Eco Centre of Tver University
Region
Europe
Country
Russia
Flyway
East Atlantic flyway
Initiative
WLI Russia
About
Tver State University
Funding support: Federal Budget of the Russian Federation
Number of staff: 5
Overall aims of the centre
Environmental education and awareness-raising; development and introduction of environment-friendly technologies, scientific support of the Regional Red Data Book and Protected Areas Network, wetland research and monitoring.
Description of the centre
The EcoCentre is located in the city of Tver, European Russia, and works with local communities and land users over the whole Tver Region (Oblast) to gain support for nature conservation. The Chistoye Lake Visitor Centre, located in the Toropets District, provides a base for children’s summer camps and student fieldwork programmes, which are annually organised by EcoCentre.
Tver Region is very rich in wetlands, including 800 watercourses with total length of 17,000 km, 1,700 lakes, many reservoirs and ponds, among which are nine largest reservoirs of drinking water for Moscow and other adjacent settlements. Peatlands, one of the most extensive wetland types, cover 808,000 ha (10% of the Region’s area), many of which are valuable as peat deposits (15.4 billion m2).
These peatlands help to maintain the hydrological regime over extensive areas of the European Russia and neighbouring countries. Three major European Rivers, Volga, Zapadnaya Dvina (Daugava) and Dniepr of Caspian, Baltic and Black Sea basins, respectively, start in the peatland area of so called Great Watershed in western part of Tver Region. Regional peatlands have long been subjected to large-scale peat extraction; many of them still remain non-rehabilitated.
Work Areas
Main CEPA work areas
EcoCentre works to bring management bodies, local authorities and broad public into a dialog in order to enhance their understanding of values and benefits provided by the naturally functioning peatland ecosystems, as well as upgrade their knowledge on up-to-date techniques for wetland sustainable use.
The CEPA cover the organization of public conservational activities, Regional Ecological Quiz, training courses and volunteer work. Alexander Sorokin, Director of EcoCentre, is also a member of the Tver Regional Public Chamber and Chairman of Regional Ecological Quiz Judging Committee.
The staff of the EcoCentre consists of well-qualified professionals, who work in higher education. Taisia Kirillova also leads the local branch of NGO “Naslediye” in the town of Toropets. Elena Pushai is Chairwoman of NGO “Tver Ecological Club”.
Top three successes
Successful activities of 2011th include:
1. Monitoring of species, included in Regional Red Data Book; results were presented to the Regional Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
2. Running of Summer ecological camp Chistoye Lake in cooperation with the Toropetsk branck of NGO “Naslediye”.
3. Running of 2011 Big Clean Up Expedition along the Volga River banks. During this expedition, organised annually in cooperation with Charitable Foundation “Kovcheg Nadezhdy”, the routine cleaning of river banks is combined with the study of natural heritage.
Expertise
Interpretation techniques
Creating signage; site information; Producing written materials;Developing nature trails
Visitor centres
Setting up a new visitor centre; Running a visitor centre; Building / maintaining structures
Participation
Engaging hard-to-reach groups; Engaging young people;
Education and communication
Delivering adult education; Lobbying / running campaigns; Working with secondary schools; Developing resources / materials
General
PR and marketing; Health and safety; Fund-raising; Project planning.
Contact
Dr Alexander Sorokin
Eco-Centre of Tver University
Proshin Street 3, kor. 2,
Tver 170021,
Russia
Tel.: +7 4822 778424
Fax: +7 4822 778418
E-mail: ecology@tversu.ru
Skype: ecology-tversu