The Vjosa/Aoos River Ecomuseum International Conference
Konitsa, 26-27 Janar 2014
The inauguration ceremony for the Vjosa/Aoos River Ecomuseum in Albania part is followed one day later in the early morning with a field trip in some of the main attractive of Vjosa/Aoos river valley in the Greek part and a joint International Conference Albanian – Greece organized in the premises of the Municipality of Konica, Greece, on 26-27 January 2014. This activity is attended by more 28 participants from Albania part. They were representatives from the local operators, local governments and NGO-s, project partners and the representative from the Albanian National Agency of Tourism. The conference is welcomed from the mayor of the Municipality of Konitsa, the Mayor of the Municiaplty of Zagoria in Greece, the mayor of the Municipality of Permet and Municipality of Kelcyra in Albania part, the manager of National park of Vikos-Aoos and Nord Pindus in Greece and the director of the Directory of Forestry services in Albania.
The conference marked the official opening of the ecomuseum in both sides of the border, it presented the ecomuseum concept and content and provided the opportunity to discuss the potential it can have for the area’s future.
The conference has officially established the Joint Network Albanian-Greece for the Ecomuseum management. The representatives of this network in both countries had the possibility to sign jointly a memorandum of understanding and cooperation between them. This joint Network has as its members the representatives from the local government, local operator, local individuals and experts around the project area in both countries.
This Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) highlights the objectives and management arrangements of the joint Vjosa / Aoos Ecomuseum Network in Greece-Albania. It explains the communication, information sharing, consultation processes, the network’s governance structure and source of authority. Based on it The joint Vjosa/Aoos Ecomuseum Network will be managed by the members and will be part of the joint network (Al-Gr), based on this Memorandum signed by all members of the network and the governance will be done by all the representatives in the structure organised in the General Assembly (GA).
A special place during this conference took the current issues so much discussed in now days in relation with the Greek government plans to divert the river flow Aoos. In this frame the audience is notified that a group of NGOs and local representatives in Greece are united to counter and prevent such interference with a negative impact on the lives of the surrounding community and the environment in general. Diverting the river Aoos flow is expected to have a big negative impact on the Albanian side of the Vjosa river, therefore the local government representatives along the Vjosa river Albania side, present in the conference, joined to the Greek group with the motto "we will not permit the destruction of what the nature has created ".
The fist day of the conference is closed though a festive dinner parts of which were even tow musical groups from Albania and Greece. They brought for the participants a mosaic of traditional folk music and dancing from both countries.
The second day of the conference marked the exchange information on the work done from the project partners in both sides and the information from the other models of the ecomuseums in Europe. A special recognition for the project and the ecomuesum itself was given during the conference by the Director of the Albanian National Agency of Tourism Mrs. Julinda Dhame . She underlined the importance of this ecomuseum for the promotion of values, traditions and cultures of both countries and the enforcement of the cooperation and the friendship between two respective friend peoples. She stressed that this initiative will have in continuation even the support of the National Agency of Tourism in Albania.
Already, the transboundary Vjosa / Aoos River ecomuseum, developed through the initiative of four organizations in Greece and Albania (Mediterranean Institute for Nature and Anthropos (Med-INA), the Institute for Nature Conservation in Albania, Pindos Perivallontiki and the Forest Directorate in Permet), aims to promote and conserve the natural and cultural heritage of the extended Aoos river basin area.
After project completion in February 2014, the Ecomuseum will pass into the hands of the cross-border network. This makes it absolutely essential that the local inhabitants and organisations involved cooperate in the best possible way with the programme partners and associates.
We hope that the project will impact positively on the cross-border area on a socio-cultural, economic and environmental level, and that the experience of working together on it will help to improve communication between people living on both sides of the border, also contributing to the emergence of new collaborations in the future.
