REPOPULATION OF ABANDONED AREAS IN EUROPE

A case study of Velika Plana valley, Velebit mountain, UNESCO biosphere, Croatia

Bozidar Bruce Yerkovich

"Then I say the Earth belongs to each generation during its

course, fully and in its right no generation can contract debts

greater than may be paid during the course of its existence"

Thomas Jefferson, September 6, 1789

• Manual for living on abandoned european wildscapes

• Systemic and empirical approach

LOCATION

30 km inland

20 km from the nearest city

(Gospic)

2 hours from Zagreb

5 hours from Vienna and

Venice

GEOGRAPHY

CLIMATE

Alpine climate

270 sunny days

Rain shadow

BIODIVERSITY

HISTORY

2008. EARLY BEGININGS

EXPERIMENTSOCIAL

ECONOMIC

ENVIRONMENTAL

ANTHROPOLOGICAL

EPIGENETIC

A CALL FOR HELP

RESPONSE

PUBLIC EYE

CONSTRUCTION

FOOD

THE NEIGHBORS

OLD SKILLS

RE-INVENTING THE WHEEL

IGNITE GENETIC MEMORY

CONTINUING EDUCATION

PIONEERING TECHNOLOGIES

2008.

2009.

2010.

PHASE I

• IMPERMANENCE of our footprint

• NATURE CONSERVATION as a side product of our activities

• CULTURAL IDENTITY – adapt, respect, import, evolve

• COMMUNITY – (re-)creating the reason for living

PHASE II

• COMMERCE – a flywheel for SUSTAINABLE EVOLUTION

ADVENTURE

CULTURAL

EDUCATIONALTOURISM

CONSERVATION

PHASE III

COMMUNITY building

CIDER

Personal INTEGRITY

Economic DEVELOPMENT

Sustainable EVOLUTION

Indivudual RESPONSIBILITY

CIDER• Furniture making

• Sustainable construction

• Beekeeping/honey production

• Cheese making

• Brewery

• Meat production

• Eco tourism businesses (bear watching – first in SE Europe)

• Organic agriculture

• Equine business

• ... and more

WHERE ARE WE NOW (2015.)?

• 7 YEARS IN MAKING

• OVER 400 HUNDRED VOLUNTEERS, APRENTICES AND INTERNS (70 COUNTRIES)

• 12 DIFFERENT BUSINESS STARTED IN THE COMMUNITY

• OTHER COMMUNITY MEMBERS ENGAGED EITHER DIRECTLY AS EMPLOYEES, OR AS PARTNERS

• OVER 50 LOCAL, REGIONAL AND WORLD-WIDE PARTNERS INVOLVED

• OVER THOUSAND GUESTS BROUGHT TO THE VALLEY SINCE 2010.

• SEVERAL GRANT SCHEMES ENGAGED FROM EU-FUNDED TO PRIVATE SECTOR FUNDED PROJECTS

COME AND JOIN US!