As you know, in late 2019, the European Commission published a new environmental agreement European Green Deal – a roadmap for measures developed by the government of the European Union to make Europe the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050. A significant part of the program is the transformation of agriculture: a strategy for sustainable use of chemicals (reduction by 50-70% over the next 10 years of plant protection products) and reduction of CO2 emissions into the air. Besides, the strategy envisages several transformations, in particular for rural areas, modernization and changes in approaches to agricultural enterprises, a package of climate laws, the development of bioenergy, renewable energy, and organic products.
Within the framework of the memorandum of cooperation on information exchange and legal, educational, and scientific activities in the field of applied ecology on February 25, 2021, the Department of Agrotechnology and Ecology KhNTUA under the auspices of the Professional Association of Ecologists of Ukraine with the support of the Embassy of the Netherlands and ICC Ukraine. was devoted to current issues of agroecology – International Forum Agro Green Deal-2021. The main goal of the international forum is to facilitate the exchange of experience on sustainable production through agri-environmental methods.
Moderators of the forum Lyudmila Tsyganok – President of PAEU, Editor-in-Chief of “ECOBUSINESS. Ecology of Enterprise ”and Vladislav Antipov – Chairman of the Committee for Industrial Ecology and Innovation of PAEU, Director General of the Center for Ecology and Development of New Technologies greeted the participants, noted the urgency of the issues discussed and stressed the need for such events in the future.
The forum included four sessions (Forum Program):
Session 1. State eco transformation policy. How the Green Deal will affect the agro-sphere: the path of sustainable development.
Session 2. International course. On changes in EU policy on Ukrainian exports under the agreement on reducing carbon emissions. New challenges and tasks.
Session 3. Cases. Practice. Decision.
Session 4. The main challenges – 2021.
More than 30 Ukrainian and European experts spoke during the event, which not only discussed the impact of the Green Deal on the agro-sphere, changes in EU policy on Ukrainian exports under the agreement on reducing carbon emissions, but also proposed effective solutions for agribusiness. During the eight busy hours, the speakers and experts presented in their narrow format up-to-date information on the conservation of biodiversity of agro-landscapes and identified clear objectives for the restoration of agro-ecosystems.
Substantial reports of foreign speakers from Germany, the Netherlands, Slovenia (“How accurate agriculture helps our farmers in Ukraine”, “From farm to fork”, “Sustainable soil management from the standpoint of agroecology”) were filled with modern scientific data and practical information. projects, strategies) on climate neutrality in agricultural production and implementation of Green Deal principles in their countries.
Representatives of Ukrainian agricultural companies spoke about the main challenges and presented some solutions that their companies use for eco-modernization and organic production. In particular, representatives of Kernel-Trade LLC, Goodwell Ukraine, Globino, Eggersmann GmbH in Ukraine, Association of Sustainable Development Experts, Danube Soybean Association, Bioenergy Association, LLC Ukrainian Scientific and Engineering Center “Potential-4”, Subcommittee on the treatment of packaging from plant protection products of the Agrochemical Committee of the EBA, etc.
The key topics for discussion were the use of minimum tillage technology, the use of information and telecommunications technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the production of biogas from livestock waste, the production and use of solid biofuels from livestock waste, trends in organic farming, alternative energy, soil degradation, and many other important practical issues.
It is worth noting the high professional level of the event, which once again demonstrated the high expert potential and became an excellent non-networking platform for the exchange of experience and experience in the field of agroecology. We thank the Professional Association of Environmentalists of Ukraine for the opportunity to join the exchange of information in the context of the European Green Course strategy.
To be continued…
Ye. Kryshtop, Associate Professor of Agrotechnology and Ecology KhNTUA.
