The association was founded in the autumn of 1991 under the name Hajdúböszörményi Ifjúsági Természetvédő Kör (Youth Environmental Protection Circle of Hajdúböszörmény). At that time, our activities were primarily focused on environmental education and nature conservation, mainly carried out in the vicinity of our town, Hajdúböszörmény. Over the years, we gradually became involved in environmental and consumer protection, regional development, and ecotourism, as well as in activities that strengthen community and social participation.
Our headquarters and central office are located in the main square of Hajdúböszörmény. We also own a campsite on the banks of the Bodrog River, from where we organize canoe tours. The execution of our diverse tasks is supported by 5 to 10 full-time employees and several dozen active volunteers, depending on our ongoing projects. Nationally, our work is characterized by cooperation with regional environmental authorities, numerous civil organizations focusing on environmental protection and regional development, as well as with municipalities and educational institutions. Locally, in both the Hajdúság region and along the Bodrog River, we strive to form partnerships with civil communities organized around other areas through local collaborations and programs, in which we often take an initiating role. We have also published thematic newsletters in connection with our various programs.
Our mission is to protect nature and to shape the environmental consciousness of the younger generation, as well as to guide the adult population back onto the right path, thereby promoting sustainability. Most of our programs are interactive and, besides environmental education, have a community-building force.
Our goals include raising awareness of our activities among the people living in the Hajdúság region, especially in Hajdúböszörmény, through various awareness-raising lectures and programs. The main focus is on environmental protection, nature conservation, and health preservation.
The primary target group of our activities includes the population of Hajdúböszörmény and the surrounding Hajdúság region, particularly students, disadvantaged groups, local volunteers, civil organizations, self-initiated movements, and small and medium-sized enterprises. Additionally, we engage with residents of Northeastern Hungary and the Hungary-Slovakia border region through international collaborations.
President MOLNÁR ANTAL He obtained a humanities degree at the University of Debrecen in 1998, and later a regional development qualification.He took part in the founding meeting of the Association of Hungarian Conservationists held in the Buda castle in 1989, which gave the impetus for the foundation of the association two years later. He has been the leader of Zöld Kör since the beginning, and he also manages his own company. His hobby is nature photography
Vice-president, is a history teacher, head of the Hajdúböszörmény high school dormitory andmember of the local treasury committee.Responsible and leader of the organization’s cycling and high- altitude tourism programs, as well as his full-fledged deputy in the event of the president’s obstruction.
He graduated from the University of Debrecen with a degree in pedagogy, but his main activity is beekeeping.In 1994, he obtained a local government mandate in the representative body of Hajdúböszörmény City in the colors of the association, after which he participated in local public life and represented environmental interests as an independent representative for several terms.
Wildlife management plant engineer, currently works as a tree nurse as an entrepreneur.
Electrical engineer, currently works in the corporate sector as a project engineer.
Environmental management plant engineer and water engineer and expert. Senior employee of the Tiszántúl Water Administration.
Environmental management plant engineer and waste management specialist engineer and expert. He is the division manager of the local waste management company and the owner of a craft brewery.
She obtained a university degree in environmental geography at the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the University of Debrecen. She has been active in various fields, but currently he administers youth projects supported by the European Solidarity Corps and also supports attitude-forming activities.
She obtained a landscape conservation geographer degree from the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the University of Debrecen, joined the association as an environmental consultant in 2007, then started her career as an activist in our Environmental Consulting Office in Debrecen. She is currently an office manager.
Obtained a degree in biology from the Faculty of Science of the University of Debrecen, joined the association as an environmental educator in 2018, where she is currently a staff member responsible for sustainability education, as well as responsible for the administration of international collaborations.
Environmental ecologist and doctor of natural sciences
Retired electrical engineer with advanced English skills.
He is a nature conservation engineering student at the University of Debrecen, and is an assistant in nature conservation and education
He is a connoisseur of the natural habitats and bird life of Tokaj-Hegyalja, Zemplén and Bodrogköz, mentor and manager of nature conservation volunteer programs
He graduated from the University of Debrecen with a degree in pedagogy, but also has a carpentry qualification.Its basic task is to register the tools, sets and installations in the warehouse and to help move them as necessary.
In the course of our work, the concepts and topics of environmental protection and environmental education are closely connected. The primary target group of our attitude-shaping programs is the school and preschool age group, since it is worth starting education for environmental awareness as early as possible. In order to develop the right attitudes that protect the values and elements of nature, we also try to win the cooperation of the teachers and educators who teach the children and the kind parents. That’s why we strive to provide diverse programs, offering all age groups the opportunity to learn through play and have a meaningful time. We strive to emphasize the system-level, “everything is connected” principle, so that people realize: We are all part of our Earth’s environment, therefore we are responsible for its condition and preserving its values.
Our interactive traveling exhibitions present important topics and reveal the roots of problems, which are usually presented in educational institutions or cultural events.These exhibitions can be made more interesting by optional guided tours and other engaging elements, toto and additional presentations.In addition to the traveling exhibitions, our permanent exhibition, which can be visited from spring to autumn, is located in Bodrogkeresztúr. It is called our Stork Protection Center and draws attention to bird protection, including the protection of the highly protected white stork.
Mostly aimed at school-age children, we also hold knowledge-enhancing sessions, which are usually 45-minute lectures given by an expert, during which the presenters go around the given topic with the help of short films, quizzes and PPT presentations, typically with local examples and solution options, as well as environmental awareness education that can be applied in everyday life, by outlining and promoting the correct attitudes that shed light on system-level connections. Thus, the topic of waste, energy efficiency, climate protection, the importance of nature conservation, the wildlife of the Debrecen- Hajdúböszörmény oak forests and the Bodrog river, bird and pollinator protection and many other exciting topics have already been discussed.
During the summer, our association organizes various camps for young people.At our campsite and water tour base in Bodrogolaszi, over the years, we have held numerous nature conservation, herbal knowledge, fishing, creative and sports camps.On the occasion of Erasmus+ youth exchanges, young Europeans were able to gain knowledge about climate protection and waste management, and they were able to participate
in a 1-month volunteer program supported by the European Solidarity Corps, which we plan to continue with varied topics in the future.
One of the main motivations for the creation of the organization was the curiosity through which some young people from Böszörmény – who
spent a significant part of their time looking for the birds of the Böszörmény border – mapped the habitats worth preserving in the administrative
area of Hajdúböszörmény between 1985-1990.Then in 1992, based on these experiences and collected observation data, the association prepared the proposal to declare several nature conservation areas of local importance as protected.After that, in 2002 and again between 2008-2012, we made similar proposals several times in the case of the settlements of Bagamér, Kismarja, Hortobágy and Sárospatak, in connection with new local protected areas and protected monuments (trees, rows of trees).
The members of the association primarily tried to excel in the field of bird protection and monitoring, initially in Hajdúság, and later in other
regions of the north-eastern tip of our country.As a result, many artificial nests have been installed or are in the process of protecting the white
stork.Also, at 5-6 locations, artificial nesting colonies were created for songbirds, as well as at one location for desert birds of prey (wrens).In
addition, predatory artificial nests and slaty burrows were placed several times.In addition, they dealt with botanical rescue and planting along
kunhills and loess meadows on several occasions, and nearly 10,000 protected and endangered herbaceous plants were replanted between 2019-2021 in the Debrecen-Hajdúböszörmény oak forests Natura 2000 area, within the framework of the ‘Na-Tu-Re’ project.
In order to protect natural values, the association has tried from the beginning to organize camps in which the participating young people can
help nature protection under professional guidance through voluntary activities.In the course of these, we suppress alien invasive plants in
suitable forest or lawn areas, and we also install and maintain existing or new nature conservation equipment (e.g. bat poles).
The aim of our campaign activities is to make our target audience familiar with
the most important basic concepts of environmental protection and the environmental problems of our time, thereby helping to develop the correct ecological approach and solving a given problem.Our public awareness campaigns help direct attention to a specific environmental problem, and we also try to reveal its solution options in a form that is understandable to the general
public.Among such campaigns, most of our energy was spent during the introduction of selective waste collection on public attitudes regarding correct waste management, in connection with which we have recently placed emphasis on prevention and conscious consumption, as well as the promotion of home composting.But on several occasions we have organized garbage collection on the Bodrog River for demonstration purposes, the role of which was recently taken over by the PET Cup – in the first race of which we participated as a co-organizer.In addition, our several campaigns also served to encourage energy
awareness and the creation of an environmentally friendly household, in connection with which we tried to prioritize the sharing of good practices and ‘penny’ practices.
With some of our activities, we also try to help municipalities fulfill their nature and environmental protection tasks by eliminating illegal landfills,
communicating environmental protection measures, and in recent years, achieving local climate protection goals.Among these, we would like
to highlight the “Ready4Heat” project of the Hajdúböszörmény City Municipality, which was launched in March 2023 as part of the international cooperation, which aims to introduce short-, medium- and long-term measures for the increasing summer heat waves.In this, our association sensitizes and prepares the most sensitive local social groups, and with the involvement of experts, helps develop a local climate adaptation strategy, which also formulates a strategic heat warning plan and measures.
Our well-prepared professional team encourages the will to do by implementing pedagogic and educational projects.These include, among
others, educational activities at schools and kindergartens, environmental and nature conservation competitions, eco-playhouses, and
interactive exhibitions with guided tours and other educational elements.
Nature conservation and nature walks are activities that are hard to separate for many.After all, in order to be able to protect our natural values, we need to know and walk around them.Thus, most of our association members are fans and practitioners of both genres.In the beginning, the Green Circle only organized walking tours, but in the latter period there are more cycling and water tours.
Our hiking tours to the North Central Mountains or the Carpathians – to the beautiful landscapes of Transylvania and the Highlands -, while our water tours are primarily advertised to the Bodrog and its flood plains.The former are only available to members, while the latter are advertised to the general public due to our water tour base in the village of Bodrogolasz, from spring to autumn.Our cycling tours are occasional, announced once or twice a year, and in recent years, we have joined the Bicycle 7 Across the Border movement in Bihor County in Romania, or Bodrogköz in Slovakia as part of 2-3 day programs.
A special segment of tourism aimed at visiting and presenting natural values is ecotourism.In connection with this, we also organize herbal
knowledge tours, landscape tours and birdwatching and photography tours.Among these, we advertise our bird photography programs as a
service, for which we also welcome guests from abroad during the nesting and migration periods.
Although the environment and nature conservation are decisive in our activities, in the environments where we operate – in Hajdúság and along the Bodrog – we also try to participate in community life, thus building the given local community by organizing cultural, social or youth programs.Among these, our defining program in the Sárospatak and Tokaj micro-regions was our Bodrog Menti Felzárkóztató Program, which between 2011-2014 served community catch-up and rural
development in seven villages, including Bodrogolaszi.The most decisive activity in Hajdúság concerned the loose cooperation that had quieted down in recent years, in which the civil organizations of Hajdúböszörmény, active in the field of public education, gathered in an informal organization and joined several joint programs and initiatives with organizations active in other fields.In addition, within our own ranks – as members of the Green Circle – we regularly organize community programs for the purpose of recreation or simply to strengthen ‘togetherness’.These are, for example, the events connected with the year-end
dinner, where we give an account of what happened in the given year in the framework of a slide show, which usually ends with a raffle. We strengthened the cooperation of the domestic green movement by organizing several regional round tables and on several occasions by hosting the national meeting of environmental and nature protection organizations. Among them, in 1999 in Hajdúböszörmény and in 2004 in Debrecen, we hosted the annual national traveling assembly of the Greens.In 2010, we were co-organizers of the meeting held in Hortobágy
