The holiday was established at the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly in 2009 and has been celebrated since 2010. Assembly President Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann stated that the proclamation of this international day is a recognition that the Earth and its ecosystems are our home and provide life for humanity.
The theme for 2024 is “Planet or Plastic”. This slogan calls us to take decisive action to reduce our plastic consumption and stop the largest pollution of our planet.
Plastic is a material with unique properties, extremely convenient in many industries, from simple food packaging to building spaceships. But its most important advantage is the low cost of production. In pursuit of profit, we produce more and more plastic, turning a blind eye to the harm we cause to nature and our own health, but this cannot continue.
Belarus is one of the European countries with the largest area of untouched wilderness. Changes in ecosystems, including those caused by the introduction of “plastic components” into them, pose a threat to living organisms. This is why Belarus is doing everything possible to avoid these changes.
The press conference will cover the implementation of the country’s action plan aimed at gradually reducing the use of polymer packaging and replacing it with environmentally friendly packaging. The speakers will pay special attention to the harm plastic flower products (in anticipation of Easter and Radunitsa) cause to nature. What does the state do to protect and preserve ecosystems? And what can ordinary citizens do to protect nature? And much more…
The event will be attended by:
Maksim TARASOV, Deputy Head of the Main Department for Waste Management Regulation, Biological and Landscape Diversity – Head of the Waste Management Regulation Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection;
Lyudmila BARTOSHEVICH, Deputy Head of the Biological and Landscape Diversity Department of the Main Department for Waste Management Regulation, Biological and Landscape Diversity of the Ministry of Natural Resources;
Ruslan SHAIKIN, Director of the Center for Environmental Education and Development, public ecologist of the Minsk City Committee for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection;
Archpriest Vladimir DOLGOPOLOV, responsible for interaction between the Belarusian Orthodox Church and the Ministry of Natural Resources;
Mikhail MAKSIMENKOV, Senior Researcher, Scientific and Practical Center for Bioresources of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.
The organizers have provided a live broadcast of the press event on the YouTube channel of the Republican Unitary Enterprise “House of the Press”, and it will also be possible to watch a video recording of its results.
