On the World Environment Day, June 5th 2020, an ecological online conference “Ukraine Eco Transformation” was held with the participation of international experts and environmental activists. Participants shared their experience and knowledge in order to bring the environmental conditions in Ukraine closer to European requirements and living standards. The event was the final one within the Econline Marathon, which began on April 15th 2020 by a set of webinars about environmental issues.
Maksym Soroka, ecologist and technical expert of the "Clean Air for Ukraine" project, summed up the results of the Econline Marathon project, which included 18 interesting webinars and meetings where 612 participants learned more about the environment and activism and strengthened their ability to defend citizens’ right to a clean environment.
Martin Skalsky, director of the Czech non-profit organization Arnika - Center for Citizens’ Support, was talking about the civic campaigns for clean air in the Czech Republic. Lack of modernization in industrial factories, pollution of mountainous areas and forests around the Czech Republic led to mass protests of young people against environmental pollution during the 1980s. After the democratic revolution and the change of government, one of the government's key tasks was to improve the environment. According to the Czech expert, this was possible thanks to several components: access to environmental information, public participation in decision-making processes about environmental issues and tools to create pressure on the government, use of new technologies, involvement of legal instruments and change of legislation.
Jachym Brezina from the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (Brno) presented the specifics of the state monitoring of air pollution in the Czech Republic, automated software and features of the forecasting and warning system. During the discussion about monitoring in Ukraine, Oleksiy Trelevsky, initiator and project manager of EcoCity (Ivano-Frankivsk), suggested that the Czech expert could calibrate the EcoCity public monitoring station and make reference measurements at one of the stationary stations in Brno.
Natalia Andrusevych, chairman of the managing board of Resource and Analysis Center "Society and Environment" and coordinator of working group 5: "Energy, Transport, Environment and Climate Change" of the EU-Ukraine Civil Society Platform, was talking about the results of research of expert analysis European Green Deal: Opportunities and Threats for Ukraine, the main policy, purpose and rules. The expert was also dealing with the essence and key components of the course in nine areas, focused on solutions for politicians in Ukraine and the necessary measures that they have to take. She emphasized the goal - climate-neutral Europe by 2050 - and highlighted the importance of working with citizens, because of the political pressure.
The organizers thanked all the partners for their active participation, especially the coalition of non-governmental organizations "Stop poisoning Kryvyi Rih", NGOs International Ecological Safety, Pravo ye!, EcoCity, and all the speakers and participants.
The event was held in the framework of the "Clean Air for Ukraine" project in cooperation with the Czech NGO Arnika, funded by the Transition Promotion Programme of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and National Endowment for Democracy fund, USA.
Pavlina Filippovova (Arnika): Introduction
Maksym Soroka (Cleanair.org.ua): Ukrainian activism in Eco-online transition
Martin Skalsky (Arnika): Citizens campaigns and activists tools for clean air in CZ
Jachym Brezina (CHMU): How do we monitor air pollution in CZ
Full video from the conference: http://surl.li/dhia
Presentations from the Econline Marathon: https://issuu.com/econline.marathon
