Scientific and environmental education in the service of our rivers

Since humans first appeared on earth, one of the essential conditions for basic survival has been our close relationship with water. Not by chance, all of the ancient civilizations known to history developed along rivers: the Sumerians (5500-4000 BC) between the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia, the Egyptians (3100-500 BC) along the Nile, the Indus valley civilization (2600-1900 BC) along the Indus river and its tributaries, and the Romans (753 BC - 476 AD) along the banks of the Tiber. Rivers were a direct source of life by providing water and food, and they also served these societies indirectly by allowing agricultural land to be irrigated and livestock watered.