Subject: Please post announcement! (fwd)
From: Center for Civil Society International (ccsi@u.washington.edu)
Date: Thu Sep 09 1999 - 20:15:21 EDT
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 7 Sep 1999 21:29:36 -0500
From: Reap International <reap@reapintl.com>
To: 'Center Civil Society' <civilsoc@solar.rtd.utk.edu>
Subject: 2nd Int'l Green Walk, Lake Baikal (Buryatia, Siberia)
NOTICE OF SECOND INTERNATIONAL GREEN WALK, BURYATIA, SIBERIA (LAKE BAIKAL)
SUMMER 2000
REAP International invites interested organizations to join us in the
Second Annual Green Walk at Lake Baikal (Siberia), to take place in the
summer of 2000. It is our objective to use this event as the basis for
new coalition-building and NGO involvement at Lake Baikal. The Walk will
provide your organization with the opportunity to become involved directly
or indirectly with this unique place and its particular set of environ-
mental/economic challenges. Our objective is to make Baikal accessible to
the widest number of organizations and individuals from the United States,
other countries and other regions of Russia.
The structure of the Walk is very simple. Participants walk along
established roads, passing through villages and towns and sleeping in
tents. Camping equipment and food are transported by truck.
Participants are responsible for making camp meals. There are meetings
with locals, visits to businesses and organizations, cultural and group
activities. In 2000 there will also be several mini-projects undertaken
by the Walkers. The Walk will be about three weeks with an optional
fourth week.
REAP's Green Walk partners include the Russian nongovernmental
organizations "FIRN" and "Aura" and the Ministry of Education and Science
of Buryatia. REAP has been bringing people to Russia since 1992.
Baikal is the world's most unique lake. Since it joined UNESCO's World
Heritage Program in 1996, there have been an increase in local
organizations at Baikal which address its social, economic and
environmental problems. But there has also been a decrease in formal
international involvement, particularly in the republic of Buryatia. Nor
has Buryatia advanced economically in recent years. This is most serious
because Buryatia is the primary caretaker for Baikal, with proportionally
more shoreline, rivers and resource usage than its watershed neighbors of
Irkutsk or Chita.
The First Annual Green Walk concluded July 18, 1999 revealed the crisis of
this situation. The 10-day Walk covered 122 kilometers, passed through 23
villages and made contact with nearly 1,000 local people in large and
small gatherings. The overriding point made by those people:
They are distressed at how they are forced to live, which causes them to
destroy their environment for survival, and thus destroys their quality of
life. They said no one but our Walkers had heard their concerns or
offered to be their representatives. They were eager for any form of
support.
We invite you to walk with us, to see for yourself, and to provide
assistance in your own particular ways. The Walk will also provide
opportunities for interested parties to sponsor Russian youth in projects.
You may also have simultaneous cooperating events at your location to
promote solidarity.
In the coming months the final design of the Green Walk will be
determined. Please consider the Walk for one of your formal organizational
activities, or as a chance for interested members to do something on their
own. Your support is welcome in any form. Much of this work will be aimed
at cooperation with rural schools and local youth leaders who can be your
partners. As in the past, REAP will also try to involve rural educators,
scientists, local administrators, academics and others into this work.
REAP will provide coordination and facilitation for your organization to
take part. In November we will post the full details for participation in
the Walk, cooperation, or sponsorships of youth leadership projects.
Please contact us if you are interested in this project.
REAP International
1427 4th Street SW
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52404
(319) 366-4230
E-Mail: REAP@reapintl.com
ATTN: Bill Mueller, Director
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