There are no problems with training environmental personnel in Belarus – this opinion was expressed today by the Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Andrei Khudyk during a visit to the Faculty of Geography and Geoinformatics of the Belarusian State University, where a meeting was held as part of the dialogue platform “The Path to Highly Qualified Personnel in the Field of Nature Management through Active Interaction with Organizations – Customers of Personnel”. About one hundred students, faculty members and the university management took part in the event.
“We closely cooperate with Belarusian universities in terms of training personnel for the country’s environmental protection sector,” the head of the department noted. “But, of course, we do not train all specialties in the field of environmental protection, because there are a huge number of areas of activity in this area. However, we do train key specialists – weather forecasters, geologists, ecologists. Moreover, we receive highly professional specialists in sufficient quantities.”
At the same time, Andrey Khudyk does not rule out that this list will be supplemented in the future based on the tasks set: “I believe that some narrow areas still need to be identified and discussed, and perhaps we will propose supplementing this list. But all this is in the process of work. Approximately the same situation was with forecasters, when the Head of State set the task of improving the work of Belhydromet.”
During the meeting with the faculty staff and students, the Minister, first of all, outlined the significance of the topic of the dialogue, emphasizing the importance of quality education not only in the context of 2024 – the Year of Quality, but also for the successful future of our country as a whole. “As our President, Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko, said at a recent meeting on education, “Without science and education there can be no quality,” he noted.
Also in his introduction, the head of the department emphasized the special role of the Ministry of Natural Resources in the country’s economy, which consists of creating favorable conditions for the functioning of all its sectors.
The following topics and questions formed the basis of the dialogue platform:
- Structure, system and functioning of the environmental protection agency;
- Concept of national security of the Republic of Belarus in the environmental sphere;
- International environmental agenda and participation of the Republic of Belarus in 23 international treaties and agreements;
- Activities of management bodies in the field of environmental protection;
- The state of individual economic sectors associated with the environmental sphere;
- Legal framework in the field of environmental protection and nature management;
- Internal organization of the ministry, corporate culture and personnel policy.
Andrey Khudyk also introduced the participants of the event to the activities of the subordinate organizations of the Ministry of Natural Resources, the conditions created in them for retaining young specialists, primarily financial incentives, and invited future graduates to work in the system of the environmental protection agency.
As part of his report, the Minister spoke in detail about the pressing issue of the Polish fortification in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha and announced an important international event to promote a solution to this issue.
“Over the past three years, the Ministry of Natural Resources has been actively working to protect the transboundary UNESCO World Heritage Site Belovezhskaya Pushcha. The fence erected by the Polish authorities on the territory of this unique natural complex causes irreparable harm to ecosystems, flora and fauna.
And only in September 2023, during the 45th extended session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, the need to organize a reactive monitoring mission of international scientific experts to the site for the purpose of an objective assessment of the situation “on the spot” was recognized for the first time at the international level. This visit is expected to take place in March of this year,” he said.
In conclusion of his speech, Andrei Khudyk paid special attention to the upcoming important socio-political event in the country – a single voting day for the elections of deputies of local Councils of Deputies and the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus. The Minister reminded the students of the importance of expressing their own civic position: “I am sure that everyone understands the significance of these representative and legislative bodies for all areas of our state’s activities”.
In continuation of the dialogue platform, reports were heard from students majoring in geography, who briefly presented the results of their scientific research in the field of monitoring and management of natural resources.
Summarizing the information presented, Andrey Khudyk noted the great scientific potential of the speakers and expressed the wish for the students to take their research to a new level and bring it to implementation, mentioning that the Ministry of Natural Resources is ready to provide assistance.
The event ended with a direct dialogue between the Minister and the audience in the form of a question and answer session. The discussion raised the topics of investment demand for mineral deposits transferred for concession development; the role of new technologies in achieving climate goals under the Paris Agreement; support from the Ministry of Natural Resources for the development of projects for the use of RDF fuel; and upcoming events in the environmental protection agency system dedicated to the Year of Quality.
With the use of materials website SB.by
