In the last two weeks of August Kamchatka is hosting the main ecological youth forum of the country – the All-Russian Forum “Ecosystem. Protected Land”, which was initiated in 2022 by the President of Russia. This year the Lake Baikal Foundation is a partner of the forum: we organize and conduct thematic sessions on water resources. During the first shift – from August 19 to 25 – Deputy Director General of the Lake Baikal Foundation Olga Amelkina took part in 8 events, 4 of which were organized by the Foundation.
Thus, two strategic sessions of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI) were held on the site of “Ecosystems”, one of which was attended by the Governor of Kamchatka Krai – Vladimir Viktorovich Solodov. The sessions were devoted to the discussion of key challenges in training and development of environmental culture for the ecological well-being of the country. At the session with the Governor, ideas for solving the current challenges were voiced and their pilot implementation in Kamchatka was proposed.
In addition, the first strategic session was held to work out issues related to the creation of a fund to support environmental initiatives and projects, which is to appear in the near future by order of the President of Russia. Both conceptual and strategic issues, as well as procedural and operational aspects were discussed.
Olga Amelkina was a speaker at the panel discussion “Development of human resource potential in the field of environmental protection: challenges and prospects”. She emphasized that young leaders should be involved in the water agenda and, using the example of the Youth Water Council established by the Foundation, spoke about prospects for young people and opportunities in the water sector.
The Lake Baikal Foundation also initiated and organized the round table “Partnership for Sustainable Development: experience of cooperation between governmental authorities, science business, universities and NGOs”. The meeting was attended by 12 experts – representatives of each party. During the three-hour discussion, the participants came to an understanding of the interests of each party and defined the importance of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Russia’s National Development Goals, as well as the role of partnership in achieving these goals.
On August 24, the Day of Thirst, the Lake Baikal Foundation held a creative session “Letter to the Future”, where participants described how the water body of the future – 2050 – looks like and how people use it, as well as prescribed actions and steps that are required now to achieve the desired goal. The letters of encouragement will be read out at the youth shift, and the main ideas will form the basis of the Youth Water Strategy and will become the starting point for the preparation of the Manifesto addressed to the main stakeholders.
On this day, Olga Amelkina also held two meetings with young leaders who were responded to the work of the Youth Water Council. She told about how to get to the council and become a member of the Presidium, about the council’s plans for the year, and answered all questions.
The Lake Baikal Foundation will continue its work at the Junnat shift, which starts today.