In celebration of World Environment Day, UNIC Canberra joined the United Nations Association of Australia at its World Environment Day Awards.  The theme for 2013 World Environment Day celebrations was “Think.Eat.Save - reduce your Foodprint”.

The annual national Awards recognized innovative and outstanding environmental programs and initiatives from across Australia and the important work of Australian environmental leaders.  In supporting the event, UNIC Canberra’s Director delivered the official message of the Day and presented a number of awards. 

This year the programme gained prominence with the addition of the Prime Minister’s Environmentalist of the Year and Young Environmentalist of the Year awards, presented by the Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water.  The event was also attended by the Shadow Minister for Climate Change Action, Environment and heritage as well as ministers from both Victoria and New South Wales, in addition to representatives from civil society, media, business and local governments.

It was in 2011 that UNDP and the UN office in Uzbekistan joined its national partners in organising the first EcoWeek, an event that commemorated World Environment Day on the 5th of June, and helped government officials, business owners and members of the public to understand that they themselves can play a direct, constructive role in sustaining their nation’s environment.

Three years later, EcoWeek 2013 has had the greatest impact yet on rural and urban citizens throughout Uzbekistan. Through exhibitions, conferences, competitions and development initiatives held from the 28th of May to the 5th of June, this year’s inspirational programme has focused on showing how managing natural resources and improving livelihoods go hand in hand - that a healthier environment means a better future.

Like its previous incarnations, this year’s campaign began in Uzbekistan’s capital of Tashkent with an exhibition and opening ceremony hosted by UNDP and other UN agencies, the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Nature Protection, other national partners in the environmental field, and the UN Information Office.

On EcoWeek 2013’s opening day, representatives of joint national initiatives exhibited work undertaken in the last year to bring better manage natural resources, to promote efficient energy use, to mitigate the impacts of climate change, and to ensure Uzbekistan’s unique wildlife and landscapes are carefully maintained. Members of the press and the greater public were invited to view these presentations, and to witness the renewal of commitments to balance environmental management and economic growth.

In the following days EcoWeek 2013 hit the road, with events held in regional Uzbekistan to demonstrate how various projects and initiatives have helped maintain the nation’s diverse landscapes and environments, and how these efforts can be continued by local residents in the future.

From the 29th to the 30th of May a group of journalists visited the ancient city of Samarkand and its surrounding areas, including the Zarafshan Reserve, to learn how the use of recycled water has been utilised in both agriculture and in the regional automobile industry.

Also on the 30th of May a team of journalists visited the school №39 in Andijan, which as a beneficiary of the joint UNDP, GEF and Gosarkhitektstroy project ‘Improving Energy Efficiency in Public Buildings in Uzbekistan’, has been outfitted with technologies and design features intended to ensure comfortable conditions while minimising its energy usage.

The following week saw government and business representatives joining respected academics in Navoi, to attend the ‘Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development’ forum held on Monday the 3rd of June. This important event saw a lively exchange of views and opinions from vital stakeholders in the environmental debate, and paved the way for future cooperation and coordination between the attending partners. 

Day four of EcoWeek 2013, the 4th of June, saw local government representatives, neighbouring residents and journalists visit the Aralovul village in Uzbekistan’s dry Kashkadarya region, to help maintain and witness the benefits of the Ayrum Canal in improving agricultural irrigation.

The participants also visited the ‘Resource and Information Centre for Climate Risk Management’ to congratulate the winners of a student ecological competition, while elsewhere a seminar was held to educate rural women farmers and school teachers about the best methods of irrigating small gardens and vegetable plots.

The 5th of June saw the closing ceremony of EcoWeek 2013, which was hosted by the Nature Committee Chair Nariman Umarov and the UNDP Deputy Resident Representative Jaco Cilliers, who reemphasised the importance of the week’s events and their wide-reaching impact. The closing ceremony also announced the winners of an eco-painting contest arranged for school children, and by creative children’s performance groups in Tashkent. 

EcoWeek 2013 has set a new precedent for future awareness-raising campaigns, drawing together stakeholders from throughout Uzbekistan to discuss how they can combine their skills, abilities and efforts to create a future where sustainable development remains a national priority. It is expected that the lessons learnt and experiences gained will be applied by participants in the coming year.

The organizers of EcoWeek 2013 have included the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Nature Protection, UNDP, the UN Office in Uzbekistan, the Small Grants Programme of the Global Environment Facility (GEF SGP), and the Office of the Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia (CAREC).

Information support was provided by the UNO Tashkent.

In Uzbekistan’s dry Kashkadarya region, ensuring effective water management and addressing environmental problems are both crucial to agricultural development.

On 4 June, as part of the national EcoWeek 2013 awareness-raising campaign conducted by UNDP and its national partners, a meeting was held at the Ayrum Canal that provides Kashkadarya’s Aralovul village and its surrounding farms with a constant supply of irrigation water. This vital infrastructure was constructed by the UNDP ‘Climate Risk Management in Uzbekistan’ project.

A number of local participants came together to clean and maintain the infrastructure, including representatives of the Kashkadarya khokimiyat (regional government), residents of neighbouring towns, and students from the Department of Environment and Ecology of the Karshi Engineering Economic Institute (KIEI). 

The participants also took part in the opening ceremony of the ‘Resource and Information Centre for Climate Risk Management’, as established through the KIEI department, during which the winners of a student ecological outlook competition received awards.

The entrants in the regional competition had prepared papers which discussed environmental problems faced in Kashkadarya, particularly those related to climate change, and the solutions that can help protect the environment.

Also on the 4th of June, a seminar was conducted for women farmers and school teachers, where issues were discussed regarding water conservation in school farms and gardens, methods of mitigating water scarcity, and ways of better using natural resources.

This seminar was attended by residents from the Akmola region of Kazakhstan and women farmers from Kashkadarya who 12 months before were educated in the best practices of water conservation, and who now with the support from UNDP’s ‘Climate Risk Management’ project are able to apply new skills in their farms and gardens.

On the 5th of June, World Environment Day, representatives from the ‘Climate Risk Management’ project met with students from school №102 at Shahrisabz and the Surkhan Agricultural College, who participated in a competition for the best school project on water conservation in growing vegetables and fruits in home gardens and school grounds. 

The contest encouraged students to consider how problems related to climate change can be solved through practical solutions for the protection and conservation of water supplies. The competition winners were declared on the day, and the winners will then participate in a regional competition for best water conservation projects held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, later in June 2013.

The EcoWeek 2013 organizers included the State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Nature Protection, UNDP, the UN Office in Uzbekistan, the Small Grants Programme of the Global Environment Facility (GEF SGP), and the Office of the Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia (CAREC).

Information support was provided by UNO Tashkent.

On 6 June, UNIC Canberra marked World Oceans Day at the Melbourne Aquarium  with an event highlighting the success of a citizen science project to identify the impact of marine debris.
Organized by Earthwatch Australia and the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) the event centred on the Earthwatch project, TeachWild, which inspires Australian school children to become citizen scientists to survey the sources and distribution of marine debris on local beaches across the country. 

The Director of UNIC Canberra opened the event with the Secretary-General’s message for the Day, and the audience also heard from the CSIRO lead project scientist, the Country Social Investment Manager from Shell who sponsor the project.  The highlight of the event was a show and tell by students from Emerald Primary School who demonstrated how they used collected rubbish to form artistic sculptures.