Environmental Education in the Cyclades
As schools reopen, the CPF is getting involved again, raising funds to implement free environmental education programs for the students of the Cyclades. Help us reach as many islands and schools as possible!
Through specialised programs, and with the help of valuable partners, we hope to provide school communities once again with valuable knowledge, experiential learning, new skills, books, plants, compost bins and educational games, so that children and their families can become the guardians of their islands’ natural wealth.
With your support, students will be able to learn about effective waste management, especially regarding plastic reduction, reuse and recycling. We’ll be able to teach about organic materials and composting, the value of local flora and wildlife, the beautiful Cycladic trails, and our beloved meadows of Posidonia.
Learn more here! Help us reach as many islands and schools as possible. If you wish to make a donation, you can do so HERE , designating your funds under ‘EDUCATION’.
Thank you!
Our Work So Far
Over the years, the Cyclades Preservation Fund (CPF) has played an important role in the environmental education of students in Cycladic schools. We are exceptionally grateful to the supporters of our programs, including the Seacology Foundation, Helidoni Foundation, Edmiston Yachting, and Empiria Group. We are also indebted to those individual donors who have supported our educational initiatives throughout the years.
Our Me and My Plastic project saw us working with partners Nefeli Publishing House and OPUS Culture/VivlioDiaplaseis to create an educational children’s book and parallel educational program about the effects of plastic waste which engaged over 1000 students in schools in Syros, Santorini, Tinos, Andros, Thirasia and Naxos as well as in the city of Athens at the Athens College and Arsakeio and Doukas schools.
In partnership with the Helidoni Foundation, we ran the Revegetating the Cyclades project which aimed to contribute to the greening of Cycladic school yards in an effort to spread the work about the dangers of soil erosion. It spanned across 4 islands, involving public schools of all levels, education centers, cultural and environmental organizations. The hands-on project engaged students, parents, teachers, locals, local authorities, and private enterprises and created meaningful collaborations between them. We worked successfully with over 400 students at the Elementary School of Antiparos, the Kindergarten school of Foinikas, Syros, and the Lefkes and Kostos schools of Paros.
Regarding wildlife, in partnership with our long-held friends at Allkyone Aegean Wildlife Hospital, we came up with a ‘first aid briefcase’, which would act as an educational resource for the Cycladic school community to get involved in animal rehabilitation. Among the contents of this invaluable case were leaflets, posters, books and DVDs showing how to provide first aid support to injured wild animals. The cases were given free of charge to all the schools, municipalities, forestry offices and coast guard offices in the Cycladic islands! Furthermore, in partnership with MOm and Naxos Wildlife Protection Association we managed to raise awareness about the existence of important reproductive populations of the Mediterranean monk seal, the only seal species in the Mediterranean and the rarest seal on the planet as well as about the sea -turtles visiting our islands.
Perhaps our most cutting-edge project has been the collaborative creation of a mobile app to plot local paths and points of interest on Cycladic islands with our partners SciCo. Students from Thirasia, Sikinos and Donoussa participated in the Local Paths to Change initiative and in trail walks and actively populated an online scientific database as they walked!
Our Posidonia Alert Kids program is one we are very proud of in the realm of environmental education. This CPF-led program educated and engaged more than 900 students and teachers in the Cycladic islands, in more than 15 schools on the islands of Paros, Antiparos, Naxos, Syros, Andros, Santorini, Amorgos, Serifos, Ano Koufonissi, Donousa and Schinoussa. Among other activities, we held a Cyclades-wide drawing contest for students, encouraging students to get inspired by the educational material. Participating students and their schools were awarded with the “Cyclades Posidonia Alert Safekeeper Diploma” , as well as hardcopies of the comics and other gifts. They were thrilled!
A big thank you must also go to our partner organisations:
Opus Culture – Vivlio Diaplaseis, SciCo, Friends of Paros Park, Alkioni- Aegean Wildlife Hospital, MOm, and Naxos Wildlife Protection Association, as well as to all the people and local entities and authorities involved, including the school principals, the parents associations and and the amazing teachers.