Ukraine Nature Conservation Society

Ukraine Nature Conservation Society
FormationJune 28, 1946; 78 years ago (June 28, 1946)
HeadquartersKyiv, Ukraine
President of the Board of the Pan-Ukrainian Council
Vasyl Shevchuk
Websitewww.ukrpryroda.org

Ukraine Nature Conservation Society (Ukrpryroda – Ukrayinske tovarystvo okhorony pryrody) is a non-governmental environmental organization, foundation of which was one of precursors of the Khrushchev thaw during his time in Ukraine.

In 1967, following Ukrpryroda's advocacy arguments, the Ukrainian Government founded the State Nature Protection Committee that had a status of a central government agency. This took place three years before Nixon established the EPA in the US, six years before the European Commission created an Environmental and Consumer Protection Directorate and 21 years before Gorbachev established a similar Soviet-wide agency in Moscow.[1] The State Nature Protection Committee was upgraded to the ministerial status in 1991.

Ukrpryroda promotes public awareness of recycling, environmental education and the love for nature at schools, in local communities and among local authorities. It has branches in all the regions and most of the regional districts/municipalities as well as in the special-status cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol.

  1. ^ See the years of establishment of the State Committees for Environmental Protection of the USSR and the Russian SFSR.