The first meeting of the Regional Stakeholder Group as part of the ‘NACAO – Nature-based Carbon Offsets’ project was held at the Nature Education Center in Umianowice. During the meeting with stakeholders, good practices from the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship and good examples of reducing carbon dioxide emissions implemented by partners were discussed.

Anna Kucharczyk, deputy director of the Department of Investment and Development of the Marshal Office of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, together with the director of the Department of Nature and Climate, Anna Picheta-Oles, opened the meeting, drawing attention to climate change and the need to take care of our environment. He raised the importance of the NACO project in the context of implementing regional development policy as part of “Healthy Europe”.

The NACAO project is aimed at supporting regions in creating regional policies in the area of environmental protection and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Its implementation is intended to exchange experiences, introduce innovative solutions and build the potential of institutions participating in the preparation of activities related to the “green deal”.

Dr. Jacek Koba – Regional Directorate of State Forests in Radom – talked about good practices related to reducing carbon dioxide emissions, legal aspects and the main goals of the program.

Magdalena Pokora – head of the Nature Conservation Branch, Department of Nature and Climate, presented the draft Environmental Protection Program 2030 as a regional policy instrument indicated for the implementation of the NACO project.

As part of the project, the learning process will last 6 semesters and will consist of various, interrelated activities. It addresses learning at both interregional and regional levels and establishes mechanisms to ensure the flow of knowledge from individuals to organizations. The aim is to ensure capacity building of partner organizations and stakeholders, associated authorities and people involved in NACAO. Regarding the interregional level of learning, among others, “Organizational Learning Meetings” have been planned. Their goal is to mainstream knowledge acquired by people involved in cooperation in partner organizations, through organized meetings with extended teams within the organization.

The ‘NACAO – Nature-based Carbon Offsets’ project is implemented under the Interreg Europe 2021-2027 program and is financed from the ERDF. The project partners are the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship – the Department of Investment and Development in cooperation with the Department of Nature and Climate.