On April 12, the budgetary educational institution of additional education of Omsk “Children’s Eco-Centre” hosted an extended meeting of representatives of youth water associations: environmental druzhiny Omsk region from Bolsherechensky, Sargatsky, Gorkovsky, Lyubinsky and Tavrichesky districts, Omsk Regional Youth Water Parliament and Youth Water Council.
The children and their mentors made presentations of their work: These included cleaning riverbeds, lakes and ponds, removing household rubbish from the banks, planting cedar, pine and fir seedlings along rivers, taking water samples for laboratory research, compiling ecological passports of water bodies, monitoring and studying waterfowl animals – beaver, muskrat and others, observing and recording waterfowl migratory birds, monitoring aquatic and aquatic plants, compiling bird and plant identifiers, building ecological trails, as well as a large number of environmental education activities.
Our Ecological Centre has been coordinating the work of environmental associations in the Omsk region for over thirty-five years, but among all areas the main focus is on the protection of water bodies, of which there are over 4,230 in the region. In total, there are 78 youth water patrols in the districts of the Omsk region, as well as 16 water patrols, with a total of 3,600 volunteers,
– shared Ludmila Viktorovna Martynova, Chairperson of the Council of the Ecological Centre of ORCYPO
At the end of the event, Olga Amelkina, Deputy General Director of the Lake Baikal Foundation, spoke about the Youth Water Council, which was established last year at the All-Russian Water Congress with the support of the Lake Baikal Foundation and the Department of International Integrated Problems of Nature Management and Ecology of MGIMO. She thanked Omsk volunteers and activists for the contribution they make to the conservation of Siberia’s water bodies, and congratulated them on the status of the first branch of the Youth Water Council and presented badges to all participants.
Today the Youth Water Council has its first branch in Omsk. We are pleased to observe the systematic work of our colleagues, and we see how we can complement each other,
– emphasised Olga Amelkina, Deputy General Director of the Lake Baikal Foundation
