The “Transboundary Rivers Seminar and Conference” was held in Kaliningrad, Russia, on 10-11 April.

The event aimed to exchange experiences on environmental educational approaches, public engagement in environmental monitoring and raising public awareness in the countries of the Baltic Sea Region.

Related documents:

• Practicalities and General Programme of the event
• Agenda of the Seminar “Ecosystem approach in river basins management at the south-eastern Baltic”
• List of participants of the seminar
• Conference Agenda “Environmental education in the Baltic Sea Region: challenges and prospects”
• List of participants of the Conference

Presentations (10 April):
– Issues of basin management of the rivers of the south-eastern part of the Baltic Sea in the context of the Barents-Baltic program “Nature and people” – Dmitry Filippenko, Coalition Clean Baltic, Kaliningrad
– The role of the public in the river basin management of Belarus – Eugeniy Kalach, Nerush NGO, Belarus
– Council of water users of the Guryevka river basin. Experience in public participation – Irina Popova, Administration of Gurievsk municipality
– Experience in river management in the Luga basin and rivers of the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland on BBNPP – Anna Kryukova, Elizaveta Merinova, Friends of the Baltic, Saint-Petersburg
– Formation and redistribution of transboundary nutrient flow entering the Curonian Lagoon with the waters of the Neman River through the territory of Kaliningrad Region – Dmitry Domnin, Baltic Institute for Ecology of Hydrosphere
– Climate change adaptation is an essential element of basin management – Natalia Shagina, Baltic Institute for Ecology of Hydrosphere
– Discussion platform Tools for public involvement and participation in river management – Ivan Kesoretskih, Institute of Spatial Planning

Presentations (11 April):

Session 1
– Raising awareness campaigns in the Baltic Sea Region – CCB´s experience – Federica Pastore, Coalition Clean Baltic, Sweden
– Informal environmental education work experience in church communities of Belarus – Sergey Jushkevich, Center for Environmental Solutions, Belarus
– Creating an accessible educational environment in specially protected natural areas – Svetlana Nigmatullina, AURA, Kaliningrad, Russia
– Gender aspect in the development of the project “Grow Biointensive” – Ludmila Zhirina, Viola, Bryansk, Russia

Session 2

– Marine litter and microplastic civil science as a way to draw attention to the problem – Elizaveta Merinova, Friends of the Baltic, Saint-Petersburg, Russia
– Regional climate education topics, tools, methods – Alexandra Koroleva, Eco-Defense, Kaliningrad, Russia
– The role of specially protected natural areas in environmental education. Experience of the National Park “Curonian Spit” – Anastasia Skrebtcova, National Park “Curonian Spit”, Russia
– The activities of GAU KO “EKAT” on environmental education and awareness. – Olga Sheshukova, ECAT-Kaliningrad, Russia

Session 3

– The experience of the Vishtynets eco-museum in the field of environmental education – Alexey Sokolov, Vishtynetsky Ecological and Historical Museum, Russia
– Experience of the geographical school of the Kaliningrad branch of the Russian Geographical Society – Larisa Stanchenko, Russian Geographical Society, Russia
– Preservation of the natural heritage of the Vistula Spit through the creation of children’s and adult excursion to ecological trails – Valeria Nadymova, The Old Lunet, Baltiysk, Russia
– The Nature Keepers the results of 15-year work of the regional environmental movement – Svetlana Gutsol, Center for Environment, Local history and Tourism

More pictures are available here.