First “fog catchers” installed on Tara – Green Agenda Initiative in Serbia

As part of the “For a Green Agenda of Serbia” initiative, and with financial support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, atmospheric moisture collectors, so-called “fog catchers,” have been installed in the Tara National Park to preserve the humid habitats of the unique ecosystem of the Crveni Potok reserve.

And for the sites, also in the National Park - the Raca Gorge and the Zvezda Canyon, a nomination procedure has been initiated for inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The Crveni Potok reserve is the only place in the world where Pancic spruce and white peat bogs, a type of rare moss, grow together, today endangered by climate change, drought, and human influence. By installing “fog catchers” in the Tara National Park, they will try to stabilize the water regime of the ten-thousand-year-old peat bog.

– Fog catchers are mesh structures. Through condensation, water droplets are collected on this fine network, then deposited in reservoirs, or water basins. We will use this water in unfavorable periods, and the first effects will be visible after just one vegetation season – says Marijana Josipovic, the biologist of the Tara National Park.

Aleksandar Duric, head of the Planning, Protection and Development Service, Tara National Park, adds that the specificity of these sites, specifically the Zvezda Canyon on Tara, is that the Pancic spruce, our endemic relic and symbol of the National Park, is located in the upper zone.

– We also have a relict community with domestic walnut in the Raca Gorge – says Duric.

In addition to the Raca Gorge and the Zvezda Canyon in the National Park, as Duric notes, two sites on Kopaonik and Fruska Gora are in the nomination process for the UNESCO World Heritage List - Kozje stene and Papratski do.

JP Nacionalni park Tara Bajina Bašta

National Park Tara

Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency

Marijana Josipović

Aleksandar Durić

atmospheric humidity