Asociaţia Harta Verde România is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation working to achieve a sustainable society through biodiversity conservation, promoting ecotourism, formal and non-formal education for nature for both young and adult people. Our vision is a world where people value the natural heritage in a sustainable manner. Our association has started to work on promoting the local biodiversity to the local communities in the city of Bistrița since 2010, and since 2012 we act as a partner in an adult education project called “Learning Natural Values in Europe” financed under the EU Grundtvig Learning Partnership programme. We are also custodians of three small natural reserves in the county of Bistrița-Năsăud .
Asociația Harta Verde România is affiliated to the Green Map global network (www.greenmap.org) and work on promoting and running Green Map projects in Romania through the global mapping website located at www.opengreenmap.org. Statement of Purpose Asociația Harta Verde România was founded by biologist and green mapmaker Ciprian Samoilă in order to promote green maps both at local and national level. Since December 2002 when Ciprian learned about green maps for the first time during the Green Mapmakers Global Gathering in Bellagio (Italy), he devoted his free time to learning, promoting and leading green map projects in Romania as well as in Europe. In April 2003, Ciprian and Razvan Ludu promoted the idea of an emotional map. In 2006, Ciprian joined the green mapmaking team for the first printed map in Bacau (Romania) published by Clubul de Turism Veniti cu Noi Bacau. In 2008, he coordinated the green mapmaking team for a larger project, Harta Verde Bucuresti, with results such as 100.000 printed maps and the launch of an online green map version, all made possible by a great team at Goodartofnoon Cultural Association (Bucharest). In the period 2009-2012, Ciprian and Asociatia Ascendent partnered with other 3 European green mapmakers for an EU funded Grundtvig project called 4BsHive - collaborational green mapping accross Europe (http://4bshive.wordpress.com).
Since 2010, Asociația Harta Verde Romania created green maps in the online Open Green Map platform for the following cities: Bistrița, Livezile, Constanța, and recently with help from local volunteers in Bucharest, Oradea, Arad, and Timișoara. The online open green maps are meant to act as local guides to local communities, as well as interactive spatial inventories of resources for a sustainable way of life, nature, culture and society.
