International Exhibition and Forum "Clean Country"

The Second International Exhibition & Forum “Clean Country” took place on 16–18 March 2021 at The Skolkovo Innovation Center in Moscow. The main goal of the event was to provide a conversation and networking platform for different stakeholders involved in the Russian national project “Ecology” implementation

 One of our second-year students, Marina Ianchenko, decided to share some of her experience visiting various sessions at the forum. Overall, the second “Clean Country” forum attempted to unite Russian and international representatives of public administration, businesses, nongovernmental and noncommercial sectors, researchers and experts, eco-volunteers and eco-bloggers to discuss current successful practices and new ideas of each important player working towards the ecology, climate change, and responsible production and consumption-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) realization in Russia.  

Nevertheless, some of the barriers and the lack of the necessary financial, educational, or promotional support were mentioned and widely discussed during the event. For instance, the head of the Centre for Studies of Civil Society and Non-Profit Sector of Higher School of Economics, Irina Mersiyanova, demonstrated essential statistics on the eco-volunteers and NGOs’ inquiry for developmental support. Moreover, this problem has been frequently pointed out by businesses, NGOs, and volunteer organizations during the whole forum, which attracted attention of public authorities.  

Therefore, Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, Victoria Abramchenko, has discussed with other stakeholders the legislative initiatives, which will improve some of the current national project “Ecology” directions, the support mechanisms, and new ideas of the ecological bloggers and volunteers, businesses and NGOs representatives to work together more effectively and efficiently towards the national priorities’ manifestation. One of the main results of the forum has been the “eco-patriotism”, which includes love to the country through real care for its ecological situation. 

To conclude, The Second International Exhibition & Forum “Clean Country” has been quite promising for future improvements in the ecology-related SDGs achievement in Russia. The sessions themselves and the interviews with different speakers allowed Marina Ianchenko to collect some of the necessary data for her master’s thesis. In general, it has been a special and truly inspiring event for the sustainable development of our country.