?Vârghis-gorge, Tourism and Biogas? seeks to implement an integrated system for the education and application of sustainable solutions in the village of Meresti. Meresti, located in the foothills of the Harghita mountains has a dairy-based economy, neighbors the Vargyas Gorge Natura 2000 pilot site for Central Region and is a surprisingly intact village from an architectural standpoint. Vârghis-gorge, Tourism and Biogas? seeks to provide Meresti with the tools to capitalize upon these three areas ? implementing viable economic returns on sustainable environmental projects and creating a working model for expansion of the theories in play to encourage similar villages in the region to choose sustainable practices.

The first area is encouraging ecotourism. During GEF SGP funded ?Partnership for conservation and sustainable use of Varghis Gorge nature reserve? Agora worked with Meresti families to become trained tourism providers and begin developing local products. The families who were trained have seen an increase in their income but, as with the local products, they lack links to a larger market.

?Vârghis-gorge, Tourism and Biogas? seeks to address this through several novel and innovative marketing systems which will provide models for other villagers in Romania. The second area this project would focus upon is interaction with the environment through management of the Gorge. Villagers learned about the gorge through the last project but there needs to be more accountability and hands on education regarding both the positive and negative impacts they can have. Through hands on education, villagers will come to take ownership over projects and thus come to protect the area.

The final leg of ?Vârghis-gorge, Tourism and Biogas? regards Land management. Education and experimentation begun under the previous project have now evolved to a new level under the E.U. paradigm. The Vargyas Gorge natural area was declared a Natura 2000 pilot site giving Meresti and its land owners a unique opportunity to learn about and apply for traditional and low impact agricultural subsidies which might drastically improve their incomes. The combination of tourism, sustainable land management and environmental management, offers villagers in Meresti an opportunity to build sustainable incomes, based on local resources, into their lives thus providing them with the opportunity to choose sustainable lifestyles and provide and example.

?Vârghis-gorge, Tourism and Biogas? is a natural evolution of ?rural communities in harmony with nature? along lines defined by the community and education derived from that grant cycle. Agora, its partners and the community of Meresti seek to link what was begun in ?Partnership for conservation and sustainable use of Varghis Gorge nature reserve? and finish with a truly integrated, unique and sustainable system for sustainable living on local terms.