The XXV International Environmental Forum “the Baltic Sea Day”, which brought together more than 600 experts from Russia and friendly countries, has ended in St. Petersburg. Among the participants was the V.I. Vernadsky Nongovernmental Ecological Foundation. Within the framework of the forum, the General Director of the Foundation, Olga Pliamina, presented badges of the Order of V.I. Vernadsky and medals of V.I. Vernadsky to outstanding environmentalists, scientists, educators and public figures. The awards are recognition of significant contributions to environmental protection, environmental education and sustainable development.

“For us, participation in the Baltic Sea Day Forum is an important event, as the Foundation does a lot of work in the international arena and is involved in the environmental agenda. We’ve been actively cooperating with both Russian and international organizations to achieve sustainable environmentally oriented development, and we are building partnerships with those organizations that also implement international environmental and social projects in the format of public diplomacy,” said Olga Pliamina. For 25 years, the Baltic Sea Day has been a platform for an open dialogue between science, business and the state to address environmental challenges. However, this year's Forum has become significant for the Foundation not only for solving environmental problems: exactly one year ago, a cooperation agreement was signed between the Committee for Environmental Management of St. Petersburg and the Vernadsky Foundation.

One of the key events of the Forum was the plenary session “Conservation of the Marine Environment and Sustainable Development of Coastal Territories”. Ms. Natalia Tretyakova, a representative of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, in her report emphasized the complexity and duration of the process of restoring the ecological state of the Baltic Sea. She noted that, despite significant financial and organizational costs, the joint efforts of the coastal States have already brought tangible results.

According to Natalia Tretyakova, the current state of the marine environment has improved significantly compared to the 1990s. She paid special attention to the successes in the fight against eutrophication - it was possible to achieve stabilization of the situation and a significant reduction in the concentration of phosphorus in the water. However, as the representative of the ministry noted, it has not yet been possible to completely solve the problem, especially in terms of reducing nitrogen content. The Forum confirmed the importance of international dialogue and public diplomacy in solving environmental problems. The Vernadsky Foundation goes on working on combining the efforts of science, business and the state to achieve an environmentally sustainable future.