A whole river basin youth engagement and environmental education program for schools.
OzGREEN's MYRiveR program enables young people to become citizen scientists, test the health of the environment, identify key environmental threats and values, develop their own vision and implement their own action plans to sustain the health of their local waterways.
Since 2002, OzGREEN has involved over 60 regional communities and 6,000 young people in MYRiveR in the Brisbane, Bremer, Murray-Darling, Hunter, Cooks, Georges, Nepean, Onkaparinga, Yarra and Derwent River basins and internationally in India, East Timor, Pakistan and Central America.
The MYRiveR process builds collaborative relationships with indigenous leaders, business, government, non-government organisations, local communities, young people, schools and adults. Case studies from OzGREEN’s Australian and International programs, enable young people to gain first hand understanding of the global nature of local challenges.
Caring for our land, our river, our future.
Key Activities
Field Work |
One day field work per school, conducting snapshot of ecosystem health (water quality testing, flow, biodiversity, and community attitude surveys) |
Youth Congress |
Students analyse field data, identify ecological threats and values, develop a river vision and action plans. |
Community Forum |
2-hour forum facilitated by students to report back the results of their investigations, vision and action plans and engage community support. |
Youth Presentation |
Presentation by students to report back the results of their investigations, vision and action plans |
Youth Action |
Young people implement action plans with OzGREEN mentoring and support |
Outcomes
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Youth participation in real world science.
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Youth voice and vision for the future of their river.
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Innovative action plans developed to achieve this vision.
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Strengthened youth capacity to measure, analyse, reflect, plan, vision and act.
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Strengthened whole catchment thinking and links between schools and their communities.
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Increased commitment to environmental stewardship and water conservation.
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Increased active youth participation in the democratic process and civil society.
Citizen scientists and the scientific community working together to support our rivers and their ecosystems by collecting and communicating long-term data to enact positive change.
The rivers in the Bellingen Shire are some of the most pristine rivers in Australia. Even still, there are river health issues presenting in Bellingen Riverwatch data and other river health reports in several parts of the river.
Bellingen Riverwatch was created to provide consistent water quality data in the Bellinger and Kalang catchments following a disease outbreak that caused a mass mortality event of the critically endangered Bellinger River Snapping Turtle (BRST) in early 2015. Collecting scientifically valid and ongoing water quality data was identified by scientists and community alike as a priority focus area to monitor river health, identify priority areas for management actions and educate the community and landholders on the impact they may be having on their environment.
Bellingen Riverwatch engages 40 local community citizen scientist volunteers and 5 schools to collect monthly water quality data at 30 sites every month across the Bellinger and Kalang catchments. We communicate our data with program partners and the community via our Facebook page and our free River Health Newsletter. Read more about Bellingen Riverwatch, the turtle mortality event, and the turtle recovery and conservation actions currently underway here. Bellingen Riverwatch is seeking to form partnerships to support this wonderful program into the future.
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IMPACT
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Partners
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the Country on which we work, the Gumbaynggirr people of the Gumbaynggirr nation. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture and we pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.