Sustainable tourism development in nature protected areas of the Carpathians

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The main challenge of the nature protected ares of Ukrainian and Polish borderland united by ecosystem of the Carpathians is search for long-term solutions of effective use of its nature potential taking into account the environmental, socio-cultural and economic impacts. On the one hand, the territories of natural parks needs investments to develop recreation infrastructure, on the other hand, growing human pressure caused by the increasing volume of tourist traffic can be very harmful for the nature protected areas of the Carpathians. Thus development of active tourism in nature protected areas should be based on the concept of sustainability - balance of the needs of tourists visiting tourist centers, the population of the latter, and preservation of the natural environment. This project is aimed at the preserving and promotion of nature protected areas of the Carpathians through the development of sustainable tourism. It will be achieved by the means of the following cross-border activities: (1) Study visit for personnel of Ukrainian national natural parks to natural parks of Poland to exchange the best practices of sustainable tourism development. (2) Cross-border conference "Modern solutions for the development of active tourism in nature protected areas". (3) Creation of cross-border concept of active tourism development in natural parks that will become a base for further cooperation concerning promotion and preservation of natural heritage. The concept based on the balanced form of development that enables the environment to be preserved and, at the same time, allows its exploitation to ensure tourism and economic growth. (4) Development of recreation infrastructure in pilot natural park "Skolivski Beskydy" aimed at preventing the uncontrolled and negative impact of visitors on the environment. The project activities requires cross-border partnership to sharing best practices and implementing common solutions within one ecosystem.

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