Let it flow! A role play for the management of the Aoos River Basin in Greece

Challenge

The Aoos River Basin, a border area in the north-western Greece, has a well-preserved natural environment but is characterised by low socio-economic dynamism, being one of the poorest regions in the EU. Although the Aoos (also known as the Vjosa) is the longest and the last free-flowing river in Europe, the area is under significant threat from planned small hydropower plants.

Objective

The project aimed to encourage students from the Aoos River Basin to engage in the protection of their rivers and contribute to maintain the free flow of the Aoos River and its tributaries as a transboundary ecological corridor but also as a resource for community development.

Approach

The following approach was used in the project:

• Development and pilot testing of an environmental curriculum based on a role-playing game with students in the Aoos River Basin.
• Development and dissemination of an environmental curriculum at local, regional, national and transboundary levels.
• Building the capacity of the local education community to implement the environmental curriculum after project completion.

Achieved Results

The 'Let it Flow!' project has successfully engaged the school community of Konitsa in river protection, promoting the value of science and dialogue in solving complex management problems through an experiential approach. Three schools with 140 students actively participated in the project, which culminated in the pilot implementation of the environmental education curriculum and the presentation of the results to the local authorities, and 23 educators were trained to implement the curriculum in the future. The curriculum was disseminated to 140 schools in the region of Epirus and submitted to the Ministry of Education for inclusion in regional and national curricula. It has also been translated into Albanian and given to Eco Albania to promote its implementation in schools in the Vjosa River Basin. Let it flow!