Dashkhovuz Ecological Guardians
Dashkhovuz Ecological Guardians (DEG) is a non-governmental
non-commercial organization founded in 1992. The Guardians bring
together environmentally concerned activists from a number of
professions, including ecology, medicine, journalism, teaching,
agriculture, and hydrology. What these people share is a commitment to
the environment and a readiness to dedicate their time and abilities
to efforts to protect human health and the environment.
DEG's work is based on the principles of individual initiative and
mutual assistance. We have no administrative staff or membership dues.
All important issues are decided at meetings of members and by three
elected co-chairs who have equal rights to represent DEG in relations
with other organizations and citizens. DEG members freely choose their
areas of work and their level of involvement, being accountable only
for their voluntarily assumed responsibilities. They also assist each
other to the extent that they are able. DEG members are also invested
by government decision with public environmental law enforcement
rights. On 1 May 1998, there were 20 official members of DEG. The
Guardians are officially registered (incorporated) by the state as a
social organization, and DEG enjoys the rights and privileges of a
legal person under Turkmenistan law.
The fundamental activities of the Guardians are environmental
education, environmental monitoring, defense of biodiversity,
environmental law (education, drafting, and enforcement), fighting
wastes and chemical pollution, and supporting environmentally friendly
businesses and organic farming.
In the unique conditions of Turkmenistan, where civic society is in
its early stages of development, the Guardians also feel compelled to
involve themselves in efforts to develop the Third Sector and
encourage civic initiatives. With support from National Endowment for
Democracy and Open Society Institute, the Guardians opened a Public
Information Center in the city of Dashkhovuz (capital of Dashkhovuz
Region) and a network of public libraries providing free access for
all citizens suffering from the current informational vacuum in
Turkmenistan to copies of progressive publications and periodicals
(from throughout the former Soviet Union and other parts of the world)
as well as to collections of reference works and lists of important
contact people and organizations. Moreover, the Guardians' office
provides visitors with a forum for informal socializing and free
discussion.
DEG has also facilitated the creation of environmental organizations
in other cities of Turkmenistan, including Catena Ecological Club in
Ashgabad, Flamingo Ecological Club in Krasnovodsk (Turkmenbashi),
Amudarya Ecological Group in Seidi, and the Protei and Rodonit
ecological clubs in Ekaterinburg, Russia. In 1995, DEG organized and
hosted the Cheetah 95 Central Asian Biodiversity Conference, at which
the International Central Asian Biodiversity Institute (BIOSTAN) was
created, the first nongovernmental Central Asia wide ecological and
environmental advocacy professional association.
DEG also devotes its efforts to publication. The Vitamin Y journal of
democracy, reform, and law is in its third year of publication. We
have also published two editions of our volume of collected
Turkmenistan environmental and health legislation. In addition, we
have published the Turkmenistan Constitution, our translation into
local languages of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and
other legal materials. One of our more successful publications is an
ecology textbook authored by experienced DEG teachers and scientists
for Turkmenistan schoolteachers. In addition to our print facilities,
we are now in the process of adding an independent telestudio and film
library. We have already created a number of our own videos on
documentary themes and are working on additional titles to be shown on
national television.
The Guardians have also formed and oversee a youth environmental club,
the Young Cheetahs. Currently, the Young Cheetahs embrace
approximately 100 schoolchildren from several schools in the city of
Dashkhovuz. Based in School 3, the Young Cheetahs not only seriously
study ecological sciences; they also participate in direct actions to
protect the environment, particularly to save wild animals, green the
city, re-use discarded products, and protect the atmosphere. They also
publish the Green Shoot journal, which is read with great interest not
only by children and adults in Dashkhovuz, but also in other cities of
Turkmenistan and the former Soviet Union.
The charitable activities of DEG are also directed at supporting
interest in environmental literacy and environmental advocacy. We
sponsor competitions and award prizes in schools, conduct field trips,
distribute seeds and seedlings of endangered plants, and organize
exhibitions, fairs, and film screenings.
The Guardians also have wide contacts with other organizations and
activists throughout the world. DEG is an affiliate of the
international Socio-Ecological Union (the largest environmental NGO in
the former Soviet Union) and of Law and Environment Eurasia
Partnership (which provides support to Central Asian NGOs). In
Dashkhovuz, DEG works closely with Peace Corps volunteers and other
reform minded groups.
The successes of the Guardians would have been impossible to achieve
without public support, key support from certain governmental agencies
and local private businesses, and support from Western donors such as
ISAR, Sacred Earth Network (SEN), American Legal Consortium, National
Endowment for Democracy, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation, Open Society Institute, and NOVIB.
Contact Information for Dashkhovuz Ecological Guardians:
Evgenia Zatoka (DEG Co-Chair)
Andrei Zatoka (Socio-Ecological Union Council members, Law and
Environment Eurasia Partnership Advisor, and SEN Advisor);
Microregion Centre-1, dom 8 kv. 23; Dashkhovuz, Turkmenistan 746301.
Phone/Fax: 56683; (international phone code 993322 or 736022);
email: azat@tashauz.cat.glasnet.ru
Farid Tukhbatullin (DEG Co-Chair);
Microregion Centre-1, dom 19 kv. 60; Dashkhovuz, Turkmenistan 746301.
Phone: 51460; email: farid@tashauz.cat.glasnet.ru
Elena Myatieva (DEG Co-Chair)
Microregion Centre-2, dom 6 kv. 24; Dashkhovuz, Turkmenistan 746301.
Phone: 57788; email: rootd@gepard.tashauz.cat.glasnet.ru
Jan.1999
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