A training model for environmental educators and interpreters employed in Greek protected areas and ecotourism settings

In Greece, environmental interpretation is in its infancy as an academic field. In particular, there are no nature guides or specific conservation objectives, and no professional training for non-formal environmental educators and/or interpreters. In view of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, this paper develops and recommends a training model for environmental educator/interpreter guides in protected areas and sensitive ecotourism settings in Greece. An investigation was undertaken into training programmes in developed and less developed ecotourism countries, where environmental interpretation is practiced in the sustainable management of sensitive areas. The proposed model is based mainly on interpretive training programmes of other developed and less developed countries. This model introduces the art of environmental interpretation as a form of non-formal environmental education, integrated in strategic communication in protected areas and sensitive ecotourism areas in Greece. The developed model takes into consideration the special social settings and biophysical environments of Greece. Moreover, a professional environmental interpreter group is recommended to support the role of management authorities in protected areas.     

The concentration of Cs in the surface of the Greek marine environment

The radiological status of the Greek marine environment, prior to the Chernobyl accident, was characterized mainly by the fallout from nuclear weapon tests. However, the release of radioactivity into the environment from the accident in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and its deposition in the Greek marine environment resulted in an increase of the ¹³⁷Cs activity concentration by approximately one order of magnitude. In addition, the direct transport of radiocaesium into the North Aegean Sea has been further influenced by the late impact of the Chernobyl accident on the Greek marine environment, related to the transfer of ¹³⁷Cs, mainly through the Dnieper but also the Danube rivers, to the Black Sea and further to the North Aegean Sea through the Straits of Dardanelles. The aim of this work is to provide a present day picture of the geographic variation of the concentration of ¹³⁷Cs in the surface layer of the Greek marine environment and hence, to evaluate the annual committed effective dose delivered to humans through the ingestion pathway from marine sources.