The first “Our Planet – Our Home” Eco-Festival, organised as part of the “Plant a Tree” project developed by WMG since 2019, brought together citizens, families and children to mark Earth Day.
Through educational, creative and interactive activities, the festival encouraged more active participation in environmental protection and raised awareness of the importance of nature in everyday life.
The festival featured an expert panel titled “Forests and Climate – Solutions for a Resilient Future,” which brought together representatives of the professional community, institutions and international organisations. The panellists included Dr Marko Marinković of the public enterprise Vojvodinašume, Predrag Jović of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Boris Ivanović, MSc in Forestry, of Srbijašume d.o.o., and Assistant Professor Dr Tomica Mišljenović of the Jevremovac Botanical Garden, Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade. The panel was moderated by Dr Snežana Belanović Simić, Vice-Dean for Science and International Cooperation at the Faculty of Forestry, University of Belgrade.
The discussion addressed key issues concerning the role of forests in climate change, their importance for the conservation of biodiversity and natural resources, as well as modern approaches to afforestation and forest management aimed at ensuring their long-term resilience.
The festival programme included a wide range of activities for children and their families, from a children’s choir performance and a theatre play to interactive educational segments and scientific experiments. These activities enabled young participants to learn more about nature and the importance of its preservation in an engaging and accessible way. Visitors also had the opportunity to take part in guided tours of the Jevremovac Botanical Garden, as well as educational and creative workshops where they could discover different plant species, tour the greenhouse and learn more about how urban ecosystems function.
“The Eco-Festival represents a continuation of the activities carried out through the ‘Plant a Tree’ project, through which WMG has been systematically working on tree planting, education and community engagement for the past seven years. To date, more than 1,200,000 seedlings have been planted across Serbia as part of the project, and more than 45 educational workshops for children have been organised. As a socially responsible company, we address these issues through concrete initiatives and partnerships, with the aim of contributing to long-term changes in the way we relate to the environment. In this way, we also seek to further strengthen the role of the community in creating a more sustainable and higher-quality living environment,” said Anita Mikulić, Corporate Communications Manager at WMG.
The festival received significant support from its partners: the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), through the project “Strengthening the Resilience of Serbian Forests to Ensure Energy Security for the Most Vulnerable, While Supporting Their Livelihoods and Carbon Sequestration (FOREST Invest),” the public enterprise Vojvodinašume, as well as MPC Properties and UNIQA Insurance. The festival was held at the Jevremovac Botanical Garden, which hosted the event.
The “Plant a Tree” project was launched by WMG with the support of the WMG Foundation, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management – Forest Directorate, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Srbijašume d.o.o., Vojvodinašume, the Young Researchers of Serbia movement, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia, the Jevremovac Botanical Garden, the Faculty of Biology, the Faculty of Forestry in Belgrade, the Forestry School in Kraljevo, the Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia, the Provincial Secretariat for Urban Planning and Environmental Protection, the Institute of Forestry and the public utility company Zelenilo-Beograd. This cycle was also joined by the Institute of Lowland Forestry and Environment in Novi Sad, the German-Serbian Chamber of Commerce, Savacoop, JYSK, Vukmirović and the Vukan Foundation.