How does the Region Benefit from the Centre of Environmental Education?

Local Community

• The E.E.C. promotes the natural beauty of the area.
• It boosts the economy of the region.
• It encourages the citizens’ awareness of and sensitivity towards environmental issues.
• It promotes the argument and action for the preservation of natural and cultural inheritance of the region.
• It encourages co-operation towards solutions that support sustainable development and help to ameliorate our quality of life.

Economy

• The local market benefits every time the E.E.C. needs materials, supplies and services for the realisation of its educational programmes.
• Students and teachers who stay in the residence hall of the E.E.C. for a three-day educational programme tend to visit Naoussa and Veria, thus promoting environmental tourism. Each year approximately 3000 students and 500 teachers visit our E.E.C.
• On the other hand, in a more indirect way, students and teachers who have visited the E.E.C. may advertise and promote the natural beauty of the region. Many visitors have often claimed that they would gladly come back to Naoussa with their friends and families to enjoy the same experience together.

Education

The programmes and activities realised by the E.E.C., as well as the support it offers to environmental education help the schools of Naoussa to adopt a more extrovert approach, bringing them, thus, into closer contact with the local community.

The E.E.C promotes innovative activities and pedagogical practices that support the students’ actual participation in the educational process, developing thus their creativity and critical mind.

In quite a similar way, the teachers’ participation in the enrichment of the curriculum with issues that relate to the local community may help reinforce their professional identity.

It is imperative therefore that the local community supports the development and effectiveness of the E.E.C.’s activities and programmes, towards an education for sustainable development.