An opening ceremony of a new environment club “Saiga Friends” established with the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) support was held in Atyrau on 16 January 2018. The event organized by the Kazakhstan Biodiversity Conservation Association (KBCA) was staged at the Imanov Secondary School. The objective of the club is to facilitate formation of environmental culture among the schoolchildren, to raise awareness of the steppe animal species, including saiga, to draw attention of the public to the environment protection problem.
According to the organizers, the club work will be based on a calendar plan, including monthly classes, open lessons, creative competitions, relays, poetry events. Besides, within the framework of the club a special saiga information board will be arranged in the school, demonstrating various printed materials to know better the life of animals and how to help their conservation.
A network of environment clubs “Saiga Friends” covers 10 settlements in Kazakhstan located in the habitat of this unique steppe antelope. Five environment clubs are on the Ustyurt Plateau, two – in the habitat of the Uralskaya population of saiga (Nursai and Azhibai villages), two – in the habitat of the Betpakdalinskaya population (Akkol and Karasu villages) and one – in Atyray city. All clubs are based at schools with the support of teachers and local administration. Currently, the total number of permanent club members is 400.