On September 16, 2023, on the city beach of Cholpon-Ata, with the financial support of the OSCE Program Office in Bishkek, an environmental action was held dedicated to the International Day of Cleaning Up Water Bodies, organized by the Issyk-Kul Aarhus Center. The purpose of the environmental campaign is to protect the environment of Issyk-Kul, educate the public on the prevention of environmental pollution.

The environmental action was attended by Deputy Head of the OSCE Program Office in Bishkek E. Nakashidze, Head of the Issyk-Kul Territorial Administration of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Ecology and Technical Control of the Kyrgyz Republic M. Kyshtoobaev, Manager of the Finnish project “KG ZET Water Issyk-Kul” K. Eloheimo, Chairman of the public fund “Clean Issyk-Kul” A. Shamsutdinov, employees of banks in the city of Cholpon-Ata, the historical museum “Issyk-Kul”, a music school, “Kyrgyztelecom” as well as students of lyceum schools named after A. Osmonov and I. Abdurazakov , the total number of participants was 85 people.

Before the start of the event, those who spoke with welcoming words outlined the importance of preserving the unique Lake Issyk-Kul, the pearl of Kyrgyzstan, about global waste problems and expressed gratitude to the participants.

After distributing gloves and garbage bags to the participants, the participants cleaned up the garbage in the designated areas. Divers from the public foundation “Clean Issyk-Kul” recovered about a ton of various garbage from the bottom of the lake. About 2 tons of various garbage were collected from the coast and transported to a sanitary landfill using special equipment from the Tazalyk-Cholpon-Ata municipal enterprise.

Also, on this day, specialists from the Finnish project “KG ZET Water Issyk-Kul” conducted a practical lesson for students on extracting microplastics from sand.