Ecological center «DRONT» 603000, Nizhni Novgorod, P.O.Box 631 Phone 7 (8312) 30-28-81 e-mail: dront@dront.ru

Ecological center «Dront»
(further: ecocenter) — is a non-governmental organization of umbrella type,
registered with the satus of «public establishment». The ecocenter had been
created in 1989 by a group of graduates of the Nature Protection Druzhina of
Gorki state university for the implementation of various nature protection programs
and projects. Currently the main goal of the work of the center is the consolidation
and coordination of the activities of the environmental NGOs of Nizhni Novgorod
province and of the Volga river basin. It accomplishes the following tasks:

• work with environmental
  NGOs (assistance in the activities, coordination, informatonal support, joint
  programs and actions);
• implementation of various
  projects and programs in the environmental field, including development and
  introduction into practice of the nature conservation regulations, living
  nature conservation, environmental education projects etc.;
• work with the authorities
  (informational support, review of materials, consultations, preparation nd
  lobbying of the draft decisions of the power bodies for various nature conservation
  issues);
• propaganda work (appearance
  on the TV, radio and publications in mass media, lecturing , preparation for
  publication and publishing of books and brochures etc.);
• organization and implementation
  of joint actions and projects etc.

Now there are 27 structural
departments working in the ecocenter, each of which engages in its own sphere
of activities, has own leaders and in case of necessity — own personnel and
is self-funded. Among such departments are : laboratory of biodiversity protection,
which engages in the conservation and desingn of nature reserves; energy information
bureau, which maintains the data base on the energy problems; the editorial
board of «Bereginia» newspaper of the environmental NGOs of the Volga river
basin; agency of environmental information AVE-info, which has a network of
correspondents all over the Volga river and disseminates among Mass media organs
a monthly bulletin of environmental news; program «Let’s help the river», which
coordinates the activities of the Volga river basin citizens’ environmental
movement; information and consulting center «Strix», dealing with the development
and introduction of environmental education programs et al. In general the ecocenter
executes coordination functions both among the departments and among other NGOs
of Nizhni Novgorod, Nizhni Novgorod province and the basin of the Volga river.
The ecocenter annually submits information on the activities of environmental
NGOs for the provin cial report on the state of environment , which is published
by the administration of the province and the provincial committee for environmental
protection. In 1997 the ecocenter «Dront» prepared and published a «Directory
of the environmental organizations of Nizhni Novgorod province», which covers
alongside with governmental agencies and scientific establishments the known
environmental NGOs.

The ecocenter is a collective
member of the International Socio-Ecological Union and maintains close ties
with many groups in Russia and abroad. Beginning with January 1998 one of the
divisions of the center (press-service) has been operating, as a regional representation
of ROLL program. In 1998 in accordance with the results of the contest by the
European Union and USA the ecological center «Dront».

Ecological
center «DRONT»
603000, Nizhni Novgorod,
P.O.Box 631
Phone 7 (8312) 30-28-81
e-mail: dront@dront.ru