CCSI recently received an e-mail message introducing:

                          Tapan Eco-Club
                             Armenia

The goal of Tapan Eco-Club is to unite society for the protection of the
nature of Armenia (Earth) and the creatures inhabiting it, to preserve the
natural and cultural legacy of society, and the physical and spiritual
health of people.

Tasks of  Tapan Eco-Club are:

- increase public understanding of the natural and cultural
  environment, and the experience and principles of activities
  aimed at prevention of ecological crisis on the local and global
  scale;

- support for the prevention of activities threatening to
  ecological safety and public health, and for the preservation of
  Biodiversity;

- support for nature conservation legislation and state bodies in
  their struggle against its violations.

- struggle against the processes of desertification;

- conservation, rehabilitation and rational utilization of the
  natural environment and natural resources;

- promotion of energy and resource conservation, and ecologically
  clean technologies;

- support for the processes of democratization and development of
  civil society.

Directions of Tapan Eco-Club's Activity

* Information, publication
* Global environmental problems
* Desertification
* Biodiversity
* Forestry
* Protection of natural territories
* Ecological education and discipline
* Nature conservation legislation and policy
* Agriculture
* Rational utilization of nature
* Problems of industrial pollution
* Waste recycling
* Ecologically clean technologies


Current Activities

- Disseminate print information and videos about environmental
  problems among Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO), mass media,
  socially active citizens, and administrative ecological
  structures,

- Publicize and participate in the activities of the UN Convention
  to Combat Desertification (CCD UN),

- Publicize the involvement of Azerbaijani and Georgian NGOs in
  the programs of the CCD UN and the RIOD-Network,

- Publish the "Tapan-Messenger" bulletin,

- Rehabilitate plants in parks, squares and forests and provide
  the population with professional services on plant caring,

- Organize competitions on nature conservation themes among
  schoolchildren and school cabbage-gardens,

- Organize, as well participate in, measures initiated by the NGO-
  Center EPAC and other NGOs to develop the NGO sector in Armenia,

- Organize training of Tapan's members and active citizens in
  computer literacy and knowledge of the Internet,

- As a collective member of the international organization Social-
  Ecological Union, Tapan participates in its activities,
  disseminates literature, information and other materials of
  SEU's Coordination and Information Center, and provides the
  press service of SEU with information about events and the
  conditions of the environment in Armenia.

- Has close relationships with many Armenian, Russian and Western
  organizations (about 300), and implements or prepares joint
  projects with 25 of them,

- Representatives of Eco-Club were invited and actively
  participated in 19 international conferences and seminars,
  including: World Learning, UNSO, UN Convention to Combat
  Desertification, Aarhus Conference of 1998, PanEuropean NREC
  Project, seminars on lake Sevan

- Establish the Resource Center of Tapan Eco-Club and the unique
  Russian Ecological Library.

"March for Parks"

As a result of cooperation with the Wild Nature Conservation Center
(Moscow), Tapan is involved in the international program "March for Parks"
which is celebrated from 18 to 22 of April each year. In 1997 the program
had 500 participants, 450 trees were planted, and the Botanical Garden was
cleaned up. In 1998, with the support of Ministry of Agriculture of
Holland, we planted 1100 trees and shrubs in Yerevan and surrounding
territories. We disseminated information about environmental protection
projects to television programs, radio, information agencies and
newspapers.

Sponsors of  Program:

Malatya-Sebastya Community "Erkrapa" NGO, Yerevan Typography of Color
Printing, CJSC INFOKOM, "Lusine" Ltd, "Getap" Restaurant, "Zoo" CafÈ.

The Chairman of Tapan Eco-Club, Hrant Sargsyan is an independent
TV-producer, and program coordinator of the Social-Ecological Union in the
Trans-Caucasus.  The senior council includes biologists, botanists and
agricultural specialists. Tapan Eco-Club has 7 employees.

I hope you will be interested in Eco-Club Tapan.

Kind regards
Narine Gasparyan
tapan@acc.am