Our eco-social projects
In addition to supporting many families in remote areas of Montenegro through our ecotourism activities with Nikena Eco Adventures, we have founded and are managing a non-governmental organization and a social enterprise. Our aim is to raise awareness of waste reduction and litter, to help women in northern Montenegro and to raise environmental awareness among children. We also launched the “Smoke-free Montenegro” initiative while Montenegro was still clogged with smoke in all restaurants and cafés – fortunately, this is now a thing of the past.
In October 2016, we established partnership with the NGO Zero Waste Montenegro and the local NGO Green Home. Our travel agency makes an annual donation of 5% of its profits to this NGO.
The mission of Zero Waste Montenegro is to:
– to raise awareness among local citizens and companies on reducing the amount of waste left in the environment,
– to encourage the reuse, recycling and reduction of consumption of objects, especially plastic and single-use objects.
Main objectives achieved:
– launch of the first online petition for a ban on plastic bags in Montenegro,
– creation of the National Coastal Clean-up since 2017 with more than 15 local partners and more than 600 volunteers each year,
– project carried out within the Ministry of Tourism and Sustainable Development and the Municipality of Podgorica to reduce the consumption of single-use plastic objects in these 2 institutions,
– creation of reusable cotton bags designed and made in Montenegro by women in difficult situations,
– national campaign for the reduction of plastic bags that are regularly found in nature.
The handcrafted plush toys Znuggle™ are made entirely from natural products and by hand. From the preparation of the wool (with natural dyes) to the individual crochet finishing, we provide economic support to women in rural areas of Montenegro. Our goal is to spread a little joy and happiness by providing an educational tool on ecosystems and circular economy.
In Montenegro it was possible to smoke inside public places, such as restaurants, bars, cafes, and most of these places were constantly full of smoke, to the great despair of many tourists who were used to the ban on smoking in public places for many years already in their country.
We therefore decided to create a map of public places where the owners banned smoking, in order to allow our guests and anyone else who wanted, to enjoy a smoke-free meal, and to promote these places. Since August 2019, a law has been enforced successfully to ban the smoking in bars and restaurants. We like to think that our initiative had a role in influencing society and institutions to create a healthier environment for Montenegrin society.
You would like to react on our projects? Do you have questions, comments or suggestions? Or would like to participate in them?
Contact us!