment of the Czech Republic) , Ms Svetlana Ivanová (State Nature Conservancy of Slovak Republic), Mr Florentin We and Mr Lajos Szaboó (Swiss Embassy), Mr Ivan Ivančin (Government Office of the Slovak Republic) and Mr Rybár and Ms Kušniráková (Slovak Watermanagement Enterprise).Newly established Centre should provide information on wetlands in the Carpathians, their role in water cycle and landscape, information on protection and sustainable use of wetlands in the Carpathians as well as ongoing wetland projects.
Ján Kadlečík, Head of the Department of International treaties at State Nature Conservancy of Slovak Republic in Banská Bystrica, coordinator of the Carpathian Wetland Initiative:“The Centre was established with the idea of organising trainings and education activities for expert as well as laic public, young people and children. It is information – promotion centre, which will be preparing educational programmes and materials.”
Establishment of the Centre was possible thanks to financial contributions of Ramsar Secretariat, ERDF Operational Programme Environment and Swiss-Slovak Cooperation Programme.