There is a thousand problems affecting animals and nature in Serbia, but even more inspirational stories.

In order to support and encourage changes in areas of animal welfare and nature protection, ORCA will support authentic citizens’ initiatives from all of Serbia. These initiatives are led and conducted by local activists, who will invest into them their own knowledge and energy.

ORCA believes that citizens have great power in their hands and that dedicated individuals and groups can make big changes in their communities. These changes can occur only if they act sistemically, deliberately and persistently. We want to use our 18-year-long experience and knowledge and to inspire, enocourage and support activism!

Even though local communities have enough resources to become better, they have to recognize those resources and dedicate them to the benefit of the whole community. We want to take part in creating active environment which will know how to recognize opportunities and take chances for progress and development.

We support local initiatives with our partners: National Coalition for Decentralization, Centre for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA), “Jelena Šantić” foundation, Media and Reform Center Niš through  “Your place in Serbia” project, financed by United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The initiatives that ORCA supported during 2019:

    • “Keepers of the Seed”: More than 30 agricultural producers  from the town of Mionica, led by the organisation “Frame of Life” decided to form a group titled “Keepers of the Seed” and work to protect indigenous varieties of fruits and vegetables, bring them back to our tables and enable us to buy and eat healthy food!
    • “Let’s protect river Nera together”: Nera, the only mountain river that flows through flat Vojvodina Province and meanders through one of its most attractive protected areas, is threatened by human activities. Organisation “Aurora” and citizens from Bela Crkva, opened a dialogue with municipal authorities in order to better protect river Nera.
    • “On the edge of survival”: Did you know that the largest and the rarest eagle in Serbia – golden eagle flies above Arilje? Organisation “Rzav”, supported by Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia, decided to make a feeding ground for vultures and other species of birds and mammals above river Veliki Rzav and include whole community in caring for these species.
    • “KNIToMANIA” uses an innovative way to reuse plastic bags and protect environment from plastic, by knitting products  from used plastic bags. Senior citizens who want to make extra money knit products from plastic bags, remove them from nature and make their life cycle longer.
    • “For cleaner Sokobanja”: In order to open a dialogue about better waste management in one of the tourist oases in Serbia – Sokobanja, members of Sokobanja’s ecological society visited 90 households, recorded all illegal dumps in Sokobanja with help from more than 100 citizens, and cleaned an illegal dump placed near the river with more than 60 citizens.
    • “Green tourist oases in Bor”: European long-distance paths cover almost entire Europe and two of these paths can be found in Serbia. Mountaineers, tourists and all those who want to get to know Europe’s specifities and enjoy nature by walking, use these roads. Organisation „Ekobaština“ from Bor, marked the part of the route which passes through Bor with signs. They wanted to make the traveling easier for tourists and to prevent walking in the zones that are under protection.
    • “Let’s turn Šumarice green”: Šumarice is not only important cultural  heritage site, but also represents the lungs of the Serbian city of Kragujevac! Šumarice is the largest urban park in Serbia, bigger even than New York’s Central Park. By planting 20 plane trees in Šumarice, a group of citizens from Kragujevac made their contribution to preservation of this meaningful cultural and natural site.