The large herbivore reserve, European Serengeti, wins the Sustainability Star 2024 award
Another notable award has been given to the reserve for wild horses and other large herbivores located in the former military training area of Milovice, not far from Prague. Its founder, Dalibor Dostal, collected the Sustainability Star 2024 award today. This award is granted by the scientific council of the prestigious Sustainability Summit conference that was held in Prague.
“I would like to express my great thanks for this award. For the first time, our project was assessed in a competition involving international representation,” Dalibor Dostal, Director of the conservation organisation European Wildlife, thanked and continued: “This award belongs to all those who took part in the establishment of the reserve and help with its operation, whether directly on the site, with financing or with challenging advocacy activities. Since the beginning, the operation of the reserve has been based on cooperation, whether with scientists, volunteers, authorities or companies, and I’m glad that everyone who takes part in activities concerning the reserve can see that their work is meaningful and brings excellent result.”
The large herbivores reserve won the award primarily for managing to combine biodiversity protection with land restoration and climate protection. The grazing of large ungulates at this site has brought about, for example, an increase in the population of the rarest butterfly species in the reserve’s territory, the Alcon blue, by 1,700 per cent, and in young plants of the star gentian by 5,553 per cent. The entire territory, where the originally predominant poor covers of three grass species have been replaced by more than 111 flowering herbs, has undergone positive transformation.
The large herbivores reserve project received several other notable awards in the past years. For example, it won the SDG Award in the Climate Change category for accomplishing UN’s global sustainability goals. Along with film makers, the reserve collected the Ekofilm Festival President’s Award. Dalibor Dostal, the founder of the conservation organisation European Wildlife, was also one of the protagonists of the TV series Zelený hrdina (Green Hero), and was included among Tváře udržitelnosti (Faces of Sustainability) in 2023.
Photo: Jeffrey Osterroth
