In 2013, the Metropolitan Assembly without prior social consultation decided to establish an expensive, risky and destructive for our nature flood defense mobile dam, designed for the Roman coast. As a result, we created the Keep the Trees on the Roman Coast Facebook group to prevent the construction of an environmentally unfriendly dam, and to ensure that the Roman coast is renewed along common values.
The group swelled to thousands in a short time, and several national NGOs working on the environment and a sustainable city joined the operation. In March 2013, we organized a demonstration with 2,000 people, which helped halt the implementation of the plan bleeding from a thousand wounds.
In 2016, the plan for the coastal dam was on the agenda again. By then, we bent to the task more consciously, involving community organizer professionals. In addition to our previous and new professional allies, we reorganized the team based primarily on a population of 55,000 citizens, who use or are affected by flood protection at the Roman coast. In October 2016, with the participation of almost 3.000 people, this colorful team co-hosted a demonstration in favor of a natural environment-friendly alternative, warning people about the dangers of the coastal dam, using the slogan ”Trees on the Roman Coast! Dam on the Nánási’”
The local community has gradually strengthened and now represents its interests as an independent group, in preventing the destructive investment of the nature-damagin Roman coast mobile dam, creating a safe Nánási road dam, renewing the Roman coast in a natural way, using the floodplain for sports and recreation.
Photos: Beliczay László, Járdány Bence
