Omsk SAU graduate student won a Rosmolodezh grant competition

The competition, held by the Russian Federal Agency for Youth Affairs with the support of President's platform "Russian - Land of Opportunity", was organized as part of the all-Russian youth eco-forum "Ecosystem".

The forum was held near the city of Cherepovets from 23 to 27 May. It was organized by Rosmolodezh and the Government of the Vologda Region.

Samat Mukanov, a graduate student of the Faculty of Agrochemistry, Soil Science, Ecology, Environmental Engineering and Water Resources Exploitation took part in the forum offline, and 4 students joined it via Internet: Olga Efremova, Anna Nesterova, Vera Rubtsova, Alexandra Fileva.

90 projects from 33 regions were assessed during the event. As a result of the project defense, the experts recommended that 21 projects from 13 regions be allocated grant money. Samat Mukanov's initiative "Eco-generation of the Omsk Irtysh Region 2.0" was among the winners.

The project is aimed at creating suitable conditions for raising regional students' and schoolchildren' awareness and social activity in the field of environmental protection, and forming their ecological worldview, environmental consciousness. It is planned to increase the civic activity of young people, which can become one of the incentives for treating the environment carefully. We also expect that he project will increase everyday environmental consciousness among young people.

Project events will be aimed at organizing environmental education, including developing various practical skills. Students will organize eco-classes at secondary schools, and an eco-mind game "Day of the Earth", "Eco Marines" and "Paper Boom" actions will be held, etc. Samat's mentors are: N. A. Popolzukhina, Doctor of Agricultural Sciences, Professor of the Department of Ecology, Environmental Engineering and Biology, -Chairman of the Board of the Omsk Regional Public Environmental Organization "Earth – our Common Home"; O. V. Demidova, Head of the Linguistic Center of Omsk SAU, coordinator of the Volunteer Center "Globus"; O. V. Nezhevlyak, Candidate of Biological Sciences, Associate Professor, Acting Head of the Department of Ecology, Environmental Engineering and Biology of the Faculty of Agrochemistry, Soil Science, Ecology, Environmental Engineering and Water Resources Exploitation.

Also a student of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Olga Efremova took the 1st place in the online marathon "Ecosystem". She will receive a gift certificate for a free online course of netology and a set of corporate uniforms of a "Ecosystem" participant. To participate in that contest, students had to write a number of posts about the forum on their social networks and attach reports in a mini-application. In total, more than ecology-related 15 tasks were completed.

Olga shared her impressions about the forum:

«I published several posts on my page, they were about "Zero Waste" (a set of principles aimed at minimizing the amount of garbage through the reusable use of objects and things), about the speakers of the forum, told about my organization, participated in networking, shared my thoughts about national parks and water resources. I live up to the principle of "Zero Waste" myself, and soon I plan to share interesting facts».

Some prominent people were invited to be honorary guests of the forum: Chief of the Presidential Directorate for Social Projects Sergey Novikov, Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation Alexander Kozlov, Governor of the Vologda Region Oleg Kuvshinnikov, Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of the region Andrey Lutsenko, Head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs Alexander Bugaev, Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, the UN Goodwill Ambassador, Chairman of the All-Russian Society for Nature Conservation Vyacheslav Fetisov, Acting Deputy Secretary of the General Council of the United Russia Party Dmitry Kobylkin, Chairman of the Commission on Ecology and the Environment of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation Elena Sharoikina..

As noted by the organizers, including the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs and the Government of the Vologda Region, this is the first youth forum invented by the youth themselves.

The forum participants were greeted by a well-known TV presenter, scientist, science popularizer Nikolai Drozdov:

«Young people should be imbued with the problems of our planet as a whole and the problems of regional ecosystems, in particular. We cannot live on Earth without affecting its environment. But we must use the Earth resources rationally and carefully. We can make sure that no organisms suffer from the destruction of their habitat. We must preserve the ecosystem of the Earth».

During all three days of the forum, participants were taught how to finalize their ideas, prepare documentation properly, present and defend their projects in front of an expert commission, whose members evaluated the ideas according to efficiency, scale, uniqueness and other parameters.

At the end of the "Ecosystem" forum, singers Anastasia Nekrasova and Stas More entertained participants, volunteers and honorary guests. A band "Pizza" was a headliner of the concert.

The forum brought together eco-activists from 85 regions of Russia, 150 people participated in person, and 360 - in online format. More than 28 000 users watched a stream on the official Rosmolodezh channel.