Thanks to a grant to SEN from Wallace Genetic Foundation, the Georgian Center for Conservation of Wildlife coordinated the efforts of dozens of environmental NGOs in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia establishing the Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN) <http://post.net.ge/cenn>. Members of CENN are committed to sharing information on the state of the environment in the region and trying to coordinate conservation initaitives. They are producing a monthly, bi-lingual E-mail newsletter entitled, Caucasus Environmental News. For further information or to subscribe, contact Nana Janashia <cenn@access.sanet.ge>.
Caucasus MAP (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, SW Russia)
Below is a letter from one of the CENN participating organizations
showing the importance of "getting the word out" about
environmental conditions around the globe:
From: "Dr. Elchin Sultanov" <sultanov@azeurotel.com>
Organization: Azerbaijan Ornithological Society
To: Susan Cutting <scutting@igc.org>
Subject: SOS information, SOS on the Caspian sea - OIL POLLUTION
During our last expeditions 19.06.99 to the little island Dashlar (Rocks, Kamni) near cape Alat, 70 km to south-west from Baku and on nearby island Zenbil we encountered catastrophic oil pollution. 60-70% of the territory of these little islands were covered by oil. We found 7 dead seals and two sturgeon fishes near almost 100 dead oiled birds of different species (coots, herring gulls, crested grebe, red-necked grebe and teal duck). Many oiled nests and dead oiled nestlings of Herring gull. In general number of nesting gulls on island Zenbil was 2.5-3.0 times less than in 1996. Even water around islands was very oiled. We ask you to inform about it as many as people and organizations as possible because as a rule in Azerbaijan the facts of oil pollution do not have resonance and local mass media and official organizations have not big interest for such facts. We have photo pictures of oiled birds, seals and fishes but still I can not send their by computer, maybe later we can make this also.
In May-June 1998 and later during all 1998 we informed mass media in Azerbaijan and ornithological activists around the world about a mass kill of birds from oil in the same region (near 30000 waterbirds from 6 species) but this has not had resonance. Now we again register fact of strong oil pollution and decease of birds and seals and fishes in the same region. We speak - this region is the place of chronic oil pollution with periodic very strong pollution with mass mortality of waterbirds and other water organisms. It is necessary from all responsible faces and organizations to make measures again oil pollution.
Elchin Sultanov
Chairman of Azerbaijan Ornithological Society (Ornithological Section of Azerbaijan Zoological Society)
Snow Leopard Anti-Poaching Teams in Central Asia
Central Asian organizations are developing independent anti-poaching teams to complement the governments' poorly funded (and sometimes corrupt) efforts for reducing the poaching of snow-leopards (See article on page 10). Thankfully, the World Bank's Global Environmental Facility (GEF) will be providing over $7 million for the Central Asia Transboundary Biodiversity Project in the Tien Shan region. Please write Kyoshi Kodera and Ishrat Husain, Global Environment Facility, 1818 H Street, N.W. , Washington D.C. 20433 asking that they apply some of these resources to snow leopard protection efforts.
Below is a sample letter:
Dear Sirs:
I am pleased to learn that with the Central Asia Transboundary Biodiversity (CATB) Project, GEF will be providing more than $7 million for conservation work in the Tien Shan region and that $5.7 million of that will be for strengthening conservation efforts in the zapovedniks, themselves.
As you may know, poaching of the snow leopard in that region has reached disastrous levels. Snow leopard pelts are readily available on the black market, and researchers have expressed concern that a serious decline in the snow leopard population may inhibit the species from making a comebackthereby adversely effecting the entire ecosystem. Some efforts have been made to strengthen and complement state zapovednik inspection teams, but urgent support for alternative systems for curbing snow leopard poaching is critical. The CATB Project plan includes a range of approaches to addressing problems of this kind. I hope that resources from the Project will be used to support effective and efficient efforts to reduce snow leopard poaching, quickly.
Most importantly, please do your utmost to see that these funds actually end up in the hands of those involved directly in wildlife and eco-system protection.
Sincerely,
(your name)
Road Construction in a Caucasus Reserve
In the North West Caucasus, local authorities are planning to construct Lagonaki-Dagomys road within the boundaries of the Caucasus State Biosphere Zapovednik. This protected natural area is one of the oldest and largest mountain reserves in Europe, and it is being considered for inclusion in UNESCOs list of natural areas given "World Heritage" designation. The Socio-Ecological Union of the Western Caucasus is leading a campaign to prevent construction of the Lagonaki-Dagomys road.
Send a fax indicating your opposition to putting a road through this protected area to the President of the Adygeya Republic of the Russian Federation, A.A. Dzharimov (7+87722) 2-59-58.
For further information contact Andrei Rudomakha <ies@maykop.da.ru> or SEN.
Petition for Mandatory Labeling of Genetically Engineered Foods
Ask your customers, employees, friends, neighbors, colleagues or family members to sign TODAY! (See article on page 10)
Three ways to sign petition:
1. On-line: <www.safe-food.org/-campaign/petition.html> (See "Info on GE Foods" part 2 for petition text)
2. Phone: 1-877-REAL-FOOD
3. Hard copy. (print off website <www.safe-food.org> or call 1-877-REAL-FOOD for a copy)
Thanks to a grant to SEN from the Turner Foundation, Vladimir Zykov (Southern Kamchatka Nature Park and the Kamchatka League of Independent Experts) installed the first (and, so far, the only) environmental e-mail stations in 7 isolated settlements and towns on the Kamchatka peninsula. (For those of you who don't know, Kamchatka is a peninsula two thirds the size of California with amazing pristine wilderness in the Russian Far East - across from Alaska and north east of Japan.)
Previously, only groups in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Yelizovo were on-line. Now environmental protection advocates in Esso, Mil'kovo, Palana, Razdol'niy, Sobolevo, Termalniy, and Vilyuchensk are regularly receiving information about on-going regional and national environmental campaigns and contributing their news to list-serves and web pages in other regions of Russia.
| City | Contact Name | Organization Name | Email Address or URL | Organizational Approaches | |
| Esso | Peter Sychev | Sapsan Children's Ecological Tourest Club | essolib@elrus.kamchatka.su | environmental education; ecotourism; medicinal plants | |
| Esso | Natalya Sycheva | Central Public Library of Esso | essolib@elrus.kamchatka.su | environmental education | |
| Mil'kovo | Galina Bartoshina | Children's Creativity | mddt@svyaz.kamchatka.su | environmental education | |
| Palana | Ivan Tsulya | Koryak District Environmental Protection Committee | koreko@svyaz.kamchatka.su | conservation; enforcement | |
| Petropavlovsk -Kamchatskiy | Sergey Solovyov | Kamchatka Association of Greens | sol@green.kamchatka.su | environmental education; television; ecojournalism | |
| Petropavlovsk -Kamchatskiy | Robert Moiseev | Kamchatka Institute of Ecology and Nature Protection | burkhanov@svyaz.kamchatka.su | marine wildlife protection; ecotourism | |
| Petropavlovsk -Kamchatskiy | Olga Chernyagina | Kamchatka League of Independent Experts | defens@svyaz.kamchatka.su | protected territories; conservation; mining; oil development | |
| Petropavlovsk -Kamchatskiy | Natalya Polischuk | Kamchatka Regional Science Library | fordep@rlib.kamchatka.su | ||
| Petropavlovsk -Kamchatskiy | Sergey Fazlulin | Sarana Kamchatka Independent Ecological Group | faz@volcan.kamchatka.su | environmental education; monitoring; publications | |
| Petropavlovsk -Kamchatskiy | Paulina Vericheva | Kamchatka Environmental Protection Committee | rcnp@nature.kamchtka.su, | environmental impact assessments | |
| Petropavlovsk -Kamchatskiy | Sergey Vakhrin | Kamchatka Salmon Preservation Fund "Northern Pacific" magazine | vakhrin@rybvod.kamchatka.su, http://np.rybvod.kamchatka.su | conservation; protected territories; fisheries management; salmon | |
| Petropavlovsk -Kamchatskiy | Alexander Volkov | Public Fund for Kamchatka Wilderness | rcnp@nature.kamchtka.su | conservation | |
| Razdolniy | Alexander Krivogornitsyn |
Ethno-Initiative | yupik@elrus.kamchatka.su, | conservation; law; marine ecology; pollution | |
| Razdolniy | Lyudmila Ignatenko | "ALESKAM" Ketkino-Pinachevskaya Territory Community | yupik@elrus.kamchatka.su | protected territories; conservation; indigenous peoples | |
| Sobolevo | Nina Orekhova | Association of Northern Native Peoples, Sobolevo | zapoved@elrus.kamchatka.su Sb: for Sobolevo |
conservation; indigenous peoples | |
| Termalnyi | Lyudmila Romanova | "Harmony" | garmony@elrus.kamchatka.su | environmental education; ecojournalism | |
| Vilyuchinsk | Antonina Pakhomova | Environmental Regional Center | vileco@mail.iks.ru | environmental education | |
| Yelizovo | Vladimir Zykov | Southern Kamchatka Nature Park | zapoved@elrus.kamchatka.su | protected territories; reindeer; sea lions; Valley of the Geysers | |
| Yelizovo | Martha Batasheva | Yelizovo Central Library | root@lib.elrus.kamchatka.su, kamrlib@chat.ru | NGO development; environmental education | |
| Yelizovo | Elena Yarovaya | Yelizovo Tour Service | tourserv@elrus.kamchatka.su | ecotourism | |
Native dancers from Kamchatka
US Foundations and the federal government (through the Eurasia Foundation) have been SEN's most significant source of funding. However, in 1999 three foundations who have been steady supporters of SEN have changed their programmatic priorities and will not be funding us for the foreseeable future. A plan is being developed to help us diversify our sources of income, with a special focus on private individuals (that's you!), in order to reduce our reliance on large foundations.
SEN 98 Income
We try to ensure that for every dollar that pays salary and administration
there is at least another dollar that goes directly into "on-the-ground"
project implementation. The chart below bears that out.
SEN 98 Expenses
May our efforts help awaken this sense of awe in all people.
Issue #13 was produced by Susan Cutting, Bill Pfeiffer, Cathy Pedevillano, and Shanti Gaia. A special thanks to Leslie Goldstein, and Lee McDavid for their contributions. This newsletter has been printed on paper recycled from 100% post-consumer waste and has not been rebleached.
Subscriptions:
The SEN Newsletter is published one or two times a year in both English and Russian. A subscription is included with membership in SEN and costs $25 per year. Send a check payable to
Quabbin Bioregion
Tel: (978) 724-3443
Fax: (978) 724-3436
e-mail: info@sacredearthnetwork.org
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