CONSERVE CONNECT

Connectivity Conservation Initiative for Fresh Drinking Water

The CONSERVE CONNECT is an ongoing project that has completed two years of implementation (Phase I) and has secured funding for the next three years (Phase II). The core actions of the project involve the restoration of traditional freshwater supply infrastructures to support biodiversity, contributing to the protection, restoration, and promotion of the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, and taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts on both wildlife and humans. In addition, as the restoration is taking place within a participatory approach, the project ensures equal access to education and leadership roles.

The project is affiliated with participatory conservation governance and management through the establishment of a place-based Initiative between local communities, researchers, environmental and cultural associations, local and regional authorities, and significant stakeholders, as the UNESCO Global Geopark of Vikos-Aoos. Our vision is to enhance ecological integrity, secure the provision of ecosystem services, and foster social and ecological resilience by studying local traditional ecological knowledge. We harvest this knowledge by exploiting participatory knowledge sharing procedures using cultural and community mapping and walking interviews, and by organizing focus group discussion sessions based on intergenerational participation. This knowledge is at the interface between environmental and cultural diversity and can provide information, methods, theory, and practice for sustainable planning and management of natural and cultural heritage, and can be applied to nature-based solutions for climate adaptation actions, providing a cultural and ecological impact.

Info

Location

Mastorochoria, Konitsa, Epirus

Date

2023 - 2028

Status:

Open

Pillars:

Education, Practice, Public dialogue, Research

Tags:

Mortars, Mountain, Stone, Water

Funding

PONT (Prespa Ohrid Nature Trust)

Partners

Callisto, Hellenic Survey of Geology and Mineral Exploration

Collaborators

UNESCO Global Geopark of Vikos-Aoos, Dimos Konitsas

Related Resources

Agricultural and Traditional Livestock Grazing Practices

Documentation

Since Boulouki has been working for years in Epirus, it has come close to the needs of local communities. In the framework of this project it aims at enhancing their livelihood and well-being by mapping ecosystems and the services they offer to the sustainable conservation of natural resources with the aim of social and economic well-being and delivering important information and skills for the management and sustainable development of the area focusing on biodiversity-related knowledge, agricultural, traditional livestock grazing practices, landscape and cultural values, traditional water infrastructures and related knowledge on sustainable use of natural resources.