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News. August 2011

News from the program “Promoting Sustainable Development in Russia”

Ecotourism – a wood covering on a trail for disabled visitors, Tankhoi

Use of non-timber forest products, Kemerovo

Felt toys are crafted in Yaroslavl oblast

“Family village” in Primorsky krai

This program, funded by Citi Foundation and carried out by the Fund for Sustainable Development since May 2011, is aimed at promoting sustainable development through supporting environmentally and socially oriented businesses.

Under this program a brochure is being prepared that will include best business practices of practical contributions to sustainable development in Russia and will be presented in the course of round tables to current and potential entrepreneurs and representatives of ministries, government agencies, industrial companies, regional and municipal government, non-profit organizations and businesses. This direction of the program is of special significance in view of the forthcoming RIO+20 Summit when in Russia, as well as in the rest of the world, much attention on all levels (from community to federal) is being focused on establishing the principles of sustainable development based on social and environmental business responsibility.

Program activities include identifying and collecting case histories of best examples of sustainable business practices in various regions of Russia in the following areas:

• Sustainable forest management and the use of non-timber forest products
• Ecotourism
• Preservation of cultural traditions and folk arts and crafts
• Production of agricultural ecoproducts and the use of biotechnology in the manufacture of food products
• Waste management
• Environmentally safe innovative engineering solutions in various branches (construction, design, etc.)
• Energy-efficiency (alternative sources of energy, energy-saving)
• Social entrepreneurship
• Optimization of water resources management
• environmental damage reduction.

Up to date, 27 such case histories from many regions of the country (Moscow, Leningradskaya, Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod, Sverdlovskaya, Perm and Irkutsk oblasts, the republics of Buryatia and Tuva and Khabarovsk and Primorsky krais) have been collected. A brochure “Small Businesses and Sustainable Development in Russia: Best Practices” containing information about business practices with illustration is expected to be printed in 2,000 copies by the end of 2011. Following are just a few examples included in this brochure.