BLUEFRONT in Matera: Youth, water, and research for a sustainable future

From September 1 – 5 in Matera, Italy, the BLUEFRONT project brought together young people, youth workers, and partners to explore the many faces of water, build trust across cultures, and co-create the foundations of a methodology that will guide the project in the years ahead. Matera, with its labyrinth of stone dwellings and the underground cistern Palombaro Lungo, was a fitting location: a city where water management has shaped history became the backdrop for reimagining Europe’s water future.

Building trust and discovering heritage

The week began with games, energizers, and conversations that encouraged openness and curiosity. By sharing expectations, fears, and hopes, the group built a foundation of trust that carried them throughout the training.

A visit to Palombaro Lungo, the immense cistern beneath Matera’s central square, added a powerful dimension. For centuries, the people of Matera relied on this shared system to survive in an unforgiving environment. Standing in its echoing chambers, the group was invited to reflect on how communities in the past cooperated to secure water, and how today’s societies must act collectively to face new challenges of scarcity and climate change.

Water in many forms

From ancient cisterns, conversations expanded to global systems. Sessions explored how water flows through landscapes and across borders—emerging from underground, coursing through rivers, freezing into glaciers, and stretching into vast oceans.

Participants mapped local water sources and debated how human choices shape their future. They examined facts about oceans and seas, connecting marine ecosystems to the consequences of pollution and climate change. Reflections on glaciers and snowfields encouraged them to link their own water memories with the global impacts of melting ice. The day reinforced a key insight: water is never just local. It binds people, places, and generations together.

Lessons from nature

The midpoint of the week took the group outside the city, to the WWF Oasi in Policoro, a coastal reserve where forest, wetlands, and sea form a delicate ecosystem. Walking shaded trails and reaching an unspoiled beach, they witnessed biodiversity in action.

Learning about sea turtle conservation—nest protection, community engagement, and marine biology on the sand—was a highlight. It was not only an ecological lesson, but also a reminder of the urgency of protecting the natural systems that sustain all life.

From reflection to research

The final days shifted from awareness to hands-on practice. Sessions introduced the essentials of research: the differences between quantitative and qualitative approaches, creative methods such as World Café discussions, and the need to connect findings directly to community action.

A workshop on drinking water and sustainable management emphasized that access to clean water is a right still unequally realized across the globe. Another aspect of systemic thinking highlights how climate, water, and society are inextricably linked, and how solutions must address them as interconnected challenges.

The introduction to Participatory Action Research (PAR) was especially transformative. Instead of treating young people as passive learners, PAR empowers them to become co-researchers. Through role play, mapping, and storytelling, the group practiced methods that combined rigor with creativity, showing how research can be both participatory and action-oriented.

Closing reflections and new commitments

As the week drew to a close, the group returned to the expectations they had shared on the first day. Many found that uncertainties had given way to confidence, while individual fears had evolved into a sense of shared responsibility. National groups outlined the workshops they would deliver in their home countries, ensuring that what began in Matera would ripple outward to communities across Europe.

The training concluded with an evaluation, but the sense in the room was forward-looking. Participants left with new tools, stronger networks, and a clear understanding that water justice is not just an environmental issue, but a societal one.

Why Matera matters for BLUEFRONT

The Matera training laid the groundwork for BLUEFRONT's next steps. The tools and methods tested here will inform national workshops, contribute to the development of the Water Resource Research Handbook, and shape upcoming trainings in Hungary and Finland.

By combining cultural heritage, environmental education, and participatory research, the week in Matera embodied the priorities of the European Green Deal, the EU Youth Goals, and the Erasmus+ programme.

For the young people involved, Matera was more than a training—it was a turning point. They arrived as individuals from different countries and left as a community ready to lead. For the project, it was a proof of concept: that youth, given the right tools and trust, can transform awareness into action.

As BLUEFRONT moves forward, the spirit of Matera will remain—a reminder that water connects us all, and that youth must be at the heart of shaping Europe’s blue future.