Proposal for the Small Grants Initiative, Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program, 2004

 

Project title: Small River Biological Monitoring for School Students in Borjomi Region, Republic of Georgia

 

Proposed by: Eka Otarashvili

 

Problem Statement

 

Borjomi is located in the Mountainous region in the South Georgia. Borjomi region is famous with its forests, rich biodiversity and the best mineral water recourses in Georgia. It is located in the river Kura basin and is also very rich with water recourses; there are many small mountain rivers in Borjomi region, feeding the Kura River. Population of Borjomi has concerns regarding the current environmental conditions, when there is increased demand for forest and water recourses.  Borjomi region is located on the territory of proposed Baku-Jeikhan pipeline, which is regarded by the big part of population as environmental threat to their region. There is extremely big demand for public ecological monitoring. The concept of public monitoring is very new for this region and for the whole Georgia. Non-existence of any experience in this field makes extremely difficult the establishment and development of the monitoring practice.  Another constrain is the high cost of monitoring, which the local community can not afford. Biological monitoring of small rivers is a very valuable and affordable tool for the beginning of promotion of the idea of public monitoring. The fact, that type of monitoring can be adopted for children and makes it possible to link the development of the program with educational purposes. The current state of education in Georgia pays very little attention to ecological and environmental issues. Ecological lessons in the schools are newly approved and there are very limited resources to develop appropriate curricula, especially at the local level. The introduction of river biological monitoring techniques and developing appropriate guidelines could contribute to filling this gap. The non-governmental sector is poorly developed in the Borjomi region. There are very few active environmental NGOs. “Association Borjomi” is one of them. This organization could provide assistance in all activities of the Project. The above-mentioned project will also contribute to capacity building of this particular NGO and the whole sector of environmental NGOs in the Borjomi region.

 

Project Activities

 

  • Adaptation of the materials, provided by the partners from Beahrs ELP for local circumstances;
  • Identification of appropriate participants (schools and school teachers) and target groups for implementation of the monitoring;
  • Identification of monitoring sites;
  • Preparation of the Guideline of  biological monitoring for teachers of Borjomi region;
  • Preparation and printing of the monitoring Guidelines for children and designing of toolkits;
  • Conducting the workshop in Borjomi on public environmental monitoring with the focus on river biological monitoring;
  •  Purchasing of  materials for conducting practical monitoring and for toolkits;
  • Conducting field monitoring with participation of schoolchildren;
  • Advertising of the project activities through the local media;
  • Processing data, obtained during the monitoring;
  • Conducting coordination meetings with selected teachers, participating in the monitoring program.
  • Summarizing project acclivities, preparation of the final report.

Collaboration statement

 

Professor Vincent Resh, from UC Berkeley, Division of Insect Biology, Department of Environmental Sciences, Policy and Management, is anticipated as the major partner for the project. The Project is designed as adaptation and replication of the biological monitoring program developed by Prof. Resh and his colleagues. In the frames of the project is scheduled conduction of the seminar on Public Ecological Monitoring in Borjomi region. A presentation and active participation by Prof. Resh or by one of his colleagues is expected.  Provision of monitoring program design and existed Guidelines due to adaptation for Georgian circumstances is also anticipated.  

 

Ms. Susan Farquharson, Executive Director of “Eastern Charlotte Waterways Inc.”                                expressed her willingness to cooperate. Her organization is focused on community-based resource management. She agreed to provide material prepared by her organization and their Guidelines for Volunteer Monitoring.

 

Connection of proposed project with learning/skills developed during summer course at Berkeley

 

Biological monitoring of rivers, which could be adopted for children, is absolutely new for Georgia. The whole concept of public ecological monitoring is very poorly developed and is in its beginning phase. The presentation on Monitoring Methods, Indicators, Metrics, and Working with Communities given by Prof. Resh during the summer course at Berkeley and the practical exercises in the Berkeley Botanical Garden gave me an idea to adopt and develop the practice of river biological monitoring in Georgia, for demonstration purposes in the Borjomi Region. Borjomi is rich with water recourses and the population is concerned with ecological issues very much. I have discussed this issue with Prof. Resh and he showed his interest and readiness to help. I have also discuss possibility of replication of the abovementioned monitoring practice and its development in Georgia with one of the participants of the summer course at Berkeley. Ms. Susan Farquharson. Susan is en Executive Director of “Eastern Charlotte Waterways inc.” She informed, that they have created the Guideline for volunteer monitoring in Canada. Ms. Farquharson agreed to collaborate and provide their material.

 

Expected results and outputs

 

In case of implementation of the project “small river biological monitoring for school students” in Borjomi region the following results are anticipated:

 

  • The background for the public ecological monitoring will be prepared.
  • Fist steps in the direction of development curricula for ecological lessons in local level will be undertaken.
  • The level of ecological awareness among population of Borgomi and especially among teachers and school children will be raised.
  • The possibility of replication of the program in other regions of Georgia will be explored
  • Cooperation with UC Berkeley and with Canadian environmental oriented NGO will be established.
  • The development of the first public ecological monitoring data base will be initiated in Borjomi region.  
  • The abovementioned project will also contribute to the capacity building of implementer NGO and the whole sector of environmental NGO in the Borjomi region.

 
Timeline and Duration

 

The implementation face of the Project is scheduled to begin March 1, 2004 and will continue for 16 weeks. Full implementation and report preparation may take through February, 2005.

The detailed schedule is shown below:

 

No

Tasks

Weeks

 

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16 +

1

Adaptation of the materials, provided by the partners from Beahrs ELP for local circumstances

x

x

x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2

Identification of appropriate participants (schools and school teachers) and target groups for implementation of the monitoring;

 

x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3

Identification of monitoring sites;

 

 

 

x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4

Preparation of the Guideline of  biological monitoring for teachers of Borjomi region;

 

 

 

 

x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5

Preparation of the Guideline of  biological monitoring for teachers of Borjomi region;

 

 

 

 

x

x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6

Preparation and printing of the monitoring Guidelines for children and designing of toolkits

 

 

 

 

 

 

x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7

Conducting the workshop in Borjomi on public environmental monitoring with the focus on river biological monitoring;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8

Purchasing of  materials for conducting practical monitoring and for toolkits;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9

Conducting field monitoring with participation of schoolchildren

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

 

10

Advertising of the project activities through the local media;

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

 

11

Processing data, obtained during the monitoring

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

x

 

12

Conducting coordination meetings with selected teachers, participating in the monitoring program.

 

 

 

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

 

13

Summarizing project acclivities, preparation of the final report.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

x to

28 Feb 2005

 

Risks associated with the proposed proposal and possible ways to handle these risks

 

Among risks, associated with the project implementation one could consider unexpected climate conditions which could lead to raising level of small mountain rivers in Borjomi region or unexpected cold winter with freezing of the water in rivers for longer time as usual. As possible ways of handle these risks, I could suggest to keep schedule and lime line of the project as flexible as possible.

 

Sustainability

 

The project is extremely important for the development of public monitoring, raising public awareness in environmental issues, and to support education in the region. Taking into consideration all abovementioned, the regional NGO (see the letter) is interested in the continuation of the project and will try to find donor organizations that would finance the implementation of similar projects in other schools, as well as assist interested people by providing the corresponding data and materials, and share experience. There exists the possibility of carrying out similar activities during the summer camp, which is usually conducted in Borjomi region.

 

Except for the regional NGO, schools are also interested in the continuation of the project, due to little experience in environmental education. The project will assist school teachers to gain experience in the field as they are eager to continue working in this field.

 

Local administrative agencies also took interest in the project. They will support the project activities as a public monitoring process. Absence of public monitoring is a significant obstacle to the sustainable development of the region. According to all this, local administration is interested in this project since it will initiate the development of public monitoring in the region.