An award ceremony took place at the EU House in Ljubljana, Slovenia, this Monday, November 22, 2021, where the laureates of the competition 2nd International WEP EFFECT 2021 Festival in Rogaška Slatina, Slovenia received the recognition for their winning ecological projects. This year’s theme was: „Education on water protection, water resources and sustainable communication with the public”.
The Subotica public utility company (PUC) ” Vodovod i kanalizacija” in cooperation with the ECOLACUS Project´s PR team and “Nasa radost” preschool won the award for the interactive application of the educational material “Eco- fairy tale for the XXI century – WATER and the CITY” in the category video material. The author of the Eco Fairy Tale is Ana Markovic Plestovic, PhD, and this material was used for education of the pre-schoolers, in March and April 2021, on the occasion of the World Water Day and World Planet Earth Day. The prize-winning video can be seen at the PUC´s website in Serbian, Hungarian and English languages.
Joze Cvetko (left) President of the Association Water Agency handing over the award to Djerdj Sugar (right)
The General Director of the PUC Subotica “Vodovod i kanalizacija”, Mr. Djerdj Sugar, received this award in Ljubljana. Thanking the organisers and the international jury for this award, Mr. Sugar explained how the application of the Eco Fairy Tale being part of the Ecolacus project, enabled youngest Subotica residents including their teachers and parents to learn more about rare and protected plants and animal species living in the lakes and surroundings. He specifically mentioned that the primary goal was to reach young children and to help them to comprehend the importance and their role in keeping and protecting a healthy environment and clean water.
„Investments in urban communal infrastructure and higher quality of living would not be complete without the less visible and less tangible investments in education about water protection, water resources and sustainable communication with the public, which coincides with this year’s theme of the WEP EFFECT Festival, said Sugar.
Petar Doroslovački, representative of the PUC “Vodovod i kanalizacija” Subotica in the PR team Ecolacus
At the same event, the Organisational Committee awarded Petar Doroslovacki, a member of the PR team Ecolacus from the PUC Subotica ” Vodovod i kanalizacija”, with the painting „Sea“, produced by the Slovenian artist Erna Fernanic, for his cooperation and personal contribution to environmental and water protection.
About the Project Ecolacus
The project „Biodiversity and Water Protection of Lake Palic and Lake Ludaš – Ecolacus” aims to improve the water quality of Lake Palic and Lake Ludas as a precondition for creating better living conditions, for preservation of biodiversity and for enabling development of tourism in this area. The project financing has been provided in form of 6.0 Mill. grant and 1.3 Mill. loan from the Government of Germany through the German Development Bank KfW and 1 million EUR provided by the Local Government of the City of Subotica. The project is implemented by the Ministry of Construction Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Serbia, and executed jointly by the City of Subotica, the PUC Subotica “Vodovod I kanalizacija” and the Public Enterprise Palic-Ludas. For more information, please visit the project´s multilingual website: www.zastitapalicludas.rs.
About WEP EFFECT 2021 International Festival
The second INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL WEP EFFECT 2021 was held in Rogaška Slatina (SLO), in organisation of the Water Agency and under the patronage of Borut Pahor, President of the Republic of Slovenia. Representatives of public utility companies, organisations and institutions from six countries participated in the festival applying with 74 educational projects. The event was held online due to the on-going Sars COVID-19 virus pandemic. In total awards were granted in five different categories.
The awards ceremony was held in Ljubljana on 22nd November 2021. The ceremony began with an address by Lyudmila Novak, Slovenian MP in the EU Parliament, a member of the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. For more information, please visit https://vodnaagencija.org/en/wep-effect-2021/
[1] The KfW financed project „Biodiversity and Water Protection Lake Palic and Lake Ludas“ was given the name „ECOLACUS“ as the result of a local contest organised by the project´s PR team.
