20
August
2012
First Environment Marathon in Protection of Lake Baikal Held in Ulan Ude
On 17 August, the First Environment Marathon “Let’s Preserve
Baikal Together!” was held at the Central Stadium in Ulan Ude as
part of the Day of Baikal. The Marathon was organized by the Fund
for Protection of Lake Baikal and the Ministry of Natural Resources
of the Republic of Buryatia with the assistance of the AutoRadio
radio station. METROPOL Group of Companies, Titan Group and OJSC
River Port were the partners of the marathon.
Although the weather was cool, about 5,000 people came to
support the marathon participants and make their own contribution
to the protection of Lake Baikal.
The marathon was opened by President of the Republic of Buryatia
Vyacheslav Nagovitsyn. Then the participants and guests of the
event were addressed by Sergey Yeroshchenko, Governor of Irkutsk
Region; Mikhail Slipenchuk, Deputy of the RF State Duma, Deputy
Chairman of the RF Duma Committee for Natural Resources,
Environmental Management and Ecology and Chairman of the
Guardianship Board of the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal;
Matvey Gershevich, Chairman of the People's Khural of Buryatia;
Lyudmila Berlina, Chairwoman of Irkutsk Region Legislative
Assembly; Aleksandr Lbov, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources of
the Republic of Buryatia; Bair Tsyrenov, Vice President of the Fund
for Protection of Lake Baikal, and other public officials.
All the speakers noted the importance of such events aimed at
promoting environmental education, organization of effective
measures to save the nature of Lake Baikal, development of tourism
and recreational activity and highlighting environmental and social
concerns of the region. Bair Tsyrenov stressed that “everyone who
comes to the purest lake in the world should always have the purest
intentions”.
The concert arranged as part of the Marathon featured Olga
Zhigmitova, Chengiz Radnayev, Seseg Ayusheeva, Rinchin
Dashitsyrenov, Namkhai Munkhzul, GB Corporation, Hathur Zu, Temujin
and other popular Buryat artists and bands.
The audience enthusiastically welcomed their countrywoman Lyubov
Volosova, who won the bronze at the 30th Olympic Games in London in
freestyle wrestling.
The Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal awarded special Defender
of Baikal diplomas to representatives of volunteer environmental
organizations cleaning the shore of the lake from garbage every
year. These organizations include The Great Baikal Trail, Save
Baikal, International Baikal Shore Volunteer Service, Regional
Non-Governmental Organization Ecoliga, Regional Non-Governmental
Organization Baikal Information Center Gran and others.
The diplomas were also awarded to participants of the scientific
expedition organized by Lomonosov Moscow State University’s Faculty
of Geography and to Sergey Sablin, the leader of the Around Baikal
expedition organized by the Russian Geographic Society.
An environmental quiz on Lake Baikal was the culmination point of
the Marathon and its winners received valuable prizes from Metropol
Express and MegaFon.
The festivity ended with an hour-and-a-half concert of People’s
Artist of Russia Oleg Gazmanov and Eskadron band. The singer
addressed the residents and guests of Buryatia from the stage to
join forces around the central idea that is the preservation of
Lake Baikal for future generations.
More than 700,000 rubles has been collected during the Marathon.
This money will be spent to arrange and improve recreational areas
in Pribaikalsky District of the Republic of Buryatia. It is planned
to create an environmental infrastructure based on the latest
technologies, to organize regular shoreline cleanups and to arrange
garbage collection and sorting stations on the shore of Lake
Baikal.
The participants of the Day of Baikal are greeted by (left
to right): Mikhail Slipenchuk, Deputy of the RF State Duma and
Chairman of the Guardianship Board of the Fund for Protection of
Lake Baikal; Matvey Gershevich, Chairman of the People's Khural of
Buryatia; Vyacheslav Nagovitsyn, President of the Republic of
Buryatia; Sergey Yeroschenko, Governor of Irkutsk Region; Lyudmila
Berlina, Chairwoman of Irkutsk Region Legislative
Assembly.
Let’s Preserve Baikal! Project Coordinator Maksim
Tokarev
Volunteers of the International Baikal Shore
Service
Awarding quiz winners.
Performance by Oleg Gazmanov
