The head of ASI Svetlana Chupsheva became a member of the Supervisory Board of Lake Baikal Foundation. Since 2019 the Agency has been implementing an initiative to develop ecotourism in the regions by creating favorable conditions for doing business and attracting investment in the industry’s economy. The Foundation supported this project and partnered with ASI to create guidelines for waste management in specially protected areas.
«Together with the Foundation we conduct a great job associated with finding and replicating the best practices for the sustainable use of resources, unique natural areas, to minimize negative human impact on nature through the creation of universal tools, step-by-step instructions for working with the population of tourists in the framework of the concepts of «Bring — take» and «Zero waste». Using advanced practices to create conditions for conscious tourism and involving local communities in the work today, along with the necessary resources, can become the basis for the formation of the ecotourism industry in Russia,» said Svetlana Chupsheva.
«We highly appreciate the results of our cooperation with ASI. Over the past two years, the Foundation’s ideas have been quickly supported and our cooperation agreement, concluded on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, which has consolidated the need for concerted actions and coordination of efforts to develop ecotourism, has repeatedly proved its practical nature», said Anastasia Tsvetkova, the Foundation’s CEO.
Since 2020 Lake Baikal is the only organization from Russia in the World Water Council. «We believe it is extremely important that our voice there be heard at the highest level by the non-profit sector», said Anastasia Tsvetkova.
In addition to cooperation on ecotourism, the Foundation’s specialists participate in ASI expert groups dedicated to developing advanced solutions for the green economy. Special attention is paid to the social agenda and strengthening the activities of environmental non-profit organizations as independent expert centers that are ready to share information and field knowledge with authorities and businesses.