Alexey Ostrovskiy attended a meeting of the State Council on ecology

Russian President Vladimir Putin held in the Kremlin a meeting of the State Council on the Ecological Development of the Russian Federation in the interests of Future Generations. The meeting was attended by Governor Alexey Ostrovskiy.

During the meeting the Head of the State said that coming 2017 was declared the Year of Ecology, and the ecological direction was defined as a priority in the recently approved Strategy of Scientific and Technological Development of Russia.

The meeting discussed Russia's role in solving global ecological problems, and assessed the main tasks of Russia's long-term ecological sustainable development. The main objective set by the President is to radically decrease emissions of harmful substances into the air, their discharge into water bodies and soil. These objectives will be achieved primarily through technological re-equipment of industry and introduction of the best available technologies.

The speakers paid a special attention to a challenging task – detoxing industrial and consumer waste. Two years ago, a law was passed which was aimed at addressing this issue and providing for the formation of a transparent system of turnover of solid utility waste in each region. To this end, regions must adopt “terschemes”. This document provides for an objective assessment of the volume of waste generated and the procedure of managing its traffic. Also, in accordance with the law, the regional authorities on a competitive basis must choose a regional operator and to set tariffs. As it was noted during the meeting of the State Council, so far 12 regions, including Smolensk region, have confirmed their readiness to begin work on the basis of a new regulatory system in 2017.

Moreover, among the key topics of discussion there is solving energy saving problems, preservation of forests, soil, water bodies, unique natural sites, rare species of animals and plants.