Environmental education issues are under the control of deputies
The State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan hosted a meeting of the Committee on Ecology, Nature Management, Agro-industrial and Food Policy. Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Egor Tarnavsky also took part in it. The meeting discussed the development of environmental education and enlightenment, as well as a number of federal bills and legislative initiatives of the regions.
"According to the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion, environmental issues are in fifth place in the system of values of modern Russian society, only issues of health, family, safety and financial situation are higher," Deputy Minister of Ecology Egor Tarnavsky stressed, "this means that people are beginning to worry about problems of pollution of atmospheric air, water, soil, waste, and environmental education is one of the main tools for the formation of public environmental awareness." According to him, every third Tatarstan citizen is now an active participant in environmental events and actions. If in 1992, in the year of the Ministry's formation, about 7% of the inhabitants of our republic were knowledgable in environment, then by the end of last year the indicator increased to 34%.
The Deputy Minister recalled that for the second year in a row, the Republic became the winner of the All-Russian campaign on cleaning the shores of "Water of Russia", organized within the framework of the national project "Ecology". Last year, more than 8.5 thousand km of coastal territories were cleared by joint efforts, 34 thousand cubic meters of garbage were collected, more than 300 thousand people took part in it.
In addition, Tatarstan citizens take an active part in the All-Russian Environmental dictation every year. For two years, the Republic has been the leader in the number of winners of the first degree, so last year Kazan became the main venue for the opening ceremony of the environmental dictation. Last year, 100,935 Tatarstan citizens took part in the environmental dictation, and 43,161 people received diplomas of I, II, III degrees.
Since 2018, the educational project "Ecology at school" has been implemented in the schools of the republic. Textbooks integrated into the educational process have been released, an interactive portal for information exchange has been created. The project "Ecology at school" became the winner of the All-Russian competition of the best regional environmental practices "Reliable partner – Ecology". In addition, specialists of the relevant Ministry regularly conduct environmental lessons for students of environmental centers, last year almost 400 educational classes were held, more than 17 thousand schoolchildren took part in the events. There are 103 eco-classes operating in the republic.
According to Deputy Minister Egor Tarnavsky, since 2019 the Ministry has taken patronage of the movement of young naturalists in Tatarstan. Currently, more than 2 thousand schoolchildren in the republic have already become young naturalists. As in any work, a succession system is needed, for young naturalists, activists of the "It will be Clean" movement act as mentors. This movement was created in 2015 on behalf of the Head of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov and is actively developing with the support of the Ministry. Over 7 years of activity, more than 9.6 thousand Tatarstan citizens have become participants and activists of the movement.
The Ministry of Ecology of the Republic also actively cooperates with the regional branch of the Russian Geographical Society. Last year, a pilot project was launched to improve the ecological condition of small rivers of the republic. This project has already become a winner according to the results of the National Rating.
In addition, Egor Tarnavsky spoke about environmental education projects that will be implemented in the near future, thanked concerned Tatarstan citizens, heads of enterprises of the republic, journalists for supporting various environmental campaigns. "The issues of the development of environmental education and training are relevant and require constant improvement and implementation in practice, starting from early preschool and ending with retirement age," the Deputy Minister concluded, "everyone is important in environmental protection, because ecology unites."
The events contribute to the achievement of the goals of the national project "Ecology", aimed at the development of environmental education, respect for the human environment.