We must learn to look at the concept of protected areas as a looking at a heritage package that stores resources hard to recover, which are vital for biodiversity conservation and in an equal matter crucial for local communities development.

ProPark Foundation for Protected Areas together with Natura 2000 Coalition from Romania are implementing the project called Nature and Traditions in the support of Sustainable Development starting from April 2015 until September 2017. The project targets its activities towards the administrators and custodians of the protected areas and especially towards the key persons in charge with the community outreach responsibilities. Through this project, we wish to create a participative framework focusing on the promotion and visibility improvement of the protected areas at a national level but also of the products and services that are being produces within their local communities.

The change that the project implies refers to the capacity-building program that five protected areas from Romania will attend in order to fulfil their role of a facilitator in the process of sustainability in the local community’s development situated in and around the protected areas.

In order to select the five protected areas from Romania, we launched a national call of participation in the project’s activities, based on a methodology that stressed out on motivation, competences and initiatives launched by the applicants. From the 12 protected areas administrations that applied to our call, the following five were selected:

• Comana Nature Park
• Vanatori Neamt Nature Park
• Zarandul de Est Natura 2000 Site
• Dinosaurs Geopark - Tara Hategului
• Soveja Natura 2000 Site

Briefly, what does Nature and Traditions in support of sustainable development Project mean?

• Investing in the organizational capacity of 5 protected areas administrations from Romania during 12 months on community outreach, sustainable economic development and traditional products marketing
• Investing in the abilities of 15 entrepreneurs/ local producers from the 5 protected areas on the following themes: community outreach and traditional produces marketing
• A practical example to promote local products
• A participative approach in order to promote and build visibility for protected areas and their community's local products by developing 5 marketing plans for the products and services situated in and around the protected areas and 15 personalized individual marketing plans for key entrepreneurs selected.
• Promoting traditional products based on the resources from protected areas by organizing the Nature and Traditions Fair in Brasov

Direct benefits of the project for the selected protected area administrators and custodians:

• Building capacity for 15 persons in charge with the management of protected areas in order to facilitate the process of sustainable development through with the local communities
• Two training sessions, each lasting 2 days and a half, on the following subjects: Community Outreach + Sustainable Economic Development and Marketing local products, together with the ProPark team and specific experts.
• Practical mentoring sessions inside each protected area selected in order to put in practice the theory sessions
• Two training sessions of 2.5 days each, for 3 local entrepreneurs identified from each protected area on the following subjects: Business Development and Marketing the local products
• Mentoring offered to the local producers in order to build a promotion plan for their products or services
• Mentoring offered to each protected area in order to realize a promotion plan
• Organize for the first time in Brasov a promotional fair for protected areas and their local producers

Direct benefits of the project for the selected local traditional producers:

• Building capacity for 15 local producers (3 out of each protected area) in order to develop and promote their products on the local and national market
• Including all the local traditional producers identified in the protected area in the national promotional plan
• Two training sessions of 2.5 days each, on the following subjects: Business development and Marketing the traditional products
• Mentoring offered to each 15 producers in order to realize promotional plans of their products
• Creating a particular brand to each producers by an expert designer
• Training the local producers on how to represent their stand at the fair in Brasov
• Organizing a fair to promote both protected areas and their local producers in Brasov