Actions for Rivers
From project ideas to actions!
Actions for Rivers: an incubator for river conservation projects!
Through workshops, group discussions and tasks, the Actions for Rivers bring a diverse series of river conservation projects to life. Over the winter of 2020-2021, a diverse groups of young river enthusiasts have formed. Because of this productive and inspiring winter season of learning, planning and organizing the project groups have grown together. They have put these ideas into action! Scroll to the end of this page to learn more about the projects.
We are currently planning a new Actions for Rivers series for the 2022-2023 winter season. Let us know if you have any ideas you’d like to share.
ACTIONS FOR RIVERS 2020
Have a look at the projects that joined the incubator in 2020, to get an impression of the diversity of projects that resulted from the incubator last time.
V Globine – Youth for Climate Justice
Sava Pilot Project
With this project, we want to show that a strong bond of humans to rivers existed in the past and can still be nourished today. The project focuses on the Sava River in Slovenia and includes a podcast that evokes empathy, citizen science workshops with existing tools, ethnology workshops and an exhibition. Follow this link to find an interactive presentation on this project and learn more about the idea!
The memory of water
A cross-border journalism project for the Balkan rivers
Our project wants to develop the stories connected with river protection expanding in two directions: towards the international community of researchers, activists, and informed people, and towards a local level, addressing the local or regional communities that often are not fully aware of the river dynamics and the movements to save them. Our project will first build a network of contributors – journalists, scholars, researchers, or activists – that will collect the river stories and publish them for the local media and social networks. We will also build a website with a constantly updated geolocalized press-review, in English, that will contain the links to the stories and show them all together. The stories can be in any form: article, interview, report, video, or podcast.
Youth River Guardians
Lim Pilot Project
This project aims to increase the connection of local kids with rivers and to raise their awareness of the diverse and essential values of natural rivers. The Lim Regatta would be an excellent opportunity to connect with Montenegrin kids and conduct the first trial of our project. We plan to give them a complete experience of the river, its ecosystem, the biodiversity it holds, its morphology, and its culture. Practically, we would like to organize a series of workshops with the help of specialists where the kids could re-discover the Lim river and its challenges (e.g. illegal dumping of waste). The workshops could include: an art competition using natural materials and collected waste, the study of species existing along the river (e.g. BioBlitz), interviews with elderly people, game sessions on the lifecycle of water and waste, etc. We hope to make this experience as fun and inspiring as possible so that the children become the Guardians of the Lim Valley. We are only at the beginning of the project and we are looking for young and motivated people to bring new ideas and help develop the project. If you’re interested, don’t hesitate to contact us!
Science Done by Citizens
Lim Pilot Project
The main goal of this project is to test and develop citizen science tools for a rapid assessment of the natural and recreational values of rivers. This project also aims to raise awareness to local people about the natural values of the Lim valley and the essential services that it provides. We want to develop the ownership of the river and empower them to be active actors in preservation and celebration of the river. This project also aims to challenge decision-makers since the collected data will be used to bring to light the negative impacts of HPPs. The project concept involves the participation of the local citizens of the Lim Valley including school children, university students, scientists/ researchers focusing on their research in the region and finally activists who feel strongly against the further development of HPPs in the valley. The data collected will cover hydro-geomorphological and biological data of the river, and metadata such as pictures of waste dump sites to better monitor the environmental state of the surrounding environment. We aim to test the concept in the Lim Valley during the Lim Regatta next spring 2021.
Through the eye of a river
Lim Pilot Project
The vision of this project is to create a graphical book showing the reader our love for rivers. Rather than using written language, this book uses illustrations. That way the book is for young and old; we can make rivers accessible for almost everyone. The graphics will emphasize specific topics that are important to us. For example, our favourite rivers will be revealed in the book along with their unique wildlife. This will be contrasted with the heart-breaking consequences of human overuse and exploitation of the river system. Above all, the book will present the river habitats, their versatile wildlife, and tremendous diversity of species.
We know that human life, among so many, depends on fresh water of free flowing rivers. Even more, human civilisation moves along river systems using the fertile soil of the wetlands and choosing home on fluvial plains and terraces. While reading the book you will be taken on a live river adventure around the World. You can look forward to an overwhelming selection of unique ecosystems and human cultures.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at info@rivercollective.org