21 Jun Vanatori-Neamt Natural Park, Romania – Poster with verses from the Genesis

Recently, the Vanatori-Neamt Natural Park in Romania has posted one large panel at the entrance of Secu Valley, including verses from the Book of Genesis, as can be seen in the picture. The idea came from the USA Smoky Mountains National Park experience of displaying panels with Native American beliefs developed by the Sacred Mountains Program, as it was presented in the first workshop of The Delos Initiative, held in Montserrat, in 2006.

The panel has been funded as part of the GEF-Small Grant Program project called ‘Bison Land – a model of biodiversity conservation’ developed by an NGO, and it is the first to include verses from a sacred text to connect the values of nature with the inner beliefs of the visitors. The verses were chosen by the Park Administration.

Next year, the Park intends to develop another GEF-SGP project, in which the monasteries and convents located inside the Natural Park are deeper involved as partners with the Park Administration, environmental NGOs and local authorities. As part of this effort, more panels with sacred texts will be posted if funds are available.