A social ecological movement was revived some time ago. There are several hundred public ecological organizations of various sizes and fields of priority, and the number is growing. The Green Party of Ukraine (which has grown out of public ecological organizations) won its victory at the 1998 parliamentary elections, which proves that ecological priorities are supported by the general public. The adoption of the Arhus Convention as well as its signing by Ukraine, which has strengthened the legal basis for comprehension and implementation of the rights of Ukrainian citizens to obtain ecological information, gave new impulse for public activity.

The Public Council has been created at the Ministry for Environmental Protection and Nuclear Safety of Ukraine with the purpose of establishing constructive cooperation between the State and non-governmental nature protection organizations. The Council includes representatives of all public ecological organizations at the national level registered by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine. The basic trends and tasks of the Council’s activity consist in a search for an action mechanism of interrelation of the non-governmental organizations and power structures, and the participation of the general public in making decisions concerning problems of environment protection and recreation.

The Public Council has been created to provide information on activities of the Ministries and non-governmental public organizations, and to promote the creation of an efficient network of public councils at state departments of environment protection in the various regions. During the year the Council has considered a lot of serious problems concerning ecological examination of significant installations under design or in operation (the Tashlyk Hydro-accumulating Power Plant in particular).

In addition to authoritative and active organizations, such as the Ukrainian Nature Protection Society and the All-Ukrainian Charity Fund “Parostok”, organizations with a constructive character of activity were established: the All-Ukrainian Environment League and the National Association of Nature Protection Territories (which unites the Polissian, Carpathian, “Askania Nova” and five more reserves). There is also a rather active Bird Society, and many other environment protection organizations.

These and many other organizations and governmental structures took part in the most outstanding and influential common national activities aimed at drawing public attention to environment problems, dissemination of the ideas of protection and preservation of nature, and ecological education of the youth, in particular the actions initiated by the Ministry for Environmental Protection and Nuclear Safety of Ukraine ( “Green Spring”, the Day of Environment, etc.).

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