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Description
In this project we engage local communities in activities aimed at changing people''s perception of rivers. We would like rivers to be treated subjectively, as a natural and cultural entity and part of the community''s heritage, rather than objectively, as a threat or a means to extract natural resources. We are implementing the project in four locations. It is a response to the problems that exist in various municipalities and regions of Poland with regard to the rivers that flow through them. In the city of Hajnówka, we want to stop the dumping of chemical waste into the Leśna River by a local company. Residents have been fighting for the cleanliness of the river for many years, in cooperation with committed councillors. In the municipalities of Grodziczno and Nowe Miasto Lubawskie, we help residents to build their local identity, of which the river Wel is an important natural and cultural element. In the municipalities of Rogoźno and Oborniki, we support residents who are fighting to preserve the continuity of the Wełna, Flint and Mała Wełna rivers and remove barriers to living organisms from them. In the city of Gorlice, we are helping to unblock the Sękówka river by removing the existing water steps. As part of our project activities, we solve identified natural and/or watchdog challenges by working together with experts and local residents. Together with the local community, we carry out the so-called bio-blitz surveys and hydromorphological studies in the rivers involved in the project. We build and strengthen people''s emotional ties to the rivers by mobilising residents to take action. We prepare recommendations for local authorities. We develop case studies to help develop the competencies of those involved in the Save the Rivers Coalition in terms of cooperation and activating local communities.
Summary of project results
Aquatic environments are the most threatened ecosystems globally and deserve special attention. The experience of the organizations implementing the project clearly shows that effective protection of the river''s natural and cultural environment requires not only expert knowledge, but also the social and emotional involvement of the inhabitants of riverside areas. The aim of the project was to change the residents'' perception of the river through various activities related to the river, to recreate or build the residents'' relationship with the river, and to build a subjective treatment of it. To implement it, a number of field activities, research and workshops were carried out to deepen residents'' knowledge about the river closest to them, building cultural and landscape relations, and looking for patterns of these relations in the past. It was based on activities with residents, carrying out ornithological, hydromorphological, anthropological and landscape research, as well as a number of additional meetings and activities, also as part of the work of local activists with experts from the Save the Rivers Coalition, dealing with river protection.
A total of 597 participants from each age group took part in the activities, which was a huge challenge and at the same time a success when working in small and medium-sized towns.
The interdisciplinary nature of the project allowed participants to look at rivers from previously unknown perspectives. The topic of the naturalness of rivers appeared, among others, in the activities of the Milling Museum in Jaracz and the Cultural Center in Lidzbark, because we considered the combination of culture and nature in one project to be key to changing the perception of the river. The project allowed for the connection of people who will actively work for their rivers in the future. In 3 out of 4 locations, there are active grassroots initiatives which we have managed to strengthen and which we will join as organizational possibilities allow or we have already done so. Cooperation with experts from the Let''s Save the Rivers Coalition and substantive brochures published at the end of the project are a great basis for further activities and constitute fully valuable studies that can be used.
The cross-sectional nature of the activities allowed for the involvement of very different social groups of residents in all age groups in the project. including: students of the forest technical school in Starościn, students of the University of Life Sciences and Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, anglers from the Sękówka River, guides in the Białowieża National Park, activists associated with the Foundation for Development and Educational Initiatives from the Leśna River, students and teachers from primary schools in Siary and Sękowa, employees of the Milling Museum in Jaracz, employees of the Municipal Cultural Center in Sękowa, local government officials from Hajnówka and Sękowa, activists from the Wybudowanie Landscape Initiatives Foundation and employees of the Welski Landscape Park. 8 volunteers took part in the project, who not only helped us organizationally, but also, among others, they made a film promoting the project, documenting a walk by the river.
Both project partners, the Greenmind Foundation and the Polish Society for the Protection of Birds (OTOP), used their expert resources on nature conservation and experience in building social involvement. The Foundation was responsible for the implementation of project activities, excluding communication activities, for which OTOP took responsibility, using the support of its communication department. As part of its institutional development, the Foundation carried out a crowdfunding campaign, the experience of which, together with an expert operational fundraising plan, will allow for changing the organization''s financing model and strengthen the stability of its functioning. OTOP also financed part of the construction of the CiviCRM system, which allows for further development and management of the database of members, volunteers and donors, and effective building of relationships with them. The quality of management and work comfort of the Society''s employees was also ensured by developing an anti-mobbing and anti-discrimination procedure.
In each location, we managed to connect people dealing with or interested in rivers. Workshop meetings were an opportunity to meet people living in the same area and having similar interests, but who did not know each other''s existence. We managed to increase the involvement of people who are already partly involved in rivers in their area and to involve new people for whom the subject of activities for rivers and their protection was new. Thanks to the established contacts, it was also possible to participate in existing initiatives, e.g. cleaning campaigns for the Welu and Wełna rivers. On Wel, one of the project participants planned a social campaign to cross the entire river from its sources to its mouth. Groups of people permanently associated with the cultural aspect (e.g. representatives of the Milling Museum in Jaracz) were interested in the natural aspects and the environmental richness of the surrounding area, while for many people associated with the natural aspect, socio-cultural activities such as anthropological research and workshops were of great value and novelty. landscape.
Anthropological, ornithological and hydromorphological research is a valuable introduction to further, in-depth studies of these aspects. Anthropological research is a unique showcase and description of the relationship between man and the river (e.g. interviews allowed older residents of the town to tell previously unknown stories from their lives). Ornithological research contributes to understanding the distribution of some bird species, especially the occurrence of species associated with the river, e.g. the kingfisher.
In the long term, the project will enable further integration of resident groups with and on the rivers. He equipped local activists with experience and work tools, as well as knowledge necessary for further planning and taking action.
A total of half a thousand participants took part in the project activities. Members of the Let''s Save the Rivers Coalition learned about the project in two forms - at a summary meeting held together with local activities coordinators and through electronic correspondence and the availability of reports summarizing the project.
4 anthropological studies, 4 hydromorphological studies (bioblitzes), 4 ornithological studies (bioblitzes), 2 landscape activities and 2 additional ornithological studies of entire river sections were carried out. In addition, 8 field trips were organized and meetings inaugurating and ending the project were held in each location.
Four publications containing research reports and results of landscape workshops were prepared, and at a meeting with representatives of the Let''s Save the Rivers Coalition, four case studies were presented (three regarding river barriers and the fourth - river poisoning).