An international professional conference "Presentation of smart technical achievements and methodologies for the purpose of protecting the environment and raising awareness about the protection and preservation of natural heritage" was held on October 26, 2021, organized by the Public Institution Lokrum Reserve. Projects of technical achievements and methodologies and application of similar ideas in the institutions and organizations in which they operate were presented at the conference by international and Croatian presenters from the scientific and professional community.
Opening of the conference started with welcome speech by Nikolina Grković, director of the Public Institution Lokrum Reserve, dr.sc. Ivan Šimić, manager of the Arboretum of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Trsteno, and Jelena Lončarić, interim head of the Department for Urban Planning, Spatial Planning and Protection of the City of Dubrovnik. Participants of the conference had the opportunity to get acquainted with various topics of application of technical achievements and methodologies used in environmental and nature protection: Technological achievements at the Arboretum CASA in Trsteno, Monitoring of bats on the Island of Lokrum, eDNA metabarcoding on the Brijuni islands: antoher view at biodiversity, New technological solutions for monitoring and protection of marine ecosystems, Removal of invasive alien species of crooner in the area of Lake Kuti and access channels, The use of an underwater camera for biodiversity monitoring in protected areas, The role of geospatial technologies in environmental protection, Development of a multicriterial model of sustainable management in the field of sedration watercourses – example of Skradinski buk, Multi-insulating modeling of soil erosion using geospatial technologies, How bigbelly IoT solution transforms waste management and recycling to preserve the natural heritage of protected areas and Application of smart sensor networks in environmental protection and improving the quality of life.
In addition to lectures, a field tour of protected areas was held on the second day of the conference on October 27th. The participants of the conference have visited the Arboretum CASA Trsteno and Lokrum Reserve where, in addition to natural and cultural values, both protected areas were presented with activities carried out from the project "Historical Gardens of the Dubrovnik Area".
The International Congress was held as part of the project “Historical Gardens of the Dubrovnik Area”. The project "Historical Gardens of the Dubrovnik Area" is a three-year project worth HRK 15.5 million, launched on 1 December 2018. It was co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund in the amount of 70%. The beneficiary of this project is the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts with project partners: Public Institution Lokrum Reserve, the Tourist Board of the City of Dubrovnik and Dubrovnik ART Association without borders. The project contributes to creating new experiences for visitors and raising their awareness of the need and importance of biodiversity conservation and nature protection, and by using modern technologies of interpretation and monitoring of environmental components enables cooperation with domestic and foreign scientific institutions and additionally responds to the contemporary demands of visitors for new experiences of natural heritage.
