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Russia will launch a new major national project called ‘Ecological Well-Being’ on 1 January 2025 to replace the current ‘Ecology’ national project. The project’s implementation will be overseen by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev.
The national project includes six federal projects: ‘General Cleaning’, ‘Closed Cycle Economy’, ‘Clean Air’, ‘Water of Russia’, ‘Forest Preservation’, and ‘Preservation of Biodiversity and Development of Ecotourism’.
At a 17 December meeting of the Council of Legislators under the Federal Assembly on the current state of and prospects for the development of the solid municipal waste management system and practices for modernizing municipal infrastructure in Russia’s regions, Patrushev noted that the country will need to process more than 20 million tonnes and dispose of almost 17 million tonnes of waste by 2030. More than four hundred facilities will be built in all the regions over the next six years to accomplish this goal.
Federation Council Chairperson Valentina Matviyenko, who also co-chairs the Council of Legislators, said that the regulatory framework needs to be improved in the country and that 19 legal acts are currently being drafted for this purpose. “Members of parliament have prepared bills on special transport for waste removal, container sites, construction waste management, as well as several other initiatives to solve the problem of unauthorized dumps and provide the regions with waste management infrastructure,” she said.
Matviyenko stressed that waste management will definitely be a major topic in the business programme of the 11th Nevsky International Ecological Congress. She said a survey of regional authorities on issues related to municipal solid waste management will be held in the run-up to the Congress.
Tauride Palace, the St. Petersburg-based headquarters of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS Member Nations, will host the 11th Nevsky International Ecological Congress on 23–25 May 2025. The co-organizers of the Congress are the Russian Federation Council, Russian government, the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS Member Nations. The Roscongress Foundation is in charge of preparing for and holding the event.
“Declaring ecological well-being as a national goal until 2030 underscores the need to protect nature for sustainable development and improve the quality of life of our citizens. The key focuses of the new ‘Ecological Well-Being’ national project will be reflected in the business programme of the 11thNevsky International Ecological Congress, which provides a platform for the exchange of best practices, current approaches, and new initiatives that contribute to their further implementation in the regions,” said Adviser to the Russian President Anton Kobyakov, the executive secretary of the Organizing Committee for the 11th Nevsky International Ecological Congress.
Patrushev, who co-chairs the Organizing Committee, stressed the importance of bringing together all environmental events, holding discussions, and drafting recommendations on key issues of the environmental agenda at the Congress during a recent committee meeting.
International ecological forums provide bridges for cooperation that people can use to transition to a more sustainable and harmonious future with nature. The Congress will address the most pressing and topical issues related to environmental protection and sustainable development, since they concern global challenges that require a collective solution within the international environmental agenda, as well as the exchange of experience and best practices.
At the upcoming Congress in 2025, Russia also plans to provide a broad overview of its own experience, including in the country’s regions, and come up with practical proposals that will subsequently be taken into account in the work of the executive and legislative authorities.