ESTLATRUS widely celebrated European Cooperation Day

This year the European Cooperation Day (ECDay) was celebrated already for the fifth time. Like every year, also this year special attention was drawn to maintaining good neighbourly relations across border regions.


Estonia-Latvia-Russia CBC Programme (ESTLATRUS) organised various local activities throughout September and early October. This year focus was put on the importance of raising awareness about environmental challenges among school children and general public at large.


ECDay celebration began on 17 September 2016, when families were invited to attend various activities in Tartu Environmental Education Centre (TEEC). The event was officially opened by Ms Unda Ozolina, the Head of the Joint Technical Secretariat (JTS) of Estonia-Russia CBC Programme , Ms Dace Krupenko, Acting Head of the JTS of Estonia-Latvia-Russia CBC Programme, Ms Tiia Teppan, Vice-Mayor of Tartu, and Ms Piret Pungas-Kohv, a member of the board of TEEC. Throughout the day children had a chance to test their strength by joint apple juice making, participate in an adventure game with elements of hunting and other activities that promote environmentally friendly attitude.

       

 In the framework of the ECDay, an opening ceremony of the wooden xylophone took place in the park area of TEEC. The xylophone is made of various type of woods grown in Estonia, Latvia, and Russia symbolising cooperation, where each wooden key sounds differently but together nice music can be produced. First sounds of music and melody out of the wooden xylophone were delivered by Estonian musician Silver Sepp who entertained the public by performances on fantasy instruments throughout the day.

      

On 24 September 2016, a family day “Surrounded by Nature” was organised in Līgatne Nature Trails that offered opportunity to participate in creative educational workshops, explore characteristic landscapes and wild animals of Latvia. The event was opened by Mr Rolands Auzins, Director of the Latvian Nature Conservation Agencys Vidzeme regional administration, Mr Ainars Steins, Chairman of Ligatne municipality, Ms Dace Krupenko, Acting Head the JTS of Estonia-Latvia-Russia CBC Programme and Ms Liane Rosenblatt, Programme and Communication Consultant of the JTS of Estonia- Russia CBC Programme. A range of enjoyable and memorable hands-on activities were delivered to teach children effectively about the outdoors and bring them closer to nature. Families were encouraged to get back to nature with a walking quiz that helped them to explore the territory of nature trails more closely and later receive surprise gifts.

   

During the event, an opening of the newest station of the sense trail (nature learning by all senses) - a wooden masseur in nature – took place.  The wooden masseur not only helps to relax, but also feel how wild boars and other animals are rubbing against a tree. As the event come to a closure, a fireplace was installed and it made a nice addition to the event as everyone could enjoy a little more of the outdoors – soup cooked on an open fireplace.

       

ECDay celebration activities were concluded on 5 October 2016 in a centre for youth creativity "Zerkalnij" in Leningrad region, where more than 150 school children and 37 teachers gathered for a nature education camp. The event was opened by Ms Dace Krupenko and Mr Sergey Balanev - the Acting Head and Information Manager of the JTS of Estonia-Latvia-Russia CBC Programme, Ms Veronica Spiridonova, representative of the Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg, Mr Alexei G. Bushaeva, representative of the St. Petersburg Committee on Education and Ms Yulia Danilova, a member of the Commission on Education and Education of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. For teachers a workshop on instrumental methods of studying wildlife was organised. This workshop introduced teachers with such tools as mobile education centre, various online programmes, materials and applications for smart phones and tablets. After an information session indoors, the teachers were welcomed to explore an ecotrail “Walking through the pine forest”. This included also a quest game "Wildlife Detectives” that encouraged teachers to find and study various natural objects using different equipment like electronic devices, digital microscopes and others.


   

In a meanwhile, school children were able to join diverse games and educational tasks on the topic of the Baltic Sea. Lecture-quiz “Secrets of the Baltic Sea” and game “Sea that is close” made them work closely together in order to find the correct answers and win the competition. At any time during the event children had a chance to join workshops and drawing master classes.

   


This year the ECDay activities were organised in a close cooperation with project "Promoting nature education as efficient mean of awareness raising" that have been supported by the Programme. The main aim of this project was to raise public awareness of nature, raising the profile of conservation issues.

For more photos from all three events, please check photo galleries:

ECDay in Estonia

ECDay in Latvia

ECDay in Russia