H2O !

Our partnership, made up of a wide range of players, is based in rural areas with low population density and poor socio-economic conditions. What they have in common is the presence of a lake in their catchment area. These areas are geographically remote from the major climate marches, yet are primarily concerned by environmental issues, as these students are growing up in natural environments that need to be preserved. The aim was to encourage students to ask questions and learn more about the water issue, and then to think about the possibilities of citizen projects to be set up in their rural areas around the issue of sustainable development and the rational development of their catchment area. We want the students to take ownership of this theme, in conjunction with other players in their area, in an intergenerational way, but also in conjunction with European partners, so as to take the measure of this issue. We wanted this awareness to lead to a series of actions to encourage European students to become civically engaged in the fight against global warming.

Our aim was to initiate a sustainable approach to the issue of water (preservation and enhancement). More concretely, we wanted to ensure that, by the end of the project, the students would be aware of the issue of water and its repercussions in Europe. This knowledge was to go hand in hand with a better understanding of Europe, its diversity and its action on behalf of the environment. More generally, we wanted this project to have a strong territorial impact and to raise lasting questions, thanks to the links forged on this theme between education, civil society and the political sphere. Through the exchange of best practices, collective water study projects and joint actions, the aim was to develop shared values around respect for the environment. In addition, this collective reflection and cooperative action was to lead to the creation of territorial itineraries and discovery trails around water in each territory.

The partnership has focused on several types of activity: discovering and better understanding the scientific realities of water (training sessions), highlighting this vital resource and its importance locally (visits and discovery workshops), and observing the singularities and environmental repercussions it generates (inter-knowledge and cooperation activities), to ultimately become a player in developing original services and proposals capable of enhancing local resources. A number of preparatory workshops for the territorial deliverables were organized in different rural areas: - video vignettes and micro-documentaries, - magazine articles to share the contents of our project, the different territories and their water management over the long term, -development of stories, haiku and illustrations for exhibitions and kamishibai. - dictionaries and primers on the local environment, - photo exhibition, “L'eau vue par les enfants” (“Water as seen by children”), -creation of geographical and symbolic maps of territories, -artistic creations on the theme of water, -creation of riddles and games to discover water and the environmental characteristics of the region.

The various activities of scientific research and appropriation, collective reflection and artistic implementation contributed to the creation of sensitive itineraries of territorial discovery around the theme of water. The production of this flagship deliverable for each of the rural support regions followed the following pedagogical approach: -Discover the territories of the project's European lake partners.  -In-depth study of own territory: in class. -In situ discoveries: decision-making on the final route in conjunction with local authorities. -Europe's position on sustainable development: how to act as an eco-responsible territory. -Choice of content and definition of information to be conveyed: Water: scientific approach (its chemical composition & source of energy) Water: sustainable development approach (preserving and transmitting) Water: sociological approach (source of economic wealth for the region: agriculture, tourism). -Project conceptualization: (Production of models, preparatory drawings, drafts) -Artistic / scientific / sound & tactile approach -Concrete realization (use of wooden stakes as TOTEMs to punctuate the itinerary, creation of a project mascot, 3D printer). -inauguration