For World Wetlands Day 2008 the Secretariat of MedWet launched a significant regional program of activities with a triple bill of events in Athens Greece and a celebration organized jointly with the Office de l’Environnement de la Corse.
Events organized in Athens included an awareness raising campaign launched with the help of a public transport company as well as two film screenings organized in collaboration with the French Embassy/ French Institute of Athens as well as with the an environment NGO Elliniki Etairia,.
Launched in collaboration with the Office de l’Environnement de la Corse celebrations organized in Corsica featured two screenings of films focusing on wetlands and water.
Below is a brief report on each of the events:
The public transport campaign successfully brought an awareness raising message about the value of wetlands to Athenians. Starting on 25 January electric cars servicing over 60.000 passengers on average daily in the capital city of Greece carried an advertisement on World Wetlands Day.
The advertisement on Wetlands Day effectively reached a high number of people with more than 100.000 individuals estimated to have received the message. The campaign in the electric car system ran for 19 days between 24 January – 12 February.
Showing a fisherman at work in the Ramsar site of lake Prespa, South-East Balkans the image highlighted that healthy wetlands produce food and contribute to healthy people which is the message for World Wetlands Day 2008. This event was financed mainly by the public transport company TRAM SA with contribution from the MedWet Secretariat.
The film screening organised jointly with the French Embassy/ French Institute 4-9 February featured a series of films on water and wetlands. Launched for the fourth year in a row this annual celebration has now effectively integrated into the program of events launched by the French Embassy. This year’s event successfully drew higher participation compared to the previous three years with pproximately 120 persons attending the event.
Supporting this long standing collaboration with the French Embassy and its educational institute in Athens is an important success of the Secretariat helping to consolidate a network of partnerships for the promotion of communications, education and public awareness activity.
The programme for World Wetlands Day featured the following films:
Delta, Oil’s Dirty Business, Yorgos Avgeropoulos, Greece, 2006, 65’
O, Pieter-Jan De Pue, Belgium, 2006, 24’
Water Front, Liz Miller, USA, 2007, 52’The Water Bearer, Pascal Gelinas, Canada, 52’
Water in Overtime, Dominique Jonard, Mexico, 5’
Un metro sotto I pesci, Italy, 2006, 58’
Outreach materials produced for the event included a poster, a film program as well as website announcements carried by the websites of the French Institute of Athens and MedWet.
The celebration of World Wetlands Day is realised with the support of film directors who provided permission for the screening of their film, Storyteller who provided translation for the subtitles of the films,the Rodos ecofilms international films + visual arts festival in which films above were screened in June 2008 as well as a contribution from the MedWet Secretariat.
The film screening organised jointly with the environmental NGO Elliniki Etairia on 20 February featured a series of films on water and wetlands. The event successfully drew the participation of more than 30 persons. The programme for World Wetlands Day featured the following films:
The Water Bearer, Pascal Gelinas, Canada, 52’
Mediterranean, Sea of Peoples, Stephane Begoin
Village in the mist, GeorgesTtrivino, Nina Beliaeva
From the Gulf to Kurdistan tears of Mesopotamia
The Waterfront, Liz Miller
Exploring the Mother of Waters, Mick O’Shea
Outreach materials produced for the event included a film program as well as website announcements carried by the websites of the Elliniki Etairia and MedWet.
The celebration of World Wetlands Day was realised with the support of film directors who provided permission for the screening of their film, Storyteller who provided translation for the subtitles of the films, the Rodos ecofilms international films + visual arts festival in which some of the films above were screened in June 2008, the educational program ‘Stories of Water’ co-produced by the French Institute of Athens and MedWet that provided permission for screening of some of the films and with support from the MedWet Secretariat.
The event launched jointly with the Office de l’Environnement de la Corse featured a series of films on water and wetlands shown on 2 February in two different locations in Corsica.
The Office de l’Environnement de la Corse (OEC) has been working to assist the wise management of wetlands in Corsica. For the past five years the OEC has been coordinating celebrations for World Wetlands Day across the island. With its high professionalism and experience in running World Wetlands Day events the Office de l’Environnement de la Corse (OEC) successfully organised a high quality event with significant impact that reached a high number of persons.
The two film events organised in Palais des congrès of Ajaccio and Cinemathèque of Porto Vecchio drew the participation of approximately 270 persons. The programme for World Wetlands Day featured the following films:
The Water Bearer, Pascal Gelinas, Canada, 52’
Rain is falling, by Holger Ernst, Germany
Delta, Oil’s Dirty Business, Yorgos Avgeropoulos, Greece, 2006, 65’
Outreach materials supporting the event included a leaflet as well as website announcements carried by the websites of Office de l’Environnement de la Corse and MedWet.
The celebration of World Wetlands Day was realised with the support of film directors who provided permission for the screening of their film, the Rodos ecofilms international films + visual arts festival in which films above were screened, and with support from the MedWet Secretariat.
On behalf of the Secretariat a big thanks to all the partners who worked to make these World Wetlands Day events a success!
Updated on 5/22/2008 11:34:38 AM.
Share