The Department of Ecology, together with the regional public association "Gomel Association of Children and Youth" ASDEMO (http://asdemo.org), a private environmental educational institution "Ecotiva", with the support of the Gomel Regional Committee of Natural Resources and Protection environment held an educational student event "CREATON: Water" on World Water Day, March 22.
Creaton was implemented as part of an international project «Coalition Clean Baltic (CCB), water program of Belarus and Russia №55030187. The event was attended by teams from the Faculty of Physics and Information Technology, Faculty of Psychology and Pedagogy, Faculty of Economics, Faculty of Geology and Geography, Philological, Historical, and Biological faculties.
What does water mean to humans? What can each of us do to conserve water resources? Today, more than 2 billion people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water, and more than 60% of wastewater, which is a waste product of mankind, ends up in nature without proper treatment. In addition, 70% of fresh water extracted from rivers, lakes, aquifers is used for agriculture, industry and energy production.
One of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, formulated and adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015, is Goal 6: water and sanitation. Without a comprehensive understanding of the true, multidimensional value of water, we will not be able to preserve this most important resource. Each of us can contribute to the solution of the assigned tasks.
"Creaton: Water" is a marathon of ideas, where each participant was able to offer ideas and ask any questions on environmental topics of interest. The participants got acquainted with the most relevant video materials on the protection of water resources and the most significant environmental problems of our time.
The participants actively worked on the creation of project ideas on the proposed topics for several hours. Creaton turned out to be an excellent opportunity for students from different faculties to get to know each other better, since the working groups were formed at random. The best ideas were awarded with valuable prizes and certificates in bowling.
Tatiana TIMOFEEVA, Associate Professor, Department of Ecology
