Friends of the Danube was created within Supernatural, environmental organization from Belgrade and in partnership with Agapedia foundation form Stuttgart.
Back in 2007 in Belgrade on Earth Day, April 22 we launched Supernatural festival, to celebrate Mother Earth and to raise environmental awareness of young people. It was a gathering place for communities and environmental activists and a way to promote active and nature loving lifestyle. Supernatural festival became an “edutainment” platform; a place where you can learn about environment while having fun.
We started a project “From waste dump to park” where we transformed a construction waste dump into a park, on the river island of Ada Huja. 12 hectares of land, which was totally degraded and inaccessible to public, over the next 11 years, was transformed into forest. Biodiversity of the areas was completely restored with 41 new species of plants, 91 species of birds, 9 species of butterflies, many insect, bees, and abundance of life. The project was voted one of 25 best in Europe, more than 50,000 people visited newly formed park and the forest was protected in the Belgrade city planning documents.
Meanwhile, we teamed up with Agapedia foundation, from Stuttgart, and worked on various Danube youth projects, among
which Friends of the Danube camps were our favorite. The ideas was let’s get together and feel all right :) The camps are envisioned as
practical educational program aiming at empowering youth to get active for the biodiversity and environment of the Danube river. FOD Camp
is a meeting point, a connection for young people and a way to experience the river in adventourous way, through fun and engaging activities.
Practical education consist of various workshops, such as bird watching, kayaking, trekking, tree planting, cycling, camping, cooking... while
learning about its biodiversity.
And than we thought, lets make Danube a full time job :) so we launched a clothing brand dedicated to the amazing river. Friends of the Danube, Clothing brand with the purpose.