SRC Soca

In July 2019, the banks of the Soča River in Slovenia became the playground and classroom of the first Students for Rivers Camp during the fourth Balkan Rivers Tour. Twenty-eight students and more than twenty speakers from twenty different nations came together with one common goal: to use their expertise in order to protect the last remaining wild rivers of Europe.

Date: 7-13 July, 2019

Place: Soča, Slovenia

What is the Soca SRC?

Students and speakers from many different disciplines were invited to evaluate the threat of hydropower development from a wide range of perspectives. These rivers can only be saved by understanding the whole picture.

The Students for Rivers Camp comprised of a wide range of lectures given by experts in the field, practical classes and fieldwork in the mornings. The afternoons were reserved for interaction between participants: the students and the lecturers. The River Cafe hosted several discussions on the most effective ways the River Collective network can contribute to river protection.

Throughout the week, the students were given the opportunity to develop their own project ideas. They were divided into small groups and were tasked to come up with creative solutions to the challenge of protecting the Balkan rivers from the 3.000 proposed hydropower plants. By the end of the week seven inspiring projects were born and presented to the locals of the Soca valley and the whole Balkan Rivers Tour crew.