The Arnika Association became a new observer of the FoRS platform, created by the Czech Forum for Development Cooperation, after carrying out a number of projects of toxic substance mapping and decontamination in the environment of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and a number of other states. Thus, the Arnika Association stands alongside, for example, Doctors Without Borders, People in Need, Charity of the Czech Republic, ADRA organisation, and others.
"We consider our obligation to help in the parts of the world where protection of people from toxic substance does not play a very important role yet and to support our colleagues abroad. In the Czech Republic, we were able to adopt and utilize experience of experts from the countries of the former Western World a number of years ago. Now, we want to offer our knowledge and know-how further to people who need them. We have already gained experience with international development cooperation, however, we are convinced that its mutual sharing with other organisations will bring more effective aid to the target countries," said Arnika's chairmain, RNDr. Jindřich Petrlík.
At present, Arnika is cooperating especially with partners from the Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, and China. In particular, the joint activities focus on discovering sources of toxic substances, their identification, and decontamination. Further, the Czech NGO provides for better informing local people about the dangers the individual substances bring to them. In order to empower people to defend against what is damaging their health and the environment. It is necessary that they have objective information at their disposal, and also that they get a chance to participate in decision-making regarding their environment. Also concerning this, the Czech NGO is offering help, as well as a number of concrete examples how to proceed.
"We all live on a single planet, and this is obvious especially in the case of toxic substances. They do not respect state borders in any way, are transported by the air, water, and in foodstuffs. Thus, they travel also to us. A number of times there happened, for example, that sand from Sahara travelled to us in the air, and that toxic substances entered the Czech Republic in foodstuffs from China and India," added Petrlík.
