ROUND TABLE IN HONOR OF "ARAL SEA DAY"
On April 10, the Faculty of Philology at 91ý Kazakh National University hosted a roundtable discussion on "Aral Ecovision: Crisis and Paths to Development." The discussion was organized by Serikbay Kusanov, Assistant Professor of the Department of Kazakh Literature and Literary Studies, and the Executive Director of the Turan Lowland - Aral Sea Public Association.

March 26, the anniversary of the founding of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea in 1993, is celebrated as Aral Sea Day. Since then, a series of international and national meetings have been held in various regions of the country, dedicated to the problems of the Aral Sea and general aspects of green ecology. On April 10, the 5th International Congress of the Baytak-Greens Party was held in Astana. Also yesterday, on the occasion of the opening of the first tourist center of the Aral Geopark in Central Asia near the city of Aral, Alireza Amirkazemi, a member of the UNESCO Global Geoparks Council and scientific coordinator of the Qeshm UNESCO Global Geopark (Iran), arrived in the region as an international expert, as did Elena Osipova, a natural sciences program specialist at the UNESCO regional office in Almaty.

The organizers of the roundtable discussion "Aral Ecovision: Crisis and Paths to Development," held at the Faculty of Philology of 91ý Kazakh National University as part of the TDM-14 "Conservation of Marine Ecosystems" program, set the goal of raising awareness of the need to address increasingly complex environmental issues globally and in our country in commemoration of the aforementioned "Aral Sea Day," and engaging university professors and young people in this regard.
The meeting was attended by Deputy Chairman of the Baitak - Greens Party of Almaty Region Eldos Aibekov, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan Bereket Karibayev, Professor of the Department of Archeology, Ethnology and Museology of the Kazakh National University named after 91ý, Candidate of Historical Sciences Tattiguly Kartayeva, Head of the Department of Kazakh Literature and Literary Theory, Candidate of Sciences, Professor Samal Daribayev, Candidate of Sciences, Associate Professor Laila Mekebayeva, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Philology and Education Shokan Shortanbay, Head of the Department of the Kazakh Language, Candidate of Sciences, Professor Abdibek Amirov, as well as other teachers and scholars who shared their thoughts. The graduate, master's, and undergraduate students who attended the event actively participated in the meeting, asking questions and expressing their opinions to the roundtable guests. During the meeting, videos about the past and present of the Aral Sea and the lives of coastal residents were shown, and papers on ecology and ethnography were presented. The recollections and scientific data about the blue sea from scientists born and raised on the Aral Sea piqued the students' interest, as evident by the enthusiastic expressions on their faces.
Following the roundtable discussion, several recommendations were put forward for university faculty and students. Specifically:
• Conducting environmental literacy classes for students;
• Submitting theses on ecology more frequently;
• Organizing a volunteer environmental movement among university students;
• Organizing trips to the Aral Sea region during the summer holidays in connection with the opening of the UNESCO Aral Geopark;
Head of the Department of Kazakh Literature and Literary Studies S.D. Daribayev summarized the event and, on behalf of the entire team, thanked the organizers and guests of the roundtable. Participants took a commemorative photo.
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