Photo: Naturalit.lt
2024 was a record year for volunteering in Lithuania’s protected areas! As many as 198 volunteering events took place, of which 114 took place in Natura 2000 areas. We are glad that as many as 3,850 volunteers – true friends of protected areas – joined the nature conservation work!
This year is the 5th year that the team of the nature conservation project “Naturalit”, the State Service for Protected Areas and the Directorates of Protected Areas invite Lithuanian companies and communities to implement volunteering activities in protected areas. Hurry up and choose your team’s activities from the volunteering map.
Volunteering journey: from Finland to Lithuania
We noticed the idea of volunteering in protected areas in 2018, when employees of the Samogitia National Park Directorate and the State Service for Protected Areas under the Ministry of the Environment were interning in the Finnish Nuuksio National Park. There we met a team from a Finnish bank that is actively working in nature. They enthusiastically told us that contributing to nature management is a necessary experience.
We first introduced this idea in Lithuania in 2021. That year, only 13 help sessions took place, which were chosen by several companies, but in 2022. 26 help sessions were organized, and in 2023. this number increased to 142 help sessions. In the same year, volunteering in protected areas was recognized as one of the 5 best green initiatives in the Presidential Awards “Lietuvos galia”. 2024. became an absolute record – 198 help sessions, during which a lot of significant work was done for Lithuanian nature. According to preliminary calculations, we believe that in 2024. volunteers performed work worth €577,500 (we assume that 1 volunteer performs work worth €150 per day).
Can we stop? Absolutely not! 2025 is the anniversary year of volunteering in protected areas, so we are continuing this initiative and hope to continue our successful cooperation with volunteers.
Photo: Naturalit.lt
Why choose volunteering in protected areas?
Lithuanian protected areas are unique for their abundance of natural and cultural heritage, unique landscape diversity and biological value. Here you can see rare plant and animal species, discover nature that has been little touched by humans near large cities and even in the capital itself. Lithuanian protected areas are important not only at the national but also at the international level. Most of them are included in the Natura 2000 network – a European ecological network designed to protect important natural values and preserve biodiversity. These areas include not only unique natural landscapes, but also places that are extremely important for the survival of rare and endangered species.
Volunteering in protected areas is not only practical help to nature, but also an opportunity to learn more about its values, develop ecological awareness and contribute to responsible environmental care. On average, about 1,650 people volunteer per year, and the most popular volunteering locations are the Coastal Region and areas near major cities, but we actively encourage participants to discover less visited, but no less valuable, protected areas.
Photo: Naturalit.lt
What to expect?
Many volunteers are surprised that the volunteering is not just “calm observation of nature” – it is often active, physically demanding work: destroying invasive plants, restoring open habitats (cutting down tree growths, removing branches), and maintaining infrastructure. However, each day of the volunteering becomes not only work, but also an experience – participants are met by specialists from the protected areas directorates, who at the beginning tell about the values of nature, and after the volunteering, we thank the volunteers with a cognitive excursion to the most interesting places to visit.
As volunteer surveys show, many people leave with a new attitude towards nature conservation and a desire to return. Volunteering allows you to experience that the team has carried out an activity important for nature conservation, and also encourages participants to spend more time independently in protected areas
2025 is a special year of volunteering in protected areas – we invite companies, organizations and communities to join this meaningful activity! More information about volunteering opportunities can be found on the interactive map and on social networks.
If you want to volunteer – contact the responsible person indicated in the activity description, you can also contact the volunteering coordination center savanoriauk@saugoma.lt
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.