01.01.2018

On May 28-29, 2015, the VII Nevsky International Ecological Congress was held in St. Petersburg. The organizers were the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS Member States, the Federation Council of the Russian Federation and the CIS Executive Committee. The main topic of discussion was the mechanisms for implementing the environmental safety strategy.

There were six round tables within the framework of the congress.

The congress ended with a plenary session, the participants of which represented both regions of Russia and its foreign partners.

The Chairman of the Council of the IPA CIS, Chairman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Valentina Matvienko, made a report at the plenary session.

She recalled that the Nevsky Congress has become an authoritative, internationally recognized platform, which this year brought together more than 1,600 participants from 32 countries and 62 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Valentina Matvienko emphasized that the Russian Federation is always open to interaction in the field of maintaining global environmental balance, as evidenced by the first official meeting of the environment ministers of the BRICS member countries recently held in Moscow, as well as Russia’s participation in UN programs and international environmental conventions. “Ensuring environmental safety is a matter of paramount vital importance. No matter how great Russia is, it is impossible to put up with the fact that about 15 percent of its territory is in an unsatisfactory ecological condition,” noted Valentina Matvienko, pointing out the relationship between complex environmental pollution and overall mortality, increased morbidity and, accordingly, significant economic losses.

Associate Professor of the Department of Environmental and Land Law of the Law Faculty of Moscow State University named after M.V. took part in the work of the congress. Lomonosov Sergey Nikolaevich Rusin. He spoke at the round table “Strategy of environmental safety of the Russian Federation for the period until 2025. Modern mechanisms for ensuring environmental safety on the territory of the Russian Federation" with the report "Problems of understanding environmental safety and the legal mechanism for its implementation."

Details: 26.05.2017. 10:04

On May 25–26, 2017 in St. Petersburg, at the Tauride Palace, the VIII Nevsky International Ecological Congress was held under the motto “Environmental education - a clean country”, dedicated to issues of environmentally responsible behavior, the development of a “green economy”, culture of production and consumption, healthy lifestyle .

The main goal of the VIII Nevsky International Environmental Congress is to develop a broad discussion, organize the exchange of information and experience on the formation of an environmental education system as a guarantee of environmental safety, preservation of public health, implementation of successful strategies and programs for improving the waste management system, and introduction of the best available technologies.

By decrees of the President of the Russian Federation, 2017 was declared in Russia as the Year of Ecology and the Year of Protected Natural Areas, therefore, much attention at the congress was paid to the issues of improving legislation in the field of development of the protected area system and maintaining biological diversity.

As part of the business part of the program, a plenary session and thematic round tables were held, at which the most pressing issues were discussed by the heads of legislative and executive government bodies, representatives of international organizations, business circles, educational and research institutions, the media, public associations of the participating states Commonwealth of Independent States and other countries.

Chairman of the Central Council of the Environmental Union, SPbRO Russian Ecological Academy, Professor Veronika Tarbaeva spoke at the section “Modern system of environmental education and awareness”. It showed the role and significance of the all-Russian environmental campaign “Water of Russia” in the formation of an environmental culture of the population and instilling a careful attitude towards water. V.M. Tarbaeva demonstrated, using examples of the implementation of environmental and educational projects within the framework of the Federal Target Program “Water of Russia,” how much attention S.E. Donskoy and D.M. Kirillov pay to the issues of education and informing the population in the field of use and protection of water bodies. She also praised the regions of the Russian Federation, which took the first ten places in the regional ranking, for their active participation in the Promotion.

Based on the results of the discussions, proposals were formed to improve legislation aimed at further developing environmental education, strengthening interregional and cross-border cooperation in the Commonwealth of Independent States, introducing environmentally oriented, resource-saving technologies, ensuring a healthy living environment and improving the quality of human life.

Representatives of the Presidium of the Russian Ecological Academy Veronika Tarbaeva and Olga Plyamina took part in the Action to restore lost trees in the Tauride Garden. The event was headed by Valentina Ivanovna Matvienko, Chairman of the Federation Council.

Over the past two years alone, about a dozen models of such legislative acts have been adopted at the Tauride Palace, and in total, during the work of the IPA, over 50 documents of this nature have been prepared, which have been “picked up” by national parliaments. According to the Speaker of the Federation Council and Chairman of the Council of the IPA CIS Valentina Matvienko, the northern capital not only stores standards of basic physical quantities, but also creates legislative standards for many countries.

However, it was in 2017 that serious turning points began. They are associated with the adoption of the Environmental Safety Strategy of the Russian Federation for the period until 2025 and a phased transition to a sustainable development model, which is supposed to be implemented on the basis of “green” technologies and the closed-cycle concept. Many similar programs were adopted in our country, but over time the good impulses faded away. This time this will not happen, the head of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, Sergei Donskoy, is sure, since both the authorities and the business community are aware that there is no other way.

After all, we are talking not only about the health of the nation, but also about such tangible, pragmatic things as the efficiency and competitiveness of the entire economy. The environmental component becomes a priority in any significant economic model, which is confirmed by foreign experience. In the European Union, the “green industry” produces products worth 300 billion euros per year and creates 3.5 million jobs, and up to a quarter of all investments there are directed to clean technologies.

To reach these parameters, we must first make a huge leap in working with municipal waste and modernize large enterprises. These main directions of Russia's environmental strategy echo those contained in the IPA program documents. Plus the development of domestic ecotourism (its potential is estimated at 20 million people per year) and the Russian nature reserve system, the generation of renewable energy, and the elimination of garbage dumps scattered throughout all cities and towns.

The northern capital also made attempts to get closer to solving the “garbage” problem. “When we launched a project for separate waste collection in St. Petersburg, the townspeople immediately responded: they began putting glass, plastic, and paper in containers near their houses,” recalled Valentina Matvienko. “And in the morning the garbage collector came and dumped everything into one bin, which discouraged people from doing so further...”

There is only one reason: neither then nor today did the appropriate infrastructure appear. The recently adopted amendments to the law on the waste management system will make it possible to create it, according to participants of the Nevsky Congress. Such an integrated system in Russia is now being formed on the basis of updated territorial schemes and holistic management - a single operator will appear in several pilot regions by the end of this year.

The useful components in the waste will have to be collected and processed, turning into valuable recyclable materials, and everything else will be subject to heat treatment. Four such high-tech enterprises are planned to be built with federal funds in the Moscow region within the framework of the “Zero Waste Disposal” project, and another plant will appear in Kazan. By “absorbing” garbage without harm to nature, they will generate heat and energy, which was noted by the President’s Special Representative for Nature Conservation Sergei Ivanov.

By the end of the year, it is planned to complete the construction of alternative facilities (solar panels and the first large wind farm in Russia) with a total capacity of 125 MW. It seems like crumbs, but this is one and a half times more than was commissioned a year ago (70 MW).

Sergei Ivanov, head of the organizing committee for the Year of Ecology, outlined the total amount of investment that will be allocated to implement the relevant federal program: 347 billion rubles. Including 200 billion from extra-budgetary sources - this is mainly money from large companies planning to switch to “green” technologies in metallurgy and other “smoky” industries. Such technologies are more effective, and the state is going to encourage environmental “propensity” with tax incentives. The Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation proposes to introduce, in addition, “green” bonds and preferential loans for special projects (the loan rate will not exceed 6%), create trust funds, build a system of “green” government procurement, etc.

Increased motivation will also affect the housing and communal services sector: ministerial officials announced plans in St. Petersburg to reduce utility tariffs for people sorting garbage for recyclables.

In matters of environmental management, the government seems to be beginning to show firmness, intending to restore order, in particular, in the timber industry. The principle “how much you cut down, so much you restore” may become dominant here. The same rule will apply during the construction of roads and power lines. Such bills are being developed, and the law on the “green belt”, according to which all large cities will be surrounded by a wall of trees, has already been adopted.

Russia is the largest country in the world, 20% of the forests of the entire earth grow here, and Baikal contains 25% of all fresh water on the planet, but this does not justify wastefulness, noted Valentina Matvienko. To develop a caring attitude towards nature, everyone needs, in her words, an environmental “inoculation” - similar to that provided by the Soviet education system with its stations for young naturalists, clubs and forest hikes.

Something similar is being revived in St. Petersburg: the ecological and biological center “Krestovsky Island”, where 1.7 thousand children study, school events, an environmental shift in the “Zerkalny” camp, etc.

When new education standards are introduced in Russia (33 models of “green” school programs have already been created), the young generation of eco-children, as young people are called in some regions, will become stronger, says First Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation Valentina Pereverzeva. And these are future officials, businessmen, scientists.

The Nevsky Congress contributed one of the bricks to the currently constructed “building” of Russian environmental education.

Nevsky International Ecological Congress is a representative international forum dedicated to environmental issues.

The Nevsky International Ecological Congress is held on a regular basis and is a discussion platform for:

1. Discussions on strengthening transboundary cooperation in the field of environmental management and environmental protection, harmonization of environmental legislation of the CIS member states and member countries of the Council of Europe.
2. Exchange of information and experience in implementing successful strategies and programs to improve the environmental safety of natural resource consumption, preserve ecosystems, and mitigate the consequences of man-made environmental disasters and natural disasters associated with climate change.
3. Organization of dialogue between government authorities, parliamentarians, representatives of international organizations, business circles, educational and research institutions and the public of the CIS member states, member countries of the Council of Europe.

The first Nevsky International Environmental Congress was held on December 9, 2008 in St. Petersburg on the initiative of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States (IPA CIS). Issues of ensuring environmental safety, preserving a favorable habitat for humans and the planet’s natural resources were discussed by more than 700 representatives from 18 countries.

At the first Nevsky Congress, an understanding was reached that ensuring environmental safety should be considered as a global task, directly related to the responsibility of various countries, organizations and every person.

On May 15, 2009, in the Tauride Palace of St. Petersburg, the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS Member States, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, with the support of the Government of the Russian Federation, are holding the second Nevsky International Ecological Congress.

At the plenary sessions and thematic round tables of the second congress, it is planned to hold a broad discussion on strengthening cross-border cooperation in the field of energy use and environmental protection, harmonization of environmental legislation of the CIS member states and member countries of the Council of Europe, exchange of information and experience in implementing successful strategies and programs to improve the environmental safety of energy resource consumption, preserve ecosystems, and mitigate the consequences of man-made environmental disasters and natural disasters associated with climate change.

The congress will be attended by heads of government bodies, parliamentarians, representatives of the United Nations and other international organizations, business circles, educational and research institutions, and the media.

The plenary session of the VIII Nevsky International Environmental Congress was held at the Tauride Palace, the headquarters of the IPA CIS.

The President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev sent greetings to the participants and guests of the forum.

President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin noted that “over the past time, this traditional forum has earned high authority and recognition, and has become a major event in the public life of our country and other states.”

“I hope that this year, which in Russia has been declared the Year of Ecology and the Year of Protected Natural Areas, you will give priority attention to issues related to the introduction of “green” technologies, the improvement of contaminated areas, the reduction of the negative impact of humans on nature, and the transition to a model of sustainable development,” the document notes. The greeting was announced by the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Northwestern Federal District Nikolai Tsukanov.

Dmitry Medvedev emphasized that the “green” vector of development has become for most countries not a tribute to fashion, but a requirement of the time, a condition for stable and safe economic growth and people’s well-being.

“It is important that the main topic of the forum is environmental education. Not only young people, but also all inhabitants of our planet, first of all, business representatives, managers at all levels who make decisions and bear responsibility for environmental damage, need to open their eyes to global threats and challenges associated with environmental pollution,” says in a greeting announced by the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation Sergei Donskoy.

Chairman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Council of the Interparliamentary Assembly of States - Members of the Commonwealth of Independent States Valentina Matvienko in her speech noted that today environmental problems and climate change throughout the world are coming to the fore, and they can only be solved together, expanding international cooperation in this important area.

According to Valentina Matvienko, there should be more joint environmental projects. “They can also be carried out in the format of other integration associations, primarily the Eurasian Economic Union and the Commonwealth of Independent States.”

The Chairman of the Council of the IPA CIS emphasized that in the Commonwealth space, countries have made serious progress in coordinating actions in the environmental sector. “In the CIS countries, important decisions have been made in the field of rational environmental management, environmental conservation and ensuring environmental safety. The work was carried out in such areas as land reclamation, emissions reduction and safe waste disposal, promoting the introduction of “green technologies”, development of protected areas and eco-tourism.”

Touching upon the topic of model legislative acts affecting environmental issues, Valentina Matvienko noted that over the years of work of the CIS IPA, more than fifty of them have been adopted. “It is time to conduct a thorough review of what the Assembly has done in the environmental field, to assess how effectively our model laws are being implemented into national legal systems.” She believes that the closer environmental norms and standards are to each other, the easier it is to form a single, coordinated policy in this area.

We should think, added the Chairman of the Council of the IPA CIS, about the development of international programs for training specialists in the field of environmental safety and environmental law, internships in leading universities of the CIS countries, and the creation of international camps for environmental students.

Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation on environmental issues, ecology and transport Sergei Ivanov noted that the congress has become an authoritative platform for strengthening inter-parliamentary cooperation in the field of harmonization of environmental legislation of the CIS countries and the Council of Europe. “We are obliged to ensure the conservation and reproduction of natural resources, to achieve a more prudent and careful attitude towards nature,” he said.

Governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko spoke about the experience of St. Petersburg in the field of environmental education and training. “Only joint efforts will help us solve existing environmental problems.”

The Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation Sergei Donskoy made a report on measures aimed at ensuring environmental safety in the Russian Federation.

Among the incentives for the transition to a “green economy”, a circular economy, Sergei Donskoy named the environmental modernization of enterprises.

Deputy Chairman of the Majlisi Namoyandagon of the Majlisi Oli of the Republic of Tajikistan Akramsho Felaliev spoke about the role of government agencies and citizens in creating a favorable environmental situation. He noted that a lot of work is being done in Tajikistan in the field of improving the environmental culture of the population, and an effective legislative framework has been created. According to Akramsho Felaliev, the country has a comprehensive environmental education program.

Governor of the Vladimir Region Svetlana Orlova informed about the measures being taken in the region in the field of environmental protection, about projects being implemented in the region for processing wood and waste, clearing rivers, and preserving national reserves.

Chairman of the Federation Council Committee of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Agricultural and Food Policy and Environmental Management Mikhail Shchetinin noted that issues of environmental awareness and education should be addressed primarily to the younger generation. “The development of environmental education and culture are very important aspects in the formation of environmental consciousness in children and youth,” the senator believes.

The President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Madagascar, Jean Max Rakutumamundzi, emphasized the importance of holding environmental congresses that allow the exchange of experience in the field of ecology. He said that Madagascar has more than 12 thousand plant species and more than a thousand animal species. “The island is also rich in forestry, fishing and coastal resources.” Jean Max Rakutumamundzi informed the congress participants about the implementation of the Madagascar Ecological School program, coordinated, in particular, by the World Wildlife Fund. Touching upon the topic of waste disposal, he emphasized that in this area Madagascar should learn from the experience of other countries.

Deputy Chairman of the Second Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, Elena Avlonitou, noted that one of the important problems of our time is the human impact on the environment. “We believe it is time to act. It is necessary to analyze priorities in order to prevent a global catastrophe. It is important to explore new technologies and future opportunities. Russia is very competent in the field of new technologies, and we are interested in its experience,” she emphasized.

During the plenary session, the Deputy Minister of Nature Protection of Armenia Khachik Hakobyan, Chairman of the Committee on Agrarian Issues of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan Sergey Plotnikov, Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan Boriy Alikhanov, Director for Environmental Activities of the Office of the Coordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities Ralph Ralph Ernst.

There was also a live connection via video conferencing from school No. 354 named after D. M. Karbyshev (Moscow). Valentina Matvienko thanked the schoolchildren for the presented projects. “Your school can be an example for others in the field of environmental education and awareness. After all, taking care of the environment is one of the state’s priorities.”

Bilateral meetings took place on the sidelines of the congress.

Chairman of the Council of the IPA CIS Valentina Matvienko held a meeting with the Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Madagascar Jean Max Rakutumamundzi. The parties discussed issues of nature conservation and climate.

The signing of an agreement on cooperation within the framework of the development of the Belarusian reserve "Krasny Bor" and the Russian reserve "Seversky" was discussed by the Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation Sergei Donskoy and the Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus Andrei Kovkhuto.