Project Guardians of the Dark Sky
Our projects
The project is financed by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, from the EEA Funds under the
Active Citizens - Regional Fund program.
Project 'Guardians of the Dark Sky'
Project partners:
Project leader: the Association for Innovation and Technology Transfer "Horizons" from Rzeszow.
Project partner: non-investment Fund "Teleskop" from Snina, Slovakia.
Project implementation period:
11 months, from December 2021 to October 2022.
Main project activities
The place of project implementation is the city of Rzeszow, the area of Subcarpathia, in particular the Bieszczady Starry Sky Park and the Slovak Poloniny Dark Sky Park.
The aim of the project was to support civic activities to protect the night environment from artificial light pollution by:
- Promoting and building awareness of the importance of protecting the nighttime natural environment from artificial light pollution.
- Improving the skills of civic action as whistleblowers/syndicators and guardians/guardians of the quality of the nocturnal environment.
Key results of the project:
1. Thematic workshops for dark sky watchdogs/guardians:
- 2 workshops on documenting pollution with artificial light- night photography and filming.
- 1 workshop on preparing (editing) materials from publication and publishing the results of watchdog activities in the media
- 1 training on legal aspects related to the protection of dark skies from artificial light pollution and on procedures for submitting demands to local authorities for intervention and strategic documents.
- 1 follow-up training.
2. Press and information conference.
3. Organization of thematic webinars.
4. A film promoting the topic of artificial light pollution.
5. Photo contest whose purpose was to capture in photography the problem of pollution by artificial light.
As a result of the project, a group of about 30 people has been formed in Podkarpacie - the guardians/guardians of the dark sky, who are able to monitor and signal to local authorities and the media the problems associated with the increasing pollution of the environment by artificial light.
Since Podkarpacie is home to some of the least artificially light-polluted natural areas in Poland, such as the Bieszczady Starry Sky Park, the activities of such a group of people will contribute to maintaining the good state of the region's environment, and perhaps even improving it locally.