On 13-15 November 2007, the Wetlands International Black Sea Programme, the National Environmental and Naturalistic Centre of Young People and the Children Environmental Centre of Dniprodzerzhynsk with the financial support of BBI MATRA fund (the Netherlands) organized the All-Ukrainian workshop-training for teachers “Biodiversity Conservation, Econet Development and Integrated River Basin Management”.

Participants included 30 representatives of city, rayon and oblast Environmental Naturalistic Centres, Centres of Children and Youth Creativity, Stations of Young Naturalists of Poltava, Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhya, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Kirovograd, Chernihiv oblasts as well as 7 representatives of the Department of Education and Science of Dniprodzerzhynsk, Pedagogical College of Main Department of Education of Kyiv City State Administration of National Taras Schevchenko University, Wetlands International Black Sea Programme and National Environmental and Naturalistic Centre of Young People.

The issues of state and development of extracurricular environmental education, problems and perspectives of extracurricular education on biodiversity conservation, econet development and river research were discussed at the workshop.

There were a presentation of the BBI MATRA project «Dnipro River Corridor in Ukraine: raising public awareness and promoting participatory approach to biodiversity conservation and ecological network development” as well as a presentation of educational toolkit “Biodiversity Conservation, Econet Development and Integrated River Basin Management”. Participants of the training got introduced to the presentation of the first lesson of the toolkit “Biodiversity and its significance” and methodical recommendations on use of environmental education programs on the issues of biodiversity conservation. A lot of attention was paid to legal and methodical grounds of establishing of the National Ecological Network of Ukraine. Besides, there were discussed issues of environmental ethics as part of environmental education. A number of environmental games, which can be used by teachers during planning of lessons on environmental education, were played.

Participants of the training shared their experience how to conduct environmental actions, as well as expressed their interest by materials, presented in the frame of training.

The Children Environmental Centre of Dniprodzerzhynsk city together with the Department of Education and Science in Dniprodzerzhynsk organized a performance of the children team as well as an excursion to the Dniprodzerzynsk School № 36, where schoolchildren prepared an environmental performance.