Environmental Education Day (12/05)

On May 12, Russia and the countries of the former USSR celebrate Environmental Education Day. The holiday, the purpose of which is – to update environmental knowledge in all sciences and all spheres of human activity, was established in 1991.

On this day, various environmental events are held in cities and towns, which are both educational and practical in nature: exhibitions, conferences and children's creativity competitions are held on the topic of nature conservation, people participate in environmental activities – cleaning the banks of rivers and reservoirs, cleaning parks, landscaping areas. This holiday concerns everyone who takes part in promoting the idea of protecting nature.

The importance of environmental education is difficult to overestimate. It is environmental knowledge that allows a person to realize what catastrophic phenomena harmful habits regarding nature can lead to; understand how to avoid such consequences. The highest goal of environmental education – is to form a so-called ecological culture.

For the first time, representatives of the world community expressed concern about environmental problems, the emergence of which is led by the development of scientific and technological progress on the planet, in 1972 – at the UN International Conference on the Environment in Stockholm. 20 years later, in June 1992, a second such conference met in Rio de Janeiro, at which the issue of the need to disseminate environmental education was also raised.

The heads of most countries of the world, including Russia, adopted and approved the Program of Action for the implementation of the concept of sustainable development of humanity, in which environmental education plays an important role.

Today in Russia, environmental education is one of the priority areas. Introduction to the system of universal comprehensive environmental education begins from preschool age and continues until university professional training and postgraduate retraining and advanced training of environmental specialists.

In addition, environmental knowledge is conveyed to the population through the media, as well as through various projects implemented by museums, libraries, environmental institutions, sports and tourism organizations.

At the legislative level, the issue of environmental education is reflected in Article 42 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, according to which every citizen is guaranteed the right to a favorable environment and reliable information about its condition.



• Infographics – poster «May 12 — Environmental Education Day»

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