Valentina Matvienko: "The Nevsky International Ecological Congress is one of the most reputable events in the world"

Valentina Matvienko, Chairperson of the IPA CIS Council, Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, spoke on the importance of building ecological culture in an exclusive interview to the «Izvestia» newspaper, in the run-up to the VIII Nevsky International Ecological Congress.

The Nevsky International Ecological Congress, which is held jointly by the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly, is one of the most reputable events in the world. This is an intelligent platform focusing on measures to conserve nature and improve environmental legislation", noted the IPA CIS Council Chairperson.

"At the end of each congress, we always prepare recommendations for federal and regional authorities, civil institutions, and the business community. The eighth Congress is dedicated to a very important topic – improving the environmental education of the population. This topic is especially relevant today and it should become one of the priorities of policy-making and society", stressed Valentina Matvienko.

The Chairperson of the IPA CIS Council emphasized that the issue of promoting ecological culture of the population is of utmost importance: "We need to build awareness of every person on personal ownership regarding land, air, water we will leave for future generations. Using philosophical terminology, we must regard nature both as the object and the subject. We need to understand that nature is not just the place for activities of people, but also their partner. It is necessary to set up a dialogue with nature. This vision of nature has deep roots in the Russian mentality. As Fedor Tyutchev famously put it: "Nature is not as you imagine her:/She's not a mold, nor yet a soulless mask-/She is made up of soul and freedom/She is made up of love and speech/. These words of the poet could be a slogan of environmental education."

"The man-made damage is enormous, and it is necessary to care not only for its preservation, but also for mitigating the consequences of the inflicted damage. Only through building a fundamentally new attitude towards nature, we can prevent the emergence of a global environmental crisis", summarized Valentina Matvienko.