On February 28, 2024, a scientific and practical seminar “Environmental management: opportunities and prospects” was held at Bohdan Khmelnytsky National University of Cherkasy.

It was attended by lecturers and students-biologists and ecologists of the Educational-Scientific Institute of Natural and Agrarian Sciences; employees of the Department of Ecology and Natural Resources of Cherkasy Region as well as employees of the National Natural Park “Kholodny Yar”.

At the beginning of the event, Oleksandr Spriahailo, Vice-Rector for Scientific, Innovation Activities, addressed the audience with a welcome speech. In particular, he emphasized the extreme urgency of training expert biologists and ecologists, who will have the skills to plan, organize and implement environmental management. This task is especially relevant in light of the prospects of Ukraine joining the European Union, in particular against the background of the adoption by the European Parliament of the Nature Restoration Law, according to which it is planned to have restored at least 20% of land and sea ecosystems in the EU by 2030.

The speakers of the seminar were well-known specialists in the protection and preservation of biological diversity in Ukraine and abroad. Environmental protection expert Petro Testov, based on his own experience and the generalization of best world practices, told the participants of the seminar about measures to preserve species and habitats. His speech caused a lively discussion. In particular, the participants of the seminar discussed the development of environmental protection measures on the territory of the National Natural Park “Kholodny Yar”.

The speech of Anna Kuzemko, Doctor of biological sciences, leading researcher of the Institute of Botany of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, member of the board of the Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group, national expert in management planning of the Frankfurt Zoological Society, was about the management of nature conservation areas. Anna shared her international experience and her own groundwork, developed during participation in the international project to preserve the objects of the Carpathian Nature Reserve Fund.

People’s Deputy of Ukraine Yulia Ovchynnikova, who is the head of the subcommittee on forest resources, objects of fauna and flora, natural landscapes and objects of the nature reserve fund of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Environmental Policy and Nature Management, joined the participants of the seminar. She focused on the efforts of Ukrainian politicians to overcome the consequences of Russia’s war against Ukraine in the environmental sector. She emphasized the importance of training expert ecologists and biologists in current conditions, who can solve these problems. Answering scientists’ and students’ questions, Yulia Yuriyivna talked about the changes in environmental protection legislation of the European Union and the prospects of their implementation in Ukraine.

This is not the first nature protection seminar with the involvement of invited lecturers organized by Bohdan Khmelnytsky National University of Cherkasy. We are sure that such meetings contribute to raising the level of training of expert biologists and ecologists, and work for the future of Ukraine.

The Educational-Scientific Institute of Natural and Agrarian Sciences