New all-terrain buses improve access to environmental education in the Carpathians

Out­door learn­ing is an essen­tial part of envi­ron­men­tal edu­ca­tion, yet due to the lack of means to trans­port chil­dren to the nature, pro­tect­ed areas staff often focus their eco-edu­ca­tion work on class-based activ­i­ties.

To over­come this chal­lenge and help con­nect chil­dren with nature, Frank­furt Zoo­log­i­cal Soci­ety pur­chased and equipped two high­ly mobile Tor­sus bus­es which pro­tect­ed areas can book to orga­nize trips to remote moun­tain areas. Over the course of two months, 12 orga­nized bus trips enabled 200 chil­dren from com­mu­ni­ties near the parks to vis­it remote cor­ners of nation­al parks. Dur­ing one of these trips chil­dren even took part in an eco-ini­tia­tives such as amphib­ian res­cue efforts. These bus­es now enable chil­dren to trav­el safe­ly and com­fort­ably to attend out­door lessons. Con­se­quent­ly, more chil­dren can now expe­ri­ence nature first­hand in Carpathi­an nation­al parks and reserves.

By facil­i­tat­ing direct con­tact with the nat­ur­al envi­ron­ment, these out­door lessons fos­ter a deep­er under­stand­ing and appre­ci­a­tion of bio­di­ver­si­ty among young learn­ers. This hands-on expe­ri­ence is cru­cial for inspir­ing the next gen­er­a­tion of con­ser­va­tion­ists and strength­en­ing com­mu­ni­ty sup­port for pro­tect­ing these valu­able ecosys­tems.

The Frank­furt Zoo­log­i­cal Soci­ety plans to con­tin­ue expand­ing such ini­tia­tives, ensur­ing that out­door edu­ca­tion becomes an acces­si­ble and inte­gral part of learn­ing through­out the Carpathi­ans.