The initiative seeks to bring people with disabilities closer to the territory and facilitate their participation in the conservation of rivers through environmental volunteering, based on the methodology of the Rivers Project.

The “Rivers in the Community of Madrid” project is an integral part of the Rivers Project Network, currently made up of seven territories: Catalonia, the Júcar Hydrographic Network, Cantabria, Galicia, El Bierzo-Laciana (in León), the autonomous community of Madrid and, outside Spain, Portugal.

Currently, the Ríos Project has more than 1,800 groups of volunteers throughout the Iberian Peninsula. The initiative is conceived from a socio-ecological base, where the analysis of the quality of the river is accompanied by the involvement of society in its conservation and improvement. The aim is for people to get to know the river, to enjoy it and to understand its situation and its values, which contributes to its conservation and the improvement of the ecosystem.

From this perspective, where the data collected is important but even more so citizen participation, it was decided to make the project accessible to the whole of society and thus the deficiencies in accessibility in some rivers were discovered, mainly for people with disabilities, but also for the elderly and children. This is how the Accessible Rivers Project was born.

The initiative seeks the integration of people with disabilities in nature conservation through environmental volunteering in rivers. Within the framework of the project, information and communication technologies will be applied to carry out the activities of the Ríos Project.

In addition, adapted and accessible materials will be created for subsequent dissemination and use by different groups of people with disabilities.

The objectives are:

• Review of the methodology of the “Rivers Project” and adaptation of specific materials for the formations and adoption of river sections.
• Carry out training and river inspection activities with centres and groups of people with disabilities, so that they can develop their skills to adopt a section of river and its subsequent monitoring
• To publicize the Accessible Rivers Project to organizations that work with people with intellectual disabilities
• General communication of the project