Kure Mountains as a Biodiversity Hotspot:
The Kure Mountains National Park area contains pristine humid, karstic natural old forests, intact forest remnants, canyons, rich herbaceous and ligneous vegetation, which is rare on earth. The region is very rich zoologically (40 out of 132 mammal species known in Turkey found in the region) and in terms of avifauna (147 species of 40 bird families live in the region and 46 of these species are in danger of extinction). Due to its geographical location, land structure and forest cover, the national park area has been declared by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) as ?one of the 100 hot spots?, within the campaign known as ?The Biodiversity Hot Spots of Europe?.
The Kure Mountains National Park lies on 37,000 ha and on two Provinces: Kastamonu in East and Bartin in west; On its buffer zone of 80,000 ha, there are 47 rural settlements. Ulus-Arit area is on the west of the Kure Mountains National Park in Bartin Province.

This project has been developed in response to the need of creating awareness on natural values, among the middle-aged and young generation of the Bartin ? Ulus area.
Project Strategy was ?learning from the community and giving it back to the community?.

The overall goal of the project is to sustain the nature sensitive life of the inhabitants of Ulus, which lies on the west of the Kure Mountains National Park.
The project aims at creating awareness on the region?s nature, sustainable use of natural resources and nature-sensitive alternative income sources, in order to make the local population protect natural values in general and the Kure Mountains National Park in particular, and participate to the management of the protected area.

The project has two main components: Learning from elder population the traditional and sustainable use of biological resources and giving that local knowledge back to the younger portion of the community through organized training and practices. In addition, the project comprises activities aimed at developing the capacity of the implementing NGO at local level in order to enable it for the monitoring of the project?s impact and its replicability.
- Ethno-botanical and social studies were undertaken to understand the perception of nature and daily practices depending on natural resources of the inhabitants. Studies are conducted through discussions with the local people, besides observations.
- During the research phase, local natural resources of the region and their past usage were examined and nature-sensitive economic activities consistent with the region?s characteristics were identified.
- Training needs for increasing general awareness were determined.
- Training were held in central villages, mainly where severe nature degradation was occurring and were poverty was aggravating.
- Training material (such as audio-visual material, booklets, brochures, posters) were prepared. Training is provided to three main groups: the villagers, the teachers at primary schools and local administrators.

The project owner CBO is Asagicerci Village Association for Protection.
Sub-Provincial Government Authority of Ulus, Local Authority of Ministry of Environment and Forestry, WWF-Turkey, Union of Village Development Cooperatives of Zonguldak, Kure Mountains Ecotourism Association are the project partners.