Let it flow! A role-play for the Aoos river basin management 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 aims 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 and its tributaries as a transboundary ecological corridor but also as a resource for community development.

Approach

To implement our project, we will:

• Develop and pilot test an environmental curriculum based on a Role-Playing Game (RPG) with students in the Aoos river basin.
• Consolidate and disseminate the developed environmental curriculum at local, regional, national, and transboundary levels.
• Build the capacities to continue the implementation of the environmental curriculum after the end of the project.

Expected Results

The school community will be sensitised to river protection and will learn the value of dialogue in addressing complex management issues in an experiential and playful way. Three schools in Konitsa will directly benefit from the project’s activities. The outputs are designed to reach a wide audience including 70 schools from Ioannina and dozens of visiting schools from all over Greece. Let it flow!