Sochi celebrates World Environment Day

On June 5 Sochi 2014 celebrated World Environment Day by announcing the winners of a special environmental competition and conducting awareness campaigns on cleaning and beautification of specially protected natural sites as part of a campaign to raise awareness of the environment.

On June 4, a day before World Environment Day, the Sochi 2014 Organizing committee, together with the Sochi Department of Education of Science recognised the winners of the high school multimedia presentation contest in Adler, Sochi. The competition "Respect is won by doing something" was aimed at encouraging people to develop a responsible attitude towards the environment. Participants in the competition submitted presentations about one of the following topics: "Green Standards" (a story about Olympic venues that fulfill world and Russian environmental standards), "Green Action" (a report on matters connected to the amenities in the grounds), "Flora and Fauna of the Host City" (a story about rare flora and fauna in the Sochi region), "Protected Nook" (a report on protected natural areas), "Before and After", "What has changed?" (the venues and areas of Sochi before the 2007 victory in Guatemala and today), and the "Little Page of Good Deeds" (story of host cities that contributed to nature preservation).

The winners were chosen by representatives of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee and Russian educators.

Ahead of the Olympic Games in Sochi, a clean-up campaign also took place on the 5th of June. The project seeks to clean up the reserve at the natural ornithological park in the Imeretinskaya Valley.

The organizers of the campaign were the "Natural Ornithological Park in the Imeretinskaya Valley", and the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee who were supported by the Coca-Cola company, a World Partner of the International Olympic Committee, and the Sochi Volunteer Development Center.

The project proved a success and saw a number of people, came out in support of the event. Participants included volunteers of "silver age" and the Sochi Volunteer Development Center, representatives from Sochi 2014 Partners, the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee, and the Sochi Administration.

Flowers were also planted near the aviary at the Caucasus reserve, the natural habitat of a number of rare bird species.

In addition, a celebration took place for students from the Sochi Environmental Biological Center. The event was scheduled to coincide with the closing of the "March in the Parks 2013" festival, an international campaign calling for the protection of natural reserves. The event attracts thousands of people each year and hosts panel discussions, press conferences and festivals.

As part of the "March in the Parks 2013", representatives from the federally-funded "Caucasian State Nature Biosphere Reserve" organized the "World of Wilderness" contest - a children's drawing contest dedicated to nature and to the inhabitants of the reserve.

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