Ecology and quality of life were discussed at the meeting of the Institute of Man

The final in this academic year meeting of the Eurasian Scientific Research Institute of Man took place at Ural State University of Economics. The final meeting on the theme «Ecology and Quality of People’sLife as a Priority of the State Policy of Russia» was devoted to the Year of Ecology in Russia.

The leading speaker was Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, President of the Eurasian Research Institute of Man, a member of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences and UrB RAS, Director of the Institute of Immunology and Physiology under the UrB RAS Valery Chereshnev. He addressed the audience, «Today, special attention in the world is paid to environmental issues, including in connection with life expectancy. Russia, where, on average, people live 71 years, is in the group of states that rank from 75th to 130th place in the world for this indicator. The interesting point is that after the Great Patriotic War, life expectancy was 58-60 years in the USSR, and in America, and in Japan. However, now Japan, Andorra, the United States and another 40 states, including the European Union, have overstepped the 80-year-old line. However, the human genes provide for 100-120 years.»

The Chairperson of the Committee on Agrarian Policy, Nature Management and Environmental Protection at the Sverdlovsk region Legislative Assembly Sergey Nikonov noted that environmental issues should be discussed as a scientific problem in the context of not only the region and the country but also as part of global processes. «The University, which is famous for its extensive international relations, is a wonderful platform for such a discussion,» Nikonov said. He told that the «green» economy is the unconditional demand of the future. We no longer have the task, as in the twentieth century, to increase industrial production at any cost. If we want to leave a healthy planet to future generations, we should now think about implementing modern, environmentally friendly technologies at our enterprises. «Similar plans are also taken into account in the program «The Five-Year Plan of Developmen» of the acting Governor of the Sverdlovsk region Yevgeny Kuyvashev, which means that the problem of the production ecology in our region will be directly solved in the near future,» the speaker said.

Deputy Director of Scientific Affairs of the Institute of Economics of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Bochko told about the necessity and directions of forming a «green» economy in the Urals. In his opinion, the «green» economy is aimed at economical consumption of those resources that are currently subject to depletion, and the rational use of inexhaustible resources: «The ‘green’ economy in Russia does not yet take root, unlike other countries, for example, Kazakhstan, where in 2013 the concept for the transition to a ‘green’ economy was adopted. The main goal of the reforms is a transition to the economy of the new formation by improving the well-being, the quality of people’s life and the country’s entry into the list of the 30 most developed countries of the world, while minimizing the burden on the environment and degrading natural resources,» Vladimir Bochko said. In his speech, he presented world trends in solving environmental problems: increased attention to renewable energy sources, an active transition to electric vehicles, transformation of garbage into a source of energy and profit, strengthening the environmental design, and building the development of states on «green» economy principles.

There were also a number of interesting reports:

— «Protection of Environmental Rights. Interaction of the Ombudsman with Civil Society Institutions» by Irina Litvinova, adviser to the Ombudsman for Human Rights in the Sverdlovsk region, associate professor at the USLU Department of Land and Environmental Law;

— «Handling of Solid Municipal Waste in the City of Yekaterinburg» by Yegor Svalov, chairman of the Ecology and Nature Management Committee at the Yekaterinburg Administration;

— «Establishing the Boundaries of Sanitary Protection of Water Supply Sources and Drinking Water Pipelines in the Sverdlovsk Region» by Dmitry Kozlovskikh, Deputy Head of the Rospotrebnadzor Department in the Sverdlovsk Region;

— «On the Environmental Situation in the Sverdlovsk Region» by Olga Orlova, director of the «Center for Environmental Control and Monitoring»;

— «The Concept of Models For Transition to Environmentally Oriented ‘Green’ Economy» by Valery Anufriev, general director of the Ural Center for Energy Saving and Ecology, Professor at the UrFU Department of Economic Security;

— «Organizational and Economic Mechanism for Ensuring Ecological Safety (Based on the Results of USUE Studies)» by Yakov Yandyganov, Professor at the USUE Department of Civil Law;

— «Elimination of Previously Accumulated Environmental Damage: Problems and Solutions» by Victor Kuznetsov, associate professor at the USUE Department of Civil Law.

Participants of the meeting (among them were scientists and public figures, teachers and government officials) came to the conclusion that the environment and the quality of people’s life should form the basis of the state policy. Only in the Sverdlovsk region over the past 12 years, life expectancy increased by eight years. Nevertheless, in the region, there are a number of environmental problems related to industrial production. The participants of the discussion club plan to continue the discussion on this topic in September.

The final in this academic year meeting of the Eurasian Scientific Research Institute of Man took place at Ural State University of Economics. The final meeting on the theme «Ecology and Quality of People’sLife as a Priority of the State Policy of Russia» was devoted to the Year of Ecology in Russia.