CENN – APRIL 13, 2004 DAILY DIGEST
Table of Contents:
1. Became a Member of the `Caucasus Environmental Society’
2. Georgia Integrated Coastal Management Project — Request for
Expressions of Interest no. CQ-12: `Development of Tourism
Infrastructure and a Visitor Management Plan for Kolkheti National Park’
3. Announcement on the NGO Brussels Statement
4. Seminar for the Journalists who Cover environmental Issues
5. Ecology and Society Proudly Announces the 2004 Ralf Yorque Memorial
Competition
6. Global Ban on GM trees
7. Vacancy Announcement World Vision International in Georgia — Program
Officer
8. BTC Expected to be Ready in 2005
9. Baku-Tbilisi-Erzrum Gas-Main Pipes to Arrive at the End of Week
10. First Scientific-Practical Conference on Prospects of Tourism Held
11. Third Azerbaijan International Exhibition `Tourism and Travel’ Due
12. Cold Reality: Nature (again) Turns a Brutal Breath to Village
Farmers
1. BECOME A MEMBER OF THE `CAUCASUS ENVIRONMENT SOCIETY’
Dear users of CENN services!
This is to inform you that due to necessity of financial sustainability
of CENN activities in the long run, we are introducing a number of
innovations in CENN services (Internet services and online products of
CENN – daily digests, bulletins` archive, full online versions of
magazines, GIS database of nature resources of the Caucasus region,
environmental legislation of the South Caucasus States in national
English and Russian languages, etc.) for different types of members to
set force from April 1, 2004.
Only the members of the `Caucasus Environment Society’ will enjoy the
full range of our services. They will receive free of charge our
magazine `Caucasus Environment’, get free legal and environmental
consultancy, free access to CENN databases, maps, resources, etc.
All membership fees support the CENN magazine’s mission of expanding
environmental knowledge on the Caucasus and are considered as charitable
contribution to the production of the regional magazine.
We welcome you to become a Member of the `Caucasus Environment Society’
by registering online:
Annual membership fee for Caucasus citizens/organizations $19, for
international members – $39. Shipment cost included.
For any questions or queries regarding membership and future usage of
online services:
Contact person: Catherine Nakashidze
Tel: +995 32 92 39 46
Fax: +995 32 92 39 47
E-mail: katya.nakashidze@cenn.org
URL:
2. GEORGIA INTEGRATED COASTAL MANAGEMENT PROJECT
Request for Expressions of Interest no. CQ-12:
`DEVELOPMENT OF TOURISM INFRASTRUCTURE AND A VISITOR MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR
KOLKHETI NATIONAL PARK’
Integrated Coastal Zone Management Centre (ICZM Centre) – an
implementation unit of the World Bank financed Georgia Integrated
Coastal Management Project invites eligible consultants to indicate
their interest in undertaking the above mentioned consulting services.
Interested consultants must provide information indicating that they are
qualified to perform the services (brochures, description of similar
assignments, experience in similar conditions, availability of
appropriate skills among staff, sample set of architectural drawings of
earlier assignments of small-scale green architecture, etc).
A consultant will be selected based on the Qualifications Method.
Interested consultants may obtain detailed information via email and at
project’s website
Expressions of interest must be delivered to the address below by April
20, 2004.
ICZM Centre
2nd Floor, 87 Paliashvili Street, Tbilisi, Georgia
Tel/Fax: +995 (32) 25-20-50 (office)
Mobile: +995 (99) 54-66-16
Internet:
E-mail: PHASiS@ICZM.org.ge
3. ANNOUNCEMENT ON THE NGO BRUSSELS STATEMENT
The Women for Green Way for Generations, Armenian Women for Health and
Healthy Environment, Future Generation Union and Lore Eco-Club NGOs made
an announcement on the NGO Brussels Statement, developed in December
2003 in Brussels during the NGO Strategy Meeting: Making the Environment
Work for Our Children’s Health conference. The event brought together 70
representatives from 50 international, European and national
environmental and health citizens organizations, during which
representatives discussed their ideas, demands and suggestions for the
Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health to be held in Budapest
in June 2004. The NGO Brussels Statement will be followed up with an NGO
and Civil Society Declaration to be presented in Budapest. The statement
covers various issues primarily concerning genetically modified
organisms, chemicals, water and food, air pollution, sustainable
development strategy, role of health professionals, etc.
For more information on the statement, visit the
website
Or contact:
Armenian NGOs:
Karine Manukyan of Women for Green Way to Generations NGO E-mail:
alnarol@yahoo.com Karine Grigoryan of Future Generation Union NGO
E-mail: futgen@netsys.am Elena Manvelyan of Armenian Women for Health
and Healthy Environment NGO E-mail: elena@awhhe.am Andranik Melikjanyan
– Lore Eco-Club NGO E-mail: lore@freenet.am
4. SEMINAR FOR THE JOURNALISTS WHO COVER ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Dear colleagues,
OSCE and Aarhus Center is organizing seminar for the journalists who
cover environmental issues, on 28-29 April in Tsakhkadzor.
The deadline for submission of applications for participation is 20
April. Only 20 journalists could be accepted.
For the detailed information please contact:
Ms. Gohar Avagyan
Senior Press and Public Information Assistant
OSCE Office in Yerevan
Tel: (374 1) 541062, 545845, Mob: (374 9) 436389
Fax: (374 1) 561138
Email: gohar@osce.am
URL:
5. ECOLOGY AND SOCIETY PROUDLY ANNOUNCES THE 2004 RALF YORQUE MEMORIAL
COMPETITION
“Novel Approaches of Integrative Science for the Future”
Ecology and Society invites manuscripts to participate in a competition
that exploits novel ways of performing integrative science and policy
research. The annual ‘Ralf Yorque Memorial Prize’ of 5,000 Euro will be
awarded to the most novel paper that:
1) Integrates different streams of science to assess fundamental
questions in the ecological, political, and social foundations for
sustainable social-ecological systems, and
2) Employs unique advantages of electronic publishing and facilities of
the WEB to help communicate complex ideas simply.
The contributions of the winner and others that pass the normal
peer-review process will be published in E&S. We want to see your novel
ideas of scientific endeavors for the future. Simply indicate if the
paper submitted is intended for the Ralf Yorque Competition and state in
a cover letter why you think the manuscript is eligible for the
competition (e.g. what is novel about the submission, and how is the web
being used?).
E&S wants help from researchers and practitioners who would like to push
the limits of how scholarly research is communicated and is conducted.
We have had some successful contributions, but not enough.
For example, E&S has published novel integrated models of
social-ecological systems including models for exploration by the
readers themselves. There were two excellent winners of the first Ralf
Yorque Competition that featured good science and good use of the Web
(Cumming 2002, Peterson 2002). E&S also published novel ideas on
integrative science like an immune system perspective of ecosystem
management (Janssen 2001), or on approaches that produce real surprises
when ecological, economic and decision systems are linked (Carpenter et
al. 1999).
However, we also experience that interdisciplinary science is often
promoted in words and not in practice. Young scholars derive many
incentives to specialize in certain disciplines, and experience few
incentives to be creative in combining insights from various scientific
disciplines and performing science in nontraditional ways. We ask our
readers to be part of an effort to stimulate novelty and creativity of
new ways of performing science.
Manuscript submissions, while exploring new ways of science should
include a balance of novelty and content. Each submission will be
peer-reviewed for content and assessed by a panel of judges for novelty.
Full details for submission to this competition can be found at
The deadline for
submissions is JUNE 30, 2004.
Dr. Marco A. Janssen
Center for the Study of Institutions, Population, and Environmental
Change
Indiana University
408 North Indiana Avenue
Bloomington, IN 47408-3799
USA
Voice: (812) 855 5178
Fax: (812) 855 2634
E-mail: maajanss@indiana.edu
Website:
6. GLOBAL BAN ON GM TREES
People´s Forest Forum
Dear you
This is a message for ECA-WATCH NGO’s around the world. We ask your
partisipation and support for this dynamic Internet action:
Please sign the petition Global Ban on GM trees on this campaign site:
There is now more than hundred GO’sand more that thousand individuals
who have signed the petition which should be presented for UN Forum on
Forest on next May.
We hope that in these last 20 days the amount of signatories would still
rapidly grow and we hope the support for that also by your ECA-WATCH
network.
We have also opened several general forest workshops and countryforum
where we are collecting material and preparing other initiatives and
reports for UNFF. Be free to make your contributions on these workshops:
Campaing coordination
People´s Forest Forum
Global Ban on GM trees
7. VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT WORLD VISION INTERNATIONAL IN GEORGIA — PROGRAM
OFFICER
DUTY STATION: TBILISI
Employer: World Vision International in Georgia
Position Title: Program Officer
Reports to: National Director
Job Reference Number: WVI-G-NO-PO
Program: National Office.
Purpose of position:
To provide the National Office and Program Managers with technical
assistance in the design, funding, and evaluation of programs, including
proposal writing. To provide communications support for internal and
external audiences with a focus on the World Vision Partnership.
Major responsibilities:
§ Prepare concept papers, program proposals, grant requests and
narrative reports for major international and private donors and World
Vision Support Offices.
§ Support the National Director and project managers in the following
areas of program cycle management: research, needs assessments, project
design, program plans, proposals, and monitoring &n evaluation of
development programs in Georgia.
§ Ensure that timely and well-written program documents and reports meet
donor criteria for provision of funding.
§ Support the National Office in establishing and maintaining ongoing
liaison with Support Offices, NGOs, UN entities, the Government of
Georgia, and donor representatives.
§ Ensure that all community development initiatives are consistently
integrated in the overall framework of WV Georgia’s national strategy,
with an emphasis on assistance to children and the most vulnerable
groups in Georgia.
§ Provide program capacity building for program managers and national
office staff.
Knowledge, skills and abilities:
The following knowledge, skills, and abilities may be acquired through a
combination of formal schooling, self-education, prior experience, or
on-the-job training.
§ At least 3 years work experience in community development
§ Experience in the preparation and successful attainment of
international grants
§ Experience with USAID, CIDA, EU program design is a plus
§ Knowledge of the program development cycle
§ Excellent written & spoken English, fluent Georgian & Russian
§ Excellent analytical, writing, and public speaking skills
§ Ability to work under pressure, in a team, and for long hours if
required
§ Willingness to travel throughout Georgia up to 25% of work hours
§ Excellent computer skills with proficiency in Microsoft Word and Excel
§ Strong interest and understanding of issues related to poverty, civil
society, health, child & youth development
§ Thorough understanding of the historical, cultural, political &
socioeconomic situation in Georgia
§ University degree in international development, sociology, economics
or other related subject.
§ Master’s degree a plus
§ Overseas experience is desirable.
To Apply:
If you meet the requirements, please send a cover letter and a detailed
CV in English, (please ensure that you quote the position title
(WVI-G-NO-PO) and that CV includes names and contact details of 3
referees) to:
WVI in Georgia
11 Janashia Street, Tbilisi 0179
E-mail: maya_purtskhvanidze@wvi.org
No deadline for this application.
Note: Only the strongest candidates will be contacted for the test and
interviews. Incomplete application will not be considered. No phone
calls will be accepted.
8. BTC EXPECTED TO BE READY IN 2005
Source: Caspian Region’s Weekly Business, Caspian Business News, March
13, 2004
The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil export pipeline will be ready for use in the
first half of 2005, David Woodward, president of British Petroleum
Azerbaijan, said in Tbilisi last week after a meeting between an Azeri
delegation and Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania.
9. BAKU-TBILISI-ERZERUM GAS-MAIN PIPES TO ARRIVE AT THE END OF WEEK
Source: Information Agency Sarke, April 8, 2004
A vessel loaded with pipes for Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum gas pipeline is to
arrive at the Batumi port on April 11, Sarke has been told in the
Georgian International Oil Corporation (GIOC). It will supply 3,200
pipes, which are around 37 km in length
10. FIRST SCIENTIFIC-PRACTICAL CONFERENCE ON PROSPECTS OF TOURISM HELD
Source: State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan, AzerTag,
April 7, 2004
The first scientific-practical conference `On prospects of development
of tourism in Azerbaijan Republic’ was held at the Center of scientific
researches on problems of youth under the ministry of youth, sports and
tourism.
Chief of the science and education department of the Ministry Firudin
Gurbanov, speaking of the key goals of the Conference, noted that last
years in Azerbaijan a great attention is paid on the internal tourism. A
state Program on development of tourism has been adopted. Currently,
Azerbaijan holds one of the last points in the world on the number of
foreign tourists. The major problem in this field is low level of
tourist infrastructure and service personnel.
At the Conference, passed in two sections, were delivered some 40
lectures, exchanged views on issues of preparing relevant methodic
recommendations in this field.
11. THIRD AZERBAIJAN INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION ` TOURISM AND TRAVEL’ DUE
Source: State Telegraph Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan, AzerTag,
April 7, 2004
On April 7, 2004 was held a press conference devoted to opening of the
Third Azerbaijan International Exhibition `Tourism and travel’ (AITF
2004) in the International Press Center.
Director of Company Iteca Caspian Farid Mammadov, opening the event, has
thanked representatives of the ministry of youth, sports and tourism of
Azerbaijan for support in preparation of the exhibition, having noted,
that the organizer of action is the British exhibition company ITE Group
Plc and its exclusive partner on the Caucasus, Company Iteca Caspian,
and official support to the exhibition is rendered also by the World
Tourist Organization, the Union of Development of the Tourist Industry
of Azerbaijan and Commercial and Industrial Chamber of Azerbaijan.
More than 70 companies from 18 countries of the world attend the event.
F. Mammadov has emphasized, that alongside with the commercial
organizations, at the exhibition, have stands the corresponding
ministries of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Ukraine, Dagestan, Austria and Egypt.
According to director of the Iteca Caspian, the general area of the
exposition has increased for 55 percent, in this connection the
exhibition is carried out in the Sports -Concert Complex after Heydar
Aliyev.
The companies from France, Egypt, Italy, Turkey, Ukraine, Kazakhstan,
Malta and Switzerland will accept the most active participation in AITF
2004, and representatives of Seychelles and Thailand have arrived on the
exhibition for the first time.
Specially will arrive here, the regional representative of the World
Tourist Organization on Europe Luigi Kabrini.
In turn, the representative of central administrative board of tourism
of the ministry of youth, sports and tourism of Azerbaijan Khanoglan
Gulaliyev has noted, that the policy of open doors pursued by the
leadership of the Azerbaijan Republic, and also successful economic
reforms allow citizens of our country to expand sphere of the dialogue
with the world community. First of all, it concerns to development of
tourism, both foreign, and internal.
H. Gulaliyev underlined the importance of the state program of social
and economic development of regions on 2004 – 2008, confirmed with the
recent Decree of the President of the Azerbaijan Republic. He noted that
exhibition AITF will bring in the essential contribution to
popularization not only international, but also internal tourism, and
would open remarkable sights of Azerbaijan for visitors of the country,
and also create conditions for establishment and expansions of business
contacts in the international tourism.
The number of foreign visitors, which are interested in Azerbaijan, its
history and culture, national features, and traditions of its people,
from year to year grows. Tourist exhibition AITF organized on the eve of
summer is called to develop new business contacts and partnership, to
involve the new international companies in the country, thus, to
increase a stream of foreign investments, and also to give opportunity
of choice of places of rest to larger audience of the population.
12. COLD REALITY: NATURE (AGAIN) TURNS A BRUTAL BREATH TO VILLAGE
FARMERS
Source: ArmeniaNow, April 9, 2004
A cold snap last week has created havoc for some farmers and disaster
for others in the Ararat Valley and beyond, whose fruit trees blossomed
too soon for their own good.
The Ministry of Agriculture plans to release a damage report next week,
but already it is expected that this will be another poor year
especially for Armenian apricots. Apricot crops were below average the
past three years due to a harsh winter and floods.
Grapes, nuts, tomatoes and most fruits are expected to suffer from the
April frostbite that came after a late-March tease of unusually warm
temperatures.
The head of Plants Cultivation Department of the MinistrA of Agriculture
Garnik Petrosyan, says that in addition to damage in the fertile Ararat
valley, trees have also suffered in Vayots Dzor, Kotayk, Aragatsotn and
Lori regions.
Vardan Aghajanyan has a 170-square meter greenhouse, where nothing is
green now. He took a $3,500 bank loan to finance his tomato crop.
“I would have had tomatoes in the beginning of May and I could have sold
them for 250-500 drams (about 45-90 cents per kilogram) and that was to
be my income,” Aghajanyan says. “Each plant would have provided me with
a one-dollar profit, but nothing is left.”
Petrosyan says the government should find a way to compensate.
“Taking into account the fact that apricot crops have been damaged for
three years and the fact that people who grow apricots could be using
lands for other purposes, we think the government must free them from
paying land tax,” says Petrosyan.
But farmers such as Hayk Barseghyan of the Dasht village of Armavir
region are not thinking about tax, so much as lost crops.
“We ran out of firewood. We burnt everything we had,” he says, referring
to efforts to warm the trees with smoke. “We covered our greenhouses
with cellophane two times. We used all clothes and rags we had:
blankets, carpets. We covered greenhouses with everything we could find
but everything was inn vain as we couldn’t save them.”
Hayk’s mother, 65-year-old Nunufar Barseghyan sits, crying, under a
flowered apricot tree, which has been frostbitten.
“I’ve been living in this village for 46 years but I never saw something
like this. How could temperature fall from +27, +30 to – 11 in April?
This was God’s punishment,” she says.
With difficulty she opens the door of a greenhouse, where she planted
seedlings of cucumber and gord. Plants are dead with their tops hung
down onto gray ground. One candle is placed next to every cultured
plant.
“During the whole night we were lighting candles,” Nunufur says. “Can
you imagine how many boxes of candles we lit? We wanted to keep warmth
in such a way but everything was in vain.”
They lost about $350. Hayk says they took money from the bank and left
gold as a deposit. The land is their only source of income.
And their fate is shared by most of the 800-900 villagers of Dasht.
About 60 percent of the 153 hectare area is given to gardening.
“This was God’s punishment.” Village head Hrant Petrosyan worries.
“Nothing is left,” he says. “Windows of houses were covered with 2-3
millimeters of ice ice. How could flowered trees survive in such
conditions?”
According to specialists, such cold temperatures in Ararat Valley
haven’t been registered within the last 100 years.
Villager Volodia Gevorgyan says his village has even lost potatoes that
were planted 10 centimeters deep.
“We won’t have even mulberries,” he says. “Our hope for the entire year,
everything that must have helped us to live, has disappeared.”
—
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CENN INFO
Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN)
Tel: ++995 32 92 39 46
Fax: ++995 32 92 39 47
E-mail: info@cenn.org
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