Raising concerned Danube Citizens

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Image text: WATCH 3/2016

Raising concerned Danube Citizens

The Danube River has a shared past that unites over 80 million people living in the basin; whether it has a sustainable future depends on the awareness of future generations.

a small child playing in a body of water

Several of the ICPDR's outreach programmes specifically address young stakeholders and encourage children to leave the classroom and explore nature through playful educational activities and games.
© Blue Rivers Ukraine

For children to grow up to respect the river and preserve the natural treasures of its ecosystems, they have to learn to appreciate it when they are young. If children learn to appreciate the river when they are young, they will grow up to respect it and preserve its natural treasures when they are older. To make this connection early, several ICPDR outreach programmes specifically address the youngest of stakeholders in the basin. These programmes encourage children to explore beyond their immediate experience of nature through playful educational activities and games. Because when children learn to respect our natural treasures, the Danube is the real winner.

Danube Adventure Game
The Danube Adventure is designed for children aged 10–14 years. Players choose an avatar from among the river’s residents – such as a sturgeon – and travel upstream along the three segments of the Danube. On their journey they can earn credits by correctly answering multiple choice questions. Reaching higher credit levels unlocks more avatars for players to choose from.

Danube Box
The Danube Box is a comprehensive educational kit launched in 2006 to give school children aged 9–12 years greater understanding of the river, the threats posed to the river, and the need to preserve water resources. The educational material in the Danube Box – which includes quizzes, teacher training materials, interactive web journeys and more – is suitable for a variety of disciplines and provides a range of information on ecology, geography, wildlife and cultural diversity in the region.

Both the Danube Adventure and the Danube Box were created under the Green Danube Partnership between the ICPDR and the Coca-Cola Company and Coca-Cola Hellenic.

TEST YOUR DANUBE KNOWLEDGE

See how well you can keep up with schoolchildren with these sample questions from the Danube Box:

1. How much of the water evaporated from the sea returns to earth as rain or snow?

  1. one quarter
  2. one half
  3. nothing
  4. all

2. In the catchment area of rivers, what protects us from floods?

  1. forest
  2. agricultural fields
  3. human settlements
  4. car park

3. In a river with gravel islands, each high water alters... (more than one answer may be correct)

  1. the islands in the river
  2. the few plants that grow on the islands
  3. the position of the river arms
  4. the amount of water in the river

4. Water snails feed on small algae which grow on water plants and rocks. How do the snails obtain their food?

  1. They filter suspended organisms from the water
  2. They eat through the sludge at the river bottom
  3. They crawl over rocks and water plants and graze on small animals and plants
  4. They eat leaves and twigs that have fallen into the water

5. How many rivers feed into the Danube? Nearly...

  1. 50
  2. 100
  3. 150
  4. 300

correct answers:
1) d, 2) a, 3) all, 4) c, 5) d

Try out the game yourself at: www.danubeadventure.org. And to learn more about the Danube Box or to get a copy for your school or your child, visit: www.danubebox.org.

Kirstie Shepherd is a freelance journalist living in Vienna and has called the Danube River Basin home since 2000.