The webinar "Let's protect the forests so that the forests protect us" was organized by the Belgrade Open School on Wednesday, March 10, 2021. with the aim of presenting the role of forests in the fight against climate change. The webinar was organized for students of secondary vocational schools from Subotica, Kragujevac and Vlasotince who participate in the project of German Development Cooperation "Dialogue on Employment Creation, Initiatives and Dual Education (DECIDE)". The project supported the participation of schools in the action "Plant your shade", initiated by civil society organizations Let's do it Serbia and the Green Development Center, and the webinar was organized as an introduction to this action. In 60 minutes, in addition to the presentation of the moderator Nikola Stanojević on the 2030 Agenda and its practical application related to forest conservation, the central part of the webinar was two lectures by panelists who are experts in this field. Namely, Bojana Bokić's lecture focused on forest ecosystem services, while Slavica Čepić talked about trees in cities, how and why trees are planted, as well as the functions of urban green areas. Also, the lecture was aimed at giving practical examples, advice, as well as encouraging action to preserve forests and plant trees.

The panelists at the webinar were:

• Bojana Bokić, Assistant at the Faculty of Science in Novi Sad, Department of Biology and Ecology, and
• Slavica Ćepić, Research Associate, Faculty of Forestry in Belgrade

Moderator: Nikola Stanojević, Council member of the Center for Biodiversity Research.

The Belgrade Open School realized a series of webinars dedicated to the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals in the period from September 2020 to February 2021.

The webinar „Save the forests so that the forests would save us“ on Sustainable Development Goal number 15: LIFE ON LAND was organized within the framework of the Sustainable Development for All Platform, supported by the Governments of Switzerland and Germany, and implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The project partners are the Belgrade Open School, the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence, the Center for Advanced Economic Studies, the Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation, the Center for Democracy Foundation, and the Timoc Youth Center.

The Sustainable Development for All Platform implies the establishment of a public dialogue among the most important non-state actors in Serbia, such as civil society, corporate sector, academic and research community, professional associations, media, and citizens, on aligning Serbia’s development priorities with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The idea is to facilitate interaction with decision-makers on aligning Serbia’s development priorities with the goals contained in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

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