Kazakhstan Crane Festival 2007

To create awareness of the problems of biodiversity conservation, the Kazakhstan Project Coordination Unit of the Siberian Crane Wetland Project (SCWP), jointly with the people of Naurzum, organized the "Cranes are Flying – 2006" Republican Festival in September 2006; Karamendy village in the Naurzum district of Kostanay Oblast was the center of the festival activities. The festival showcased creative contests of more than two and a half thousand school children from two districts of Kostanay Oblast: Naurzum and Kamystin and Beloyarsk Secondary School from the Russian Federation.
 
Inspired by the success of the 2006 activities, the festival organizers aimed at making this an annual event. The second Crane Festival - a culmination of creative contests involving more than 13 thousand school children from ten districts of Kostanay Oblast - was celebrated on October 13, 2007 in Karamendy village. Experts from the SCWP, Naurzum National Natural Reserve, Naurzum District, departments of education, internal policy, culture and language development, schools of Kostanay Oblast, local NGOs "Naurzum BioNet," "Naurzum," "Tulip" and "Ak Niet," and leaders of farm economic units and private enterprises took part in the festival organization and celebration.

The festival was well prepared and successfully held! It should be mentioned that delegations from Rudny city, Zhitikary city, Lisakovsk city and Altynsarin, Fedorov, Auliekol, Kamystin, Uzunkol and Naurzum districts in Kostanay Oblast, as well as students from Beloyarsk Secondary School in Sverdlovsk Oblast of the Russian Federation, took part in the event.  In addition, through the initiative of the student Nakimzhanova Zhansay creative contests, "Crane Day" activities were held in Gymnaziya School #17 of Atyrau city.  

Participants of the "Cranes are Flying - 2007" Crane Festival in Karamendy, Kazakhstan

The “Crane Day" in Kostanay city was celebrated a little earlier, in the middle of September - the youngest participants - children from "Dolphin" Children House, together with their teachers, produced a fairy tale about seeing off young cranes, drawing and arranging a colorful exhibition. Then junior school children joined in the production. "Naurzum" OEO, an ecological NGO, provided the schools with informational materials, colorful booklets, badges and books for awarding contest winners.

The sponsors of the holiday in Kostanay city are the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS or Bonn Convention), SCWP (the Russian National Program) and the International Crane Foundation.

In the first years the members of "Naurzum" OEO came to schools and helped to organize the event; at present they come as guests of the festival. Children like the “Crane Day,” as they celebrate it every year and wait anxiously for it. Beginning this year, bird watchers – students from an amateur bird club - along with "Naurzum" OEO have begun to supervise the holiday. The club was created on the basis of Kostanay State Pedagogical Institute with the support of the Association of the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan; the leader of the club is Alibert Salemgareyev, chairman of the "Naurzum BIO NET" NGO, created under the SCWP.

Students perform "Legend of the White Crane" at the Karamendy Crane Festival

In preparation for the festival in Karamendy, the organization of contests, posters, drawings, computer presentations, compositions, homemade articles, verse and songs, the heroes of which were the Siberian Crane, was conducted at schools during September; the final decision was made at the end of the holiday. The winners were awarded with diplomas, certificates and prizes, provided by the SCWP, the Eurasian Crane Working Group and local founders.
 
All participants enjoyed the festival. The main gift for children, as for other participants, was great joy and communication, new acquaintances, great impressions made by the kind and warm atmosphere, which reigned at the festival. The culmination of the festival was a gala concert, in which all delegations and even children of "Baldyrgan" kindergarten from Karamendy village took part.

The opening of the "Ak Tyrna" (White Crane) Information Resource Center of the "Naurzum BioNet" NGO was held the same day as the festival. The center will provide information to village inhabitants and NGOs on grant contests, nature protection legislation, and NGO registration and activities. Here it is planned to create their own Arhus-center and "EcoSan" demonstration center on alternative energy and technologies. Click here for more information on these activities.

A Crane Museum was established during the festival days at Karamendy Secondary School #2. The best art work of the festival participants and materials on cranes were collected for the exhibit. Museum exhibit number one was the suitcase of the founder of the International Crane Foundation, Mr. George Archibald, with which he traveled around the world.

Crane Museum at Karamendy Secondary School #2

An interesting excursion to the Nature Museum of the Naurzum Reserve was organized for participants and guests.

"We are planting for the Planet!" action was held within the framework of the Festival.

Shooting and reporting from the festival was made by: "Alau" district television, "Kostanay News" district newspaper and "Kazakhstan" republican channel. 

The organizers of the Festival express their gratitude to everyone who responded and became interested. After all, such actions form the feeling of love for nature and native land, being a bright example of conservation of the values for the whole of mankind, which are occasionally not noticed in this modern busy world, and in some of us awake hidden possibilities and abilities.

We are very glad that the initiative of the Crane Day celebration, the initiative of the Eurasian Crane Working Group and the International Crane Foundation has been supported in our small, wonderful nook of nature lost in the vast boundless steppe of Kazakhstan - Naurzum! Cranes are one of the most threatened bird species, and this event will collect people from all parts of the Earth, people who protect these beautiful birds.

Next year we plan to involve not only people from Kazakhstan, but also representatives of the states crossed by the crane flyways. See you at the International Crane Festival 2008!

For more information, please contact:

Organizing Committee of "Cranes are Flying - 2007" Republican Festival
Karamendy village, Naurzum District, Kostanay Oblast, Republic of Kazakhstan
E-mail: naurzumbionet@mail.ru

Information on the Kostanay Crane Festival reproduced from #661 "Ecopravda" newspaper

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Last update: 16 November 2007

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