SRC Valbona

This Students for Rivers Camp was held at the Valbona River in Albania, during the week of July 4th -11th, 2021. It gathered 25 participants to learn about different perspectives of this beautiful river and collaborated to develop diverse river conservation projects - combining their specialized knowledge and passion.

What is the Valbona SRC?

The SRC gathered 25 students from 12 different countries across ALL fields of knowledge to come together for the love of free-flowing rivers. Open for Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD students: participants were specialized in fields of biology from visual arts to engineering, geography, international law, gender studies to computer sciences.

Over +10 experts joined us to host several workshops on river biochemistry, ecofeminism, storytelling & citizen science throughout the week. The program aimed to inspire ideas & discover new perspectives on river conservation in Albania and beyond. Subsequently, the SRC aimed to support the development of new project ideas where participants could turn their ideas and knowledge into action.

Bringing together students, experts and river defenders had the ultimate goal to contribute to the protection by changing the paradigm of river destruction towards river celebration. The energy and the new ideas brought in by this diverse, international group of students inspired TOKA to bring together affected communities from around the region, forming a coalition of river defenders that stand up for all rivers in Albania.

This SRC is summarized in an ESRI storymap.