Anyone can have their own virtual forest with the WWF mobile application

(Photo: Pixabay)

According to WWF Hungary’s announcement, the mobile application presented by the organization on the occasion of the Day of Birds and Trees shows how a homogeneous, species-poor and climate-changed economic forest can become a diverse, species-rich and resistant natural forest. With the help of the augmented reality (AR) technological solution, users can create a forest edge and plant saplings, create wetlands, install birdhouses, and monitor how their forest becomes more and more diverse and natural. “Not only the forest itself, but also the animals and plants living in it feel climate change: for some it is beneficial and for some it can be fatal,” they wrote. In the second part of the game, users can get to know such species and guess which species is the winner or loser of climate change. “We are happy to see that more and more people are realizing the effects of climate change on our environment. However, we still have a lot to learn about how to prepare for these challenges. Through this game, everyone can get a taste of the role that diversity can play, of natural diversity in preserving the health of forests and the forest climate,” the announcement quotes Pál Bódis, an expert in WWF Hungary’s Forest Program.

The mobile application was created by WWF Hungary in the CLIMAFORCEELIFE project supported by the LIFE program of the European Union.

In the project running between 2020 and 2027, the forestry methods used in Central and Eastern Europe will be examined from the perspective of climate change, and forestry procedures will be proposed that help to adapt more successfully to climate change. In addition to the WWF offices in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, the Southwest Bulgarian State Forestry, the Czech University of Life Sciences, the Hungarian National Association of Private Forest Owners and Farmers and the Slovak State Forestry are participating in the project.

MTI