Ecology

ROUNDTABLE ON STABLE DEVELOPMENT OF CIS NATIONS

Azeri NGOs, including the Caspian Ecological Program (CEP) and the Regional Ecological Center, are expected to focus on a draft document "Conception to create conditions for transition to stable development in newly independent states" at a roundtable at the Training Center of the Ministry for Public Health Thursday. The draft was first discussed in Moscow Tuesday, President of the Azeri NGO, Union for Stable Development Fikrat Jafarov has said.

Following the discussions, the draft will be completed by the CEP working group and forwarded to the Green Week, due in Brussels in April of this year.

'Stable development' means promotion of society without detriment of posterity. It envisages, first of all, application of safe production methods.

SCHOOLCHILDREN CLEAN UP GARBAGE

Nearly 100 schoolchildren from Baku schools 134, 31, 189 and 212 cleaned up some 15 cubic meters of garbage in a dump in the former production site of the Oil Filling Station, head of the project, chairman of the National Ecological Forum of NGOs Fikrat Jafarov said Monday.

In his words, the New Baku Oil Refinery is launching construction in the site. However, legislation requires that the construction site be cleaned up and checked for any harmful substances.

Most of the garbage has been covered with sand and therefore the state should take care of cleaning. "Remaining toxic substances, especially polymeric wastes could be health threatening for the future workers of the enterprise", he said.

The dump with construction, polymeric and paper junks used to occupy a space of over a hectare.

Authoring the initiative, the Union for Stable Development and the Center for Studying Ecological Problems have set up a technological line to process polymeric wastes into colorful sacks for separate garbage.

The cleanup, which was also joined by an AssA-Irada correspondent, was sponsored by the Norwegian embassy, F. Jafarov said. The most active schoolchildren were awarded gifts and tickets for Luna Park attractions.