Initiative for social action and renewal in eurasia third sector news information bulletin

REGIONAL NGOs

An Ecology Lesson

By Elmira Abdullaeva

ISAR-Azerbaijan

Do you know what the word “angvil” means?  Probably not.  But the children in the upper grades

at three of Lenkoran’s schools know.  They can tell you that an angvil is the only river fish that

can live both in the water and on dry land.  The students learned this and many other interesting

facts about the environment during a environmental classes carried out by three NGOs in the

region.  The joint project of Umid-21

st

 Century, Students and Youth, and EcoSOS-South was

carried out with financial support from ISAR.  The goal of the project was to increase the

environmental knowledge of today’s youth, and to explain to them why the environment needs to

be appreciated and taken care of.  During the first part of the project, students attended

environmental lectures.  Following that, they planted small gardens on the school grounds.  In

addition, the children visited nature reserve areas in their region.

Representatives of ISAR’s grant and information programs visited the environmental lessons in

early October.  It is worth noting that these lessons were being carried out well.  A doctor of

biology was conducting the theoretical part of the lectures.  Different reading materials were used

throughout the course.  However, the groups succeeded in keeping the lessons from resembling

stereotypical institute lectures.  The students were constantly competing with each other to see

who could ask the most interesting question.  They were surprised to learn that 90% of the

world’s sturgeon population lives in the Caspian, and that during the time of Peter the Great, it

was forbidden to ring church bells during the sturgeon’s spawning period, so as not to disturb

them.  However, today, sturgeon are caught without any regulations, and if this continues, the

children learned that their grandchildren will never even have the chance to see a single sturgeon.

Instructors made a lasting impression on these kids by showing them the way a tree reacts when

its leaves are pulled off.  It looks like the tree can feel pain.  “We hope that this knowledge which

the children received during our lessons will help them to form an idea about what the

environment around them is.  We try to explain to the students that if people do not protect

nature, that they are really just killing themselves,” says Afer Kerimov, one of the project

organizers.