The extreme summer of 2022 marked the destination Miren Kras for the second time in 3 years with a forest fire – this time the largest in the history of Slovenia. It destroyed 3,600 hectares of land, 80% of which is the territory of one of the greenest and most sustainable destinations in Slovenia (4 times ranked among the TOP 100 in the world and 4 times among the TOP 6 best green practices), which primarily builds its offer on active outdoor tourism in pristine nature. We faced a “survival challenge” – how to encourage/maintain tourism in a “burnt destination”. In cooperation between the three municipalities that were affected by the fire and the non-profit foundation Vrabček upanja, we designed the national campaign SKUPAJ ZA KRAS (TOGETHER FOR THE KARST). The campaign was created for collecting donations for the reconstruction of the burnt area and for the establishment of a new green hiking transversal, which will connect the territory into a new, cross-border educational-tourism product which will raise awareness on climate change and empowerment and the promotion of tourism development in the entire affected area.
Keywords: educational program, power of unity, landscape restoration. karst, wildfire