MYRiveR is a whole river basin youth engagement and environmental education program. An OzGREEN initiative, the program enables young people to actively monitor the health of the environment; identify key environmental threats and values; develop their own vision and implement action plans for activities they design to sustain the health of their river basin.

The program has been conducted in Murray-Darling basin since 2002 and also the Hunter River basin, Cooks River basin (Sydney), Onkaparinga River (Adelaide), Yarra River (Melbourne) and Derwent River (Hobart).

Since MYRiveR began in the Murray-Darling in 2002, OzGREEN has travelled more than 80,000 km on the ground in the Basin, working with over 2,500 young people from 40 regional communities and 90 schools. Participants have undertaken detailed environmental assessments of over 500 sites, conducted over 5,000 community surveys and developed their own youth voice, vision and action plans to care for their waterways. Through their action projects, these young people have become community leaders and drivers of positive change.

The participatory approach fosters both breadth (whole river basin) and depth (ongoing and growing over time) engagement of schools and communities. It is fundamental to this process that we foster the capacity of the young people to come to their own conclusions based on the evidence they have collected. Their personal vision becomes a key driver in the development of their action plans. These plans are reactive to their concerns and creative in strengthening the environmental values they hold as important.

The MYRiveR process builds collaborative relationships with indigenous leaders, business, government, non-government organisations, local communities, young people, schools and adults. This strengthens community connectivity and resilience. It also provides benefits to the general community through empowering youth to develop a vision for their area and a plan for action. As these action plans come to fruition they provide many benefits to the local community.

The MYRiveR process also builds direct connection to the global context of local environment threats such as climate change and water. Weaving case studies from OzGREEN’s Australian and International programs, enables young people to gain first hand understanding of the global nature of local challenges.

MYRiveR is very popular with schools and has direct curriculum relevance in HSIE and Science.

MYRiveR Objectives

1. Enable young people to engage in real world science, tackle critical ecological challenges and build healthier, more resilient communities.

2. Build and mobilise catchment wide networks of young people actively working in their own community and beyond to care for the environment.

3. Foster the development of youth leadership and informed and active youth participation in the democratic process and civil society.

4. Strengthen capacity of teachers to integrate learning for sustainability into their teaching programs.