Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Tatarstan

7 November 2013, Thursday

More than 400 representatives and partners of the Olympic movement, international business community, experts, public and political figures participated in the work of the X World Conference of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Sport and Environment, which was held in Sochi. The First Deputy Minister for Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustem Kamalov took part in the conference as well. In his report, he noted that the XXVII World Summer Universiade 2013 was held in Kazan to a very high organizational level. The Universiade had an unprecedented influence on the modern state and prospects of development of various spheres of life of the Republic and the country in general. Great amount of work has been done with regard to interaction with federal authorities, primarily, meaning preparation of municipal, transport, sport, and hotel infrastructure.

Development of municipal transportation logistics allowed to reduce the amount of traffic jams, which led to considerable reduction of air pollution.

In anticipation of the Universiade, Kazan became the first Russian city, where a new system of bike rent “Veli’K” — arranged on the pattern of the international program “Cyclocity” — was put into operation. Assurance of ecological safety became an integral aspect of preparation for the Universiade. In order to fulfill this task, on the order of the First Deputy Chairperson of the Government of the Russian Federation Igor Shuvalov, the project of the Environment Protection Concept was elaborated in order to prepare and hold the Universiade. The concept was approved of by the Government of the Russian Federation.

In the framework of the Concept, with the support of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation, several measures were taken to expand the network for environment pollution monitoring. Implementation of two automated stations for air pollution control into the monitoring network of the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring and technical re-equipment of complex laboratory (along with four operating automated stations and two mobile ecological laboratories of the Ministry) allowed to enhance operational efficiency of relevant data presentation on the state of the environment regarding bigger territory of the city.

The measures on shore protection of important water bodies used for the Universiade, namely Sredny Kaban Lake and Kazanka River, were taken.

In order to improve ecological state of Kazan, unprecedented large-scale campaigns on city beautification were held and actively supported by citizens of the capital, including such campaigns as “100 public gardens” and “Green record”. Moreover, the work on construction of the systems for purification of storm sewage was enhanced. Separate waste collection was started.

State of the environment was considerably enhanced along with improvement of the city environment in general, including reduction of pollution of air and water bodies, considerable augmentation of the amount of landscaped territories, development of a new approach in the field of waste management. “Green” standards are now being implemented and developed.

Heritage obtained by Kazan after preparation and holding of the Universiade will be used in the future as well. In particular, in the course of preparation for the upcoming 2015 World Aquatics Championship and 2018 FIFA World Cup, noted Rustem Kamalov.

Press Service of the Ministry

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The X World Conference of the IOC on Sport and Environment was held in Sochi