SunChild First Regional Environmental Festival

«SunChild First Regional Environmental Festival was founded as an initiative of the Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets in the Republic of Armenia (FPWC). The name SunChild — in Armenian "Arevordi" — is a symbol indicating nature's awakening and harmony between nature and men.

SunChild Festival's first public appearance took place in April 2007. During the 12 days of the festival more than 5000 volunteers — schoolchildren, students and NGO representatives — participated in a broad range of environmental activities in six regions in Armenia. The festival program included among other activities tree planting and greening, garbage cleaning and collecting stones at St. Sargis hill in Yerevan to prepare tree planting. On April 11th more than 500 young environmentalists joined the SunChild March for Environment through Yerevan to Freedom Square in order to express their demands for nature protection. This march, which was the first environmental demonstration in Armenia, was followed by a concert in Freedom Square.

Additionally the first open air exhibition of GarbageArt Statues was opened during the festival. The huge statues of Bezoar Goat and Armenian Moufflon (both species are listed in the Red Book of Threatened Species) made from plastic garbage served as an encouraging example for children.

From April on all members of SunChild Eco-clubs started building GarbageArt statues of animals which are special or endangered in their areas. Thus the second large exhibition of GarbageArt statues will be part of the program of SunChild Festival in October.

SunChild First Regional Environmental Festival in October features the following programs:

Environmental Film Program with three sections:

• Regional film in competition and out of competition program

• Children made film: Armenian and international

• International information program

Three environmental and wildlife photo exhibitions:

• "Following the Sun" exhibition of photos made by children

• Jack Majarian's first photo exhibition

• Hrachik Ghazaryan's photo exhibition and presentation of his book

Professional Workshops:

• SunChild Ecotourism Workshop

• SunChild Networking Workshop with networking panel discussion

GarbageArt open air exhibition 

I welcome the organizers, founders and participants of the festival.

Organization of such a kind of environmental festival in South Caucasus is very important, and I am sure that the realization of the whole program of the festival, the environmental activities during the first part of the festival and the film screenings, seminars, photo-exhibitions and of course the children program scheduled for the second part, will have great educational purpose, and will help to bring up a new generation which understands the value of nature and protects it.

The Ministry of Nature Protection of RA expresses its willingness to support the festival in current and further environmental activities and welcomes the desire of the organizers to develop Armenia into a regional environmental center through this kind of environmental activities, creating a meeting place and cooperation field for environmental professionals and organizations working in this field.

Today Armenia is in a phase of its economic development, when the question of mere survival has been overcome. From now on we should pay more attention to the protection of the environment, than before. And in this sense the role of the festival is very big, since it will also enhance public participation in the process of solving environmental problems. Without this public participation it will be difficult to develop and implement the right policy in this field.

Once again I congratulate all of us on the occasion of SunChild First Regional Environmental Festival: a festival, which aims to become annual and international.

Address of Ralph Yirikian, General Manager of VivaCell to the participants of SunChild First Regional Environmental Festival

Dear colleagues

It is a true part of VivaCell's identity and a way of working such projects that involve wide segments of society, and in this case children and youngsters in activities related to nature protection and environmental problems of the country and the region. The second part of the Sun Child First Regional Environmental Festival is the continuation of a project that scored impressive achievements last April under "VivaCell and the children for the Nature" slogan, where thousands of children participated in trash collecting, tree-planting and nature protection gathering for the benefit of Nature.

Highly appreciating the importance and value of such projects, VivaCell is continuing the partnership with the Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets in the Republic of Armenia within the second part of the festival in order to prepare films as well as different seminars and exhibitions dedicated to the environmental issues.

I take advantage of this occasion to wish full success to the festival and hope that all our dreams will be accomplished with respect to the protection and the creation of attentive approach toward Armenia's marvelous nature. VivaCell will always try to encourage and assist projects that serve the interests of our Nation.

Ralph Yirikian VivaCell General Manager

The economical changes in Armenia and other post soviet countries in the region accompanied by the introduction of a fatally uncontrolled "total market ideology" caused for, example increasing deforestation as well as already health endangering pollution of water and air. Even the illegal hunting of animals included on the Red List of Threatened Species like bears, moufflons and bezoar goats is nowadays common not only in Armenia but in whole South Caucasus. The basic question for us was how to counter the above described negative developments with a positive approach which is creative and future orientated at the same time. First we dreamt about an open meeting place not only for environmentalists but for representatives of fine arts, musicians, as well as photographers and filmmakers from the whole South Caucasus region who are dedicated to the perception and protection of nature. But then we realized that one of the most crucial questions is the involvement of the young generation in environmental issues. Without spreading enthusiasm among children and youths for the protection of nature our future will be lost. This region needs a young generation who will be ready to overtake responsibility not only for the protection of environment in its own national borders but also to work together on this issues with young people in all neighboring countries. Without cooperation and the creation of a cross border environmental movement among children and youths in the whole region we will never achieve our aim to protect the unique nature resources of South Caucasus. So we added to the basic idea of an open forum an educational component which emphasized the involvement of children and youth in all our activities. Thus the vision of SunChild Festival was born.

We are deeply convinced that Armenia is just the right place for this initiative. In our small country the rarest treasures of South Caucasian flora and fauna are concentrated. Moreover from the viewpoint of culture Armenia is the threshold between East and West and therefore an ideal meeting place for representatives from different cultures. Hopefully the SunChild Festival in future will develop into a meeting place where individuals from all spheres of society can jointly develop unusual new and creative approaches to our urgent environmental problems.

Of course it takes dedication and hard work to make this vision come true and we are all very much aware of the fact that we started a long way. "SunChild First Regional Environmental Festival" 2007 is only a first step but first steps are always the most decisive. As a Chinese proverb says: Even the longest journey starts with a little first step!

Ruben Khachatryan Director of SunChild First Regional Environmental Festival

INTRODUCTION OF SUNCHILD FESTIVAL FILM PROGRAM

The film section of SunChild First Regional Environmental Festival consists of three main programs:

Regional Program

In this program SunChild Festival presents 25 films produced in six countries of the region (Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Russia, Armenia) or co-produced with these countries. The aim of the program is to discover the environmental problems of our region and how the authors reflect them in their films. The international jury will give one main prize: "Best Regional Film", additionally they can give two more prizes for the "Best Environmental Film" and the "Best Wildlife Film".

Children Program

This program proves that through children's eyes the camera lens can observe the environment and nature surrounding us and the dangers threatening it under a quite different angle. In the frames of the environmental-educational program "Following the Sun", which was initiated and implemented by the "Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets in the Republic of Armenia", children from six regions of Armenia are inviting the audience to see the environment through their eyes. Eight films made by children and teenagers from all over the world are presented in the out-of-competition part of this program.

International Program

This section is out of competition and will mainly have an informative profile. The participants and audience will have a chance to see the hidden treasures of the world surrounding us.