OREANDA-NEWS. Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) conducted its fourth Ecological Patrol initiative. The Bank's employees in Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Tajikistan went to protected nature areas to clean parks and water reservoirs and plant trees.

The objectives of the initiative are to help protect the unique nature and cultural heritage in the Bank's member states, and to promote public awareness and responsibility for the environment. Our task is to attract attention to the problem of littering and to how people should behave at nature sites.

Each city and town has its places of interest, picturesque sites and protected areas, many of which are littered. This is the problem all EDB member states face.

The format and place for the Ecological Patrol was chosen in each city proceeding from its local needs.

In Almaty EDB employees went to the new nature park located on the corner of Navoi Street and Al-Farabi Avenue, which is a place favoured by Almaty residents. To make their walks more pleasant and comfortable the Ecological Patrol installed new benches and garbage bins in the park and cleaned its territory. In addition, special master classes on garbage recycling were arranged.

In Moscow EDB employees planted trees in the Natashinsky Park in the town of Lyubertsy. In St. Petersburg they cleaned the Tauride Garden. Trees were also planted in Dushanbe's Alexander Mironenko garden, Yerevan's Hrazdan forest, and in Minsk in the park of the Research and Practical Centre for Children's Oncology.

"Several years ago EDB proposed this environmental initiative. Our position was that environmental security should concern not only governmental authorities, but the public as a whole. The objective of our Ecological Patrol is to make its contribution (albeit small, but nevertheless important) to environmental protection. It is very important to us that our initiative unite not only EDB employees, but also representatives of diplomatic missions, research and public organisations," says Igor Finogenov, Chairman of the Management Board at EDB.