Environmental and Ocean Literacy in the Black Sea Basin Project

UN SDG 4.7 points to the transformative power of education when it supports sustainable  development agendas, and calls on decision-makers to ensure that all learners acquire the  knowledge and skills necessary to support sustainable lifestyles. However, formal and non-formal  education systems in Türkiye, Bulgaria and Greece have been inadequate in delivering such  education, and adults are particularly left behind although they have a greater impact on the  environment. The overall objective of the project is to increase environmental and ocean literacy and  green competences among young adults in cities coastal to the Black Sea in Türkiye, Bulgaria and  Greece in order to contribute to the conservation of nature and biodiversity in the Black Sea Basin.  The project will empower young adults via 30 dissemination trainings, and an awareness raising  video.

An education programme and a trainers’ manual will be designed and two training of trainers  will be organized for CSO and local government representatives to strengthen their education  capacity. Nine dissemination trainings will be organized as a pilot action for local governments. An  international workshop will be organized and a white paper will be written for local CSOs and local  governments to strengthen their environmental education policy-making capacities. The scope of  environmental issues necessitates transnational cooperation and harmonization in the field of  environmental education as acknowledged by international and regional instruments such as SDGs  and the GreenComp.

Environmental education should also foster an understanding of the  interconnection among communities and be shaped by a global citizenship approach, which makes  regional collaboration necessary. Transnational approach is needed to develop common solutions in  line with international/regional standards, build capacity and foster implementation of effective and  aligned policies and practices in all three countries. 

The Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature (HSPN)

The Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature (HSPN) is the oldest national environmental NGO in Greece, operating continuously since 1951 throughout the country for the protection of nature. From its very inception it has been at the forefront of efforts to establish national parks, to protect habitats and threatened species of fauna and flora, and to modernise and implement environmental legislation.

From 1958, the position of General Secretary was held by the late Byron Antipas, who was the driving force of the HSPN for 35 years. His pivotal role in the early environmental movement in Greece was illustrated by the fact that he was sent as the official representative of the national government in 1971 to sign the Ramsar Convention on behalf of Greece. Antipas’ seminal work in nature protection has been widely recognized by many international organizations. In gratitude for his great contribution, the HSPN has established the “Byron Antipas Prize”, which is awarded regularly to non-public organizations or individuals who have contributed significantly to the protection of nature and the environment, and have done so in an un-self-interested way over many years. Among the recipients are renowned environmentalist Luc Hoffmann (2005), the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (2011), and widely-known Swedish botanist Arne Strid (2017).

For many years the HSPN functioned as a kind of nursery, mainly through the encouragement Antipas gave to young Greeks to promote nature protection: from it developed other more specialised organizations such as the Hellenic Ornithological Society, the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece, and the Hellenic Society for the Study and Protection of the Monk seal (Mom).

The HSPN is a member of important environmental organizations such as the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It also represents the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), a worldwide educational organisation, and it operates all five of FEE’s international programmes for environmental education and sustainable management. Since 2016, the HSPN is represent on the FEE Board of Directors through its current President, Nikos G. Petrou.

It works with many other NGOs for common goals, and cooperates with many national and regional state agencies. For its work it has received awards from the Academy of Athens, the Council of Europe and the Ford Foundation.

Today the HSPN is active in 4 main areas: Environmental Intervention; Conservation and Nature Protection; Environmental Education; Sustainable Management and Public Awareness Raising.

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Green Balkans

In the late 1970s, biologists—researchers and students from the Bulgarian Ornithological Centre and Plovdiv University—established an informal group of nature-lovers that not only studied Bulgaria’s unique flora and fauna but also took an active civil stand. In the 1980s, the group carried out numerous expeditions to study Bulgaria’s biological diversity and develop proposals for the designation of new protected areas.

In 1988, the former totalitarian regime in Bulgaria perpetrated one of the gravest crimes against the European biological diversity. Hundreds of thousand tons of poisonous chemicals (rodenticides) were spread over a huge part of the country’s territory, causing the death of more than a million wild birds wintering in Bulgaria. In December 1988, the informal group of students and researchers from Plovdiv University and the Institute of Ecology gathered carcasses of dead birds and organized the first ecological demonstration in the country. This small group of nature-lovers got the support of the public, thus a new organization came into being – GREEN BALKANS.

In 1992, the regional societies established in the country were united into a national network entitled GREEN BALKANS Federation of Nature Conservation NGOs.

In late 2008, GREEN BALKANS Network reached a membership of 4,500 individual members united in 4 regional offices and 25 correspondent centers.

For its almost 20 years’ existence, the Organization, supported by its partners and donors, such as the EU PHARE Program, USAID, GEF, REC, UNDP, WWF, EURONATUR, has implemented more than 110 nature conservation projects. The direct investments, amounting to $ 3,5 million, involve projects managed by Green Balkans or in partnership with other organizations. Two big conservation projects for the Danube and the Western Rhodope Mountains, for the amount of about € 20 million, have been initiated by Green Balkans, WWF DCP, and the UNDP office in Bulgaria.

Green Balkans’ volunteers and civil groups implemented more than 400 actions, 180 of which were of national significance. Many of these actions were mass protest demonstrations that managed to prevent the perpetration of serious crimes against the nature of Bulgaria.

The project includes the following activities:

12 partner CSO representatives will participate in online workshops and design of the training program. 48 representatives of NGOs and local authorities from the Black Sea coastal cities of Turkey (Istanbul, Kırklareli, Edirne, Tekirdağ), Bulgaria (Burgas and Stara Zagora) and Greece (Thessaloniki, Kavala, Evros) will participate in two international Training of Trainers and disseminate environmental and ocean literacy trainings to young adults in their cities. At least half of them (24 people) will be from NGOs in the region. 30 local CSO representatives will participate in a mixed international workshop. At least 12 CSOs will be targeted by the activities and/or will be members of an already established environmental literacy network.

135 local government representatives from cities (especially from local government units working on environmental issues, if any) from the Black Sea coast of Turkey (Istanbul, Kırklareli, Edirne, Tekirdağ), Bulgaria (Burgas and Stara Zagora) and Greece (Thessaloniki, Kavala, Evros) will participate in environmental and ocean literacy dissemination trainings. 30 local government representatives will participate in the international trainings, which will be organized in a hybrid workshop. 48 NGO and local government representatives will participate in two international trainings with trainers and young adults to disseminate environmental and ocean literacy trainings. At most half of them (24 people) will be from local governments in the region. At least 9 NGOs will be targeted by the activities and/or will be members of an already established environmental literacy network.

600 young adults in Turkey (Istanbul, Kırklareli, Edirne, Tekirdağ), Bulgaria (Burgas and Stara Zagora) and Greece (Thessaloniki, Kavala, Evros) will participate in environmental and ocean literacy dissemination trainings and 300 citizens will be reached with an awareness raising video on common environmental issues and ocean problems in the Black Sea and possible individual steps to be taken to solve them. At least 10,000 people from all three countries will be reached.

• Environmental and Ocean Literacy in the Black Sea Basin Project Started
• Online Workshops in the Black Sea Basin Environmental and Ocean Literacy Proect Completed
• Training of Trainers Meeting in Thessaloniki
• Training Conducted with Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality within the Scope of EOL
• Second ToT Under EOL Program Held in Bulgaria
• We are together for the Black Sea!
• We Provided Maritime Literacy Training to the AIESEC Asia Branch
• Three Training Sessions Held in Thrace as Part of the Environmental and Ocean Literacy Project
• We Organized Environmental and Ocean Literacy Training with the Community Volunteers Foundation
• We Conducted Environmental and Ocean Literacy Training in Kırklareli
• We Organized a New Training Program in Edirne
• Two Training Sessions Were Held in Tekirdağ and Istanbul
• International Workshop Held in Istanbul as Part of the EOL Project
• We Conducted Three Trainings Under the EOL Program
• We’ve Reached the End of EOL Training
• Policy paper published under the Environmental and Ocean Literacy in the Black Sea Basin Project