Environmental Education Centre (E.E.C.)

The Centre for Environmental and Sustainability Education (CESE)/Centre for Environmental Education Centre (EEC) of Kastoria was founded in 1995 (MD G2/3219/1995, Government Gazette 451/23-05-1995, Vol. B), staffed in 1996 and since 1997 it has been operating under a programmatic agreement between the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs and the Municipality of Kastoria.

The main objective of the establishment and operation of the CESE/EEC Kastoria is to raise awareness and educate students, teachers and the local community on issues of environmental practice, in order to develop knowledge, attitudes and behaviours that will contribute to the protection of ecological balance, quality of life and sustainable development.
The CESE/EEC Kastoria is staffed by teachers of 1^st and 2^nd grade education, who are seconded by decision of the Regional Director of 1^st and 2^nd grade education of Western Macedonia, while its operation is financed by European and national resources, with the Youth and Lifelong Learning Foundation (I.NE.DI.BI.M.) as an intermediary.
The premises of the CESE/EEC of Kastoria (main building & hostel for the accommodation of students and teachers) were granted by successive decisions by the Municipality of Kastoria. Since 2005, the CESE/EEC is housed in the Environmental Park of the Municipality of Kastoria, on the southwestern shore of Lake Kastoria.
In order to achieve its objectives, the CESE/EEC of Kastoria:

• implements environmental education programs, of daily and three-day duration, with student groups of 1^st and 2^nd grade education and informal, extracurricular environmental education programs for youth groups,
• supports the environmental education programmes of the schools in its area of responsibility in cooperation with the Environmental Education/School Activities Managers of the Education Directorates of the respective Regional Units,
• creates educational and information material, both in printed and digital form,
• organises and conducts training seminars for teachers of primary and secondary education and training – information activities for other groups of citizens, in cooperation with governmental and non-governmental bodies,
• cooperates with scientific institutions, at national and international level, with the aim of scientific information, research and documentation of educational programmes, as well as the development of joint educational actions,
• contributes to the promotion of research in the field of environmental education by presenting papers at scientific conferences and publishing articles in relevant journals.

The reference point of the educational and training activities of the CESE/EEC Kastoria is the particular characteristics of the local natural, cultural and social environment. The Lake of Kastoria, a protected area of the Natura 2000 network and classified as a Landscape of Special Natural Beauty, other aquatic ecosystems located in the wider area, such as the sources of Aliakmonas, the different forests of Vernos and Gramos (black pine forests, pure beech forests, oak forests, riparian forests, etc.), but also the built environment, the city of Kastoria, with its remarkable monumental wealth, are all exploited as objects of study and as educational spaces for the promotion of the conditions that ensure their sustainability and the cultivation of similar values, attitudes and behaviours in matters of natural and cultural heritage management.
The main thematic axes of the CESE/EEC educational programs are Kastoria are local biodiversity and wildlife, lake and forest ecosystems, sustainable management of energy resources, the climate crisis, the interaction between the natural and man-made environment and the value of cultural heritage, schoolyards as places for promoting sustainable practices, the use of Information and Communication Technologies in education for the environment and sustainable development.
The CESE/EEC of Kastoria coordinates at national level two School Thematic Networks of Environmental Education:

• “Lakes: Sources of Inspiration for Environmental Education Programs” (established in 1999)
• “Biodiversity: The Laboratory of Life” (established 2003).

and participates as a nodal coordinator in School Networks for Environmental Education coordinated by other CESE’s/EEC’s in the country.