"Green Schools" will appear in Belarus

May 15, Vitebsk / Sergey Kochetov - BELTA /. The "Green Schools" project is planned to be implemented in Belarus, which involves the inclusion of an environmental monitoring course in the school curriculum and the development of environmental education. This was announced to journalists by Dmitry Frishchin, head of the joint project of the European Commission and UNDP "Sustainable Development at the Local Level," in response to a question from a BELTA correspondent. He took part in a seminar on the practical aspects of project implementation in the Vitebsk region, which was held today at the regional executive committee. According to Dmitry Frishchin, the development of the "Green Schools" project, which is one of the components of the UNDP/European Commission Program "Support for Environment and Sustainable Development in Belarus," is currently being finalized. It involves the creation of environmental education centers based on nature reserves in various regions of the country, where students can acquire the necessary knowledge in ecology and undergo relevant training. Schools interested in organizing and conducting environmental monitoring will receive support within the framework of the project. Training is planned to be organized in the form of elective classes. In the Vitebsk region, such an environmental education center is planned to be established at the Berezinsky Biosphere Reserve. In addition, UNDP experts, together with Belarusian specialists, have begun developing a new National Strategy for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biological Diversity. The new joint project of the European Commission and the United Nations Development Programme "Building Capacity in Strategic Environmental Assessment and Implementation of Environmental Conventions in the Republic of Belarus" is intended to assist in the preparation of the document. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of Belarus acts as the national implementing agency for this project. The document will define priority areas for the rational use of biological diversity in Belarus and contain a number of other important environmental aspects. UNDP experts will also assist in the preparation of the National Action Program to Combat Land Degradation in Belarus. The main goal of the document is to introduce the principles of sustainable land management into national policy and integrate them into national and sectoral programs and plans. -0-