June 2017 Issue 2 UNESCO Chair Con-E-Ect

UNESCO Con-E-Ect SDGs*: Con-E-Ect starts collaboration with  3. Good Health and Well-being local authorities and communities!  4. Quality Education  6. Clean Water and The Avdera Case by Io. Chatzivaryti Sanitation Multi-stakeholders partner- nicipality of Avdera pality of Avdera providing  8. Decent Work and ships are on the Agenda 2030 (hometown to Democritus) on them a detailed roadmap to- Economic Growth principles for Sustainable Ecotourism Development sup- wards sustainable ecotourism Development, and an objective port. development as well as pro-  13. Climate Action that UNESCO is actively pursu- viding mentoring services to In Particular in April 2017, the  15. Life on Land ing. UNESCO Chair and the Mayor assist the Municipality to As illustrated by the SDG 17: of Avdera signed a Pro- overcome implementation  17. Partnerships for Partnership for this Goal is gramme agreement for three obstacles. During this three the Goals one of the objectives that years on a common goal: The years period, thematic path- UNESCO Con-E-Ect has set Promotion of Ecotourism for ways will be designed, digi- tized and projected in an in- teractive map; a tool neces- The mayor of Avdera with Con-E-Ect Team. sary to support the tourist flows. Finally, respecting the local * SDGs: Sustainable history and the bonds that the Development Goals area holds with Democritus- father of atomic theory, the Chair will assist the Municipal- ity in hosting along with CERN an International Atomic En- ergy Conference, in Spring 2017. since the very beginning of its the Area-mainstreaming Ecot- operation. In achieving tangi- ourism policies indicated also ble results on the field, the in the Municipal Operation Chair has established a de- Plan for the period 2014-19. tailed strategy of involving During this programme agree- local authorities and stake- ment implementation the holders to the Chair’s Pro- Chair will support the Munici- gram. Under this strategy, and over the first 12 months of the Chair’s operation, the Chair held numerous meetings with the Municipalities of the whole region. The results of those meetings were to raise awareness of the Chair’s goals and objectives, and the final agreement with the Mu- Avdera Riparian Area, , . Page 2 Con-E-Ect starts collaboration with local authorities and communities!

Digital Storytelling for the Environment – Riparian Ecosystems The Environmental Education with a view to a sustainable A second narration followed, Centre of and the future. based on an ancient Greek Photos from the workshop. team of adult trainers ICT4ALL myth about a king who just (Dimitra Theodosiadou, Chris- The participants were then couldn’t have enough. His end tos Pappos, Angelos Konstan- divided into five groups, and was tragic and made everyone tinidis, Agoritsa Papachatzi, after an introduction, team think of the consequences of building activities were imple- Nikos Papadopoulos, Eirini wasting our resources. Marna, Smaragda Karasi- mented using non-formal mopoulou), in cooperation education methods, full of Angelos Konstantinidis pre- with the UNESCO Chair Con-E- action and interaction, rhythm sented the theory behind dis- Ect of the Department of For- and movement. This was fol- tance learning as well as im- estry and Natural Environment lowed by the narration of a portant information about the Management of the Eastern fairy tale, which demonstrated course and the use of the Macedonia and Thrace Insti- the importance of every single platform. element in nature. tute of Technology, organized The whole meeting was held in a blended learning course on Dimitra Theodosiadou gave a a climate of positivity, creativ- “Digital storytelling for the comprehensive presentation ity, and active participation. environment – riparian eco- on digital storytelling, its The group dynamics that de- systems” addressed to pri- pedagogic and educational veloped would prove invalu- mary and secondary educa- value, together with examples able during the four weeks of tion in-service teachers. The of digital stories that partici- the course. The meeting was face-to-face instruction of the "The whole pants at previous courses adjourned in the hope that the course took place on Satur- have created. These good participants would create meeting was day, 18 February 2017, in the practices were presented and inspired digital stories on held in a village of Genisea, near Xanthi. discussed, making obvious the riparian ecosystems, stories benefits of using Web 2.0 which will enrich and enhance climate of After a brief introduction about the work of the Environ- tools. their teaching skills. positivity, mental Education Centre of creativity and Vistonida and its environ- active mental programmes, its Di- rector, Nikos Germantzidis participation.” spoke on biodiversity and human geography in riparian ecosystems, offering a wealth of useful information and comparisons with the past, more details: http://www.blog.ict4all.gr/2017/03/blog-post.html

Canoeing is another ecotourism activity. Page 3 Issue 2

UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe Representatives from the operate a new UNESCO Chair by George N. Zaimes UNESCO Chair Con-E-Ect vis- in order for it to be effective ited the UNESCO Office in and applicable. In addition he Venice - UNESCO Regional explained the UNESCO Pro- Bureau for Science and Cul- gramme “Man and the Bio- ture in Europe (BRESCE) on sphere, (MAB)” how it has December 15th 2016. The rep- been applied in Mediterranean resentatives from the UNESCO deltaic ecosystems and the Chair Con-E-Ect were the potential of establishing a new Chair, Dimitrios Emmanou- MAB programme for river loudis and the Deputy Chair Nestos. It was agreed to have George Zaimes. In this meeting a workshop organised in Octo- the representatives from Con- ber at the Nestos Area on MAB E-Ect met with Philippe programme with representa- “Philippe Pypaert the Programme Specialist - UNESCO Pypaert the Programme Spe- tives from the local and re- Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe with cialist - UNESCO Regional gional authorities of the re- the representatives from the UNESCO Chair Con-E-Ect Bureau for Science and Cul- gion along with representa- ture in Europe. During this tives from other MAB pro- were the Chair Dimitrios Emmanouloudis and the Deputy meeting Phillipe Pypaert pro- gramme in the Mediterra- Chair George N. Zaimes in the UNECSO offices in Venice” vided some insights on how to nean.

ECOTOURISM – A New Opportunity for Rural Areas by Valasia Iakovoglou Ecotourism is a newly fast tion of the 20th century. that will enhance the conserva- growing trend of tourism that Greece is a country that re- tion and ecotourism in areas of focuses on natural environ- tains a high number of pro- riparian and deltaic ecosystems ments, where people visit tected areas due to its geo- such as the Nestos Delta while ecosystems under low impact, morphology and diverse cli- increasing job opportunities non-consumptive and locally matic conditions. Conse- through the practice of Ecot- oriented activities. It provides quently, Ecotourism can be an ourism. great opportunities of in- innovative way to enhance creased income, especially for economic growth in rural rural and undeveloped areas. areas by increasing job oppor- When practicing ecotourism tunities. However, the unman- other benefits can also be aged practice of Ecotourism, gained such as: a) getting particularly in protected ar- acquainted with the cultural eas, poses many irreversible heritage of the area, b) being risks for the environment, environmentally educated, c) such as problems related to enhancing of the protection invasiveness and decreased and conservation of specific biodiversity levels. Well species, as well as d) getting trained professionals, as well economic benefits. as education and awareness are key factors for the sus- The main reason of the in- tainable implementation of creased practice of Ecotour- ecotourism. ism is due to the greater num- ber of protected areas world- The UNESCO Chair Con-E-Ect Ecotourism activities involve nature walks in the riparian areas. wide that is considered the has as its main purpose to greatest land-use transforma- develop management plans We’re on the Web! UNESCO Chair Con-E-Ect http://unescochair.teiemt.gr/

“The long-term objective of the UNESCO Chair on “Conservation and Ecotourism of Riparian and Deltaic Ecosystems” is to create a Common Strategy Framework

that will govern the protection, 1st, km. Drama-Microchorion, study, development and Post Code 66100, Drama, Greece ecotourism of deltaic and http:/unescochair.teiemt.gr riparian environments.” [email protected]

UNESCO_Con-E-Ect

@UnescoConeect

Issue 2, June 2017 Editor: Argyris Emmanouloudis

UNESCO Chair "Con-E-Ect" participates in the Urban Agenda of the Municipality of Drama. by D. Karampatzakis The Municipality of Drama, The "Con-E-Ect" UNESCO Chair Greece, in 2016, opened the participates with a project for "Drama Urban Agenda" and the monitoring and the exploi- has a strategic plan for sus- tation of the riparian area of tainable urban development. Santa Barbara water park into Drama’s urban integrated the urban center of Drama. project (ITI) is 100% funded by The program is funded with the current Programming 62.000 Euros. Period by National and Euro- pean Funds and consists of several projects for CO2 re- duction and climate change. The core project is a biocli- matic reconstruction of a district in the central market of Drama and the connection of the two municipal parks of Drama. Drama Urban Agenda presentation scheme.