Activities of Russian NGOs - some examples

CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION

Pereulok Grivtsova 10, office 26,
St.Petersburg 190000
RUSSIA

Phone/fax: +7 812 3156633,
email: info@ecocenter.spb.org

Press-release, 12th Sept 2001

INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN SAINT-PETERSBURG AND LENINGRAD REGION.

THREE YEARS AFTER AARHUS

This international seminar will be held in Lomonosov - Saint-Petersburg, Russia, on September 26-27, 2001. The seminar is organised by the inter-regional youth environmental NGO CHILDREN OF THE BALTIC, with the support of ST.PETESRBURG PUBLIC CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION in co-operation with Municipal Council of Lomonosov town, environmental NGOs GREEN WORLD, TEIA, KEEP ST.PETERSBURG TIDY; Department of Nature Resources of North-West Russia, and Danish Society for Nature Conservation.

The seminar objectives are :

Exchange of experience in securing citizens rights for favourable environment and for access to environmental information;
Developing ways of co-operation on local, regional and transnational level for promotion of ideas of the Aarhus Convention, public participation, sustainable development in the region of the Gulf of Finland;
Planning co-operation in the sphere of education for sustainable development, involving young people in nature protection activity, disseminating ideas of sustainable way of living in the region of the Gulf of Finland, Saint-Petersburg and the Leningrad region.

The seminar participants are environmental activists from St.Petersburg, Leningrad region, Kaliningrad, Estonia, Denmark, Moldova, Belarus, representatives of St.Petersburg and Leningrad region Legislative Assemblies, local authorities, state nature protection organisations, educational institutions, journalists, leaders of youth nature protecting movement from Saint-Petersburg and Leningrad region. The languages of the seminar are English and Russian.

The seminar is organised with the financial support of the Danish Society for Nature Conservation, program AVA (Awareness - Values - Actions).

The organising committee of the seminar:

NGO 'Children of the Baltic'

Olga Senova, tel./fax: +7 (812)4223278, e-mail: o_senova@spb.org.ru
Natalia Fedorova, tel.: +7 (812) 3567546, e-mail: tirol@au.ru

The Centre for Environmental Information is open for visitors on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. till 7 p.m.

The Centre's address:
Pereulok Grivtsova 10, Building of the Russian Geographical Society, office 26 (metro station "Sennaya Ploshad"). Phone/fax: +7 812 3156622; E-mail: info@ecocenter.spb.org.

Ethnic Studies Program and Ethnic Tolerance Training

This new educational projects aim at studying the problem of ethnic minorities, a most crucial one for today's Russia. In the autumn 1993, two pilot projects were worked out by the EUSP Department of Ethnology, on the initiative and with financial support of the International Higher Education Support Program / Open Society Institute (HESP). The projects were to cover the problems of ethnic tolerance and the prevention of extremism.

Both projects were triggered off in February 2000. Participants of the project are the staff of the European University at St Petersburg, and several research institutions in St Petersburg, such as the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of Russian Academy of Sciences, the Russian Ethnographic Museum, the St Petersburg Association of Scientists and Scholars, the Society of Historians and Archivists, the St Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Sociology (Russian Academy of Sciences).

The Ethnic Studies Program ("Ethnic Minorities in St Petersburg") are of great demand by the staff of State offices that have to deal with problems similar to those discussed in the course. The lecture course, with additional work in academic seminars, is supposed to give the students sufficient knowledge of characteristic features of social and cultural behavior of ethnic minorities.

The course "Ethnic Tolerance Training" is aimed at giving the student a complex of knowledge and skills that are necessary for association with members of various ethnic community including the case of ethnic conflict. The training course is a complex of seminars with a psychologist - an expert in pacification in a manner acceptable to all parties involved in the conflict. The trainees receive a distinct impression of typical features manifested by representatives of different cultures in various conflict situations, as well as practical skills required to end the conflict.

The courses have been attended by members of staff of the Federal Immigration Service in St Petersburg, of the regional office of the Ministry for Federal Relations and Nationalities, of the municipal government bodies, and by teachers and military students from the University of the Ministry of the Interior.

All classes and field-work are in the framework of the OGC.

Director - Dmitri Dubrovsky
email: dubr@eu.spb.ru
European University at St Petersburg
Tel.: (812) 275-5137, Fax: (812) 275-5139
email: office@eu.spb.ru

CENTRE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION
Pereulok Grivtsova 10, of. 26, St.Petersburg 190000 RUSSIA
Phone/fax: +7 812 3156622,
e-mail: info@ecocenter.spb.org,
http://ecocenter.spb.org

PRESS RELEASE 9.10.2001

Bus Campaign "Habitat values and Sustainable Development on the South Shore of the Gulf of Finland"

This campaign was organised by Children of the Baltic NGO from 1 to 4 October along the route: St.Petersburg - Lomonosov - Tallinn - Sillamae - Kronshtadt. The campaign participants were NGO activists (including youth NGOs) that work in the sphere of environmental information and education, nature conservation, and public environmental monitoring.

The campaign goals were:

Attracting the attention of inhabitants to the necessity of preservation of natural and cultural values of the south shore of the Finnish Gulf;
Promotion of ideas of the Aarhus Convention (on access to environmental information, public participation in decision making, and access to justice provisions);
Exchange of experience in the sphere of access of citizens to environmental information and public participation in decision making;
Development of youth initiatives in nature protection and sustainable development.

Many projects that are planned and realised today on the south shore of the Finnish Gulf - prolongation of operation of outdated reactors at the Leningrad NPP, illegal construction and operation of the plant for remelting radioactive metals "Ecomet-S", construction of new ports, of a new aluminium plant - bring new risks to the whole south shore of the Finish Gulf, to the whole ecosystem of the Baltic Sea.

In the opinion of the campaign organisers, information about such projects must be timely, complete and accessible, and decision on realisation of such projects must be made with consideration of the public opinion, of opinion of all stakeholders independent of their state of residence. Main activities of the campaign were:

Round table of NGOs in Tallinn, October 2, 2001, organised by Vitality of Estonia, videofilm "Place of action - Baltic Region" by Inform-agency "Sustainable Development" was demonstrated, NGO vision of common environmental values in the Gulf of Finland region and ways for Russian-Estonian co-operation were discussed. In Tallinn, Vitality of Estonia and Children of the Baltic signed the agreement on long-term co-operation.
Environmental seminar in Sillamae, October 3, 2001, organised by Centre for Applied Ecology, where Russian and Estonian environmental leaders and activists spoke about public monitoring of the Gulf coast, Local Agenda 21, providing environmental rights for people.
Russian-Finnish-Estonian Forum "Days of the Finnish Gulf - 2001", which started on 4 October in Kronshtadt.

The campaign was organised and held by the CHILDREN OF THE BALTIC NGO in cooperation with public and educational organisations, local authorities and mass media of St.Petersburg, Leningrad region, Tallinn and Sillamae (Estonia): the Public Centre for Environmental Information, Green World, Keep St.Petersburg Tidy, Lomonosov Youth Environmental Tourism Center, Youth movement "Ecoshield", Sustainable Development Information Agency, Children Eco-club "Domovenok", Ecocentre "Voznesenskiy Most", Lomonosov Municipal Council, Estonian Society for Nature Conservation, Vitality of Estonia, Friends of the Earth Estonia, Estonian secretariat of Coalition Clean Baltic, Centre for Applied ecology in Sillamae, Movement "Sillamae Environmental Initiative".

The financial support to the campaign was given by: Danish Society for Nature Conservation (DN, DANCEE - AVA Programme); SULA (Gulf of Finland Environment Society, Finland); Nordic Council of Ministers.

For additional information please contact:

In St.Petersburg: Olga Senova: olga.senova@spb.org.ru, tel./fax +7 812 4223278;

In Tallinn: Kyllike Uusaed: kyllike@lycos.com, tel. +372(0)5167363;
Arvo Raundsepp: nature@hot.ee, tel./fax: +372 6481584;

In Sillamae: Marina Janssen: erhard@estpak.ee, tel.: +372 3924525.

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