Climate Action Days: Climate resilient community orchard - climate action with local NGOs and kindergarten

We are launching a communal, climate-resilient orchard as both a practical intervention and a shared learning space, showing how rural communities can and should return to cultivating locally adapted, resilient species while strengthening their connection to nature and to each other. T

he initiative will begin as a multi-day community effort, bringing together local NGOs, the kindergarten, youth associations, municipal services, and residents. Together, we will shape the space, prepare the soil, and plant fruit trees suited to a changing climate. But the act of planting is only the starting point. As the orchard takes root, it becomes an open, living classroom - where children learn by getting their hands dirty, growing and picking their food, and where knowledge is exchanged through practice rather than theory. 

Through this process, children will learn how to care for the soil, protect young trees, and manage water in increasingly unpredictable conditions. Just as importantly, they will learn how to build and sustain a shared space, one that belongs to the community and grows with it. Over time, the orchard should become a place of continuity: for education, for food, and for resilience. 

We will document this journey and turn it into a practical guide for others, combining general principles with general insights and insights specific to continental Croatia. In doing so, the project extends beyond its local roots, offering a replicable model for municipalities, schools, organizations, and individuals who want to cultivate not just orchards, but stronger, more resilient communities.