History of creation and activity of ECOSPHERE NGO
The Ecosphere Regional Youth Ecological Association (Ecosphere R&D) – this name has been known for over 18 years until its re-registration in 2017 – was established in 1999. The current name is the public organization Ecosphere (NGO Ecosphere).
The organization was created by graduate students, students and young specialists in the fields of biology, chemistry, law, pedagogy. The first areas of activity of the organization were eco-education and education and research and monitoring of the state of ecosystems. Almost immediately, the organization also began to address regional development issues in the areas of Sustainable Waste Management, Energy Efficiency Improvement and Ecotourism Development. The areas of FSC Forest Certification and Advocacy have begun to develop. By the end of 2010, Ecosphere NGO, based on its experience, was able to develop and publish 7 educational, methodological and practical manuals in the field of eco-education, rural tourism, forestry and environmental advocacy, which can be found on our site in the Training- methodical manuals. Over the next 10 years, we have published 4 more teaching and practical manuals. All other non-fiction and background literature that we have published has also been developed by our authors based on our experience.
Today, the organization is working in four major areas, combining independent but related topics in 11 areas of environmental work.
The activity of the organization extends to the whole Transcarpathian region of Ukraine. In some areas, the organization operates across Ukraine. Today we have implemented and continue to work on the implementation of local, regional, national and cross-border projects.
About ten specialists and naturalists work in the organization. Each of them has brought a part of their work and desire to solve specific environmental problems of our country and planet as a whole.
Today, 5 employees are employed at Ecosphere NGO, external experts on specific topics, 5 volunteers, 1 of whom is a Peace Corps volunteer. We are working on the implementation of holistic projects of different duration, achieving concrete results. Some of these projects (only those that have been implemented since 2013) can be found in more detail on our site; earlier projects are also mentioned in different sections of the site. So, step by step, we are gradually approaching our goal – changing citizens’ attitudes to environmental problems, changing their habits and stereotypes of behavior, and encouraging them to take proactive measures to protect nature. Changing people’s minds is a prerequisite for effective environmental protection, conservation of biodiversity, improvement of the quality of the environment in which we all live. THE ECOSPHERE at the service of the environment!