Eco-journalism

MONTPELIER, Vt. - Journalists from throughout Ukraine will gather in Krivyi Rih on January 31 through February 3 for a conference that will address both regional and international environmental issues. The conference will feature presentations from Ukrainian, Central European and American journalists on the challenges facing news reporters who cover environmental issues.

The event is sponsored by the Ecological Television and Public Awareness Project of Ukraine (ETPAU), a project of the National Ecological Center of Ukraine and the Institute for Sustainable Communities of Vermont (USA).

Alexander Belakov, a Kyiv journalist, will address eco-journalism in-Ukraine and Eastern Europe. John Dillon, a news reporter from the United States, will discuss the status of environmental journalism in the United States and the role of the media as a catalyst for social change. Prof. Grehorij Gubin will give a report on ecological problems in the Dnipro-Donbas region.

The 40 journalists expected at the meeting in the major industrial city of Krivyi Rih will also work on the formation of an association of environmental journalists in Ukraine. The group will organize the association and may vote to join the International Federation of Environmental Journalists, a professional organization based in Paris.

The conference will include tours of various ecological and industrial sites in the Krivyi Rih region, including a metallurgical plant, an open-pit mine, a botanical garden and a research institute.

Those attending the conference will meet with local government and business leaders. A press conference on the ecological situation in the region and the status of environmental journalism in Ukraine will be held at the conclusion of the conference.

Conference organizers have received funding assistance from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

For more information, please contact Valery Kozak, Ecocenter/Krivyi-Rih, telephone, 380-56-26-07-35; fax, 26-08-72; or Roman Kokodyniak, ISC/USA, telephone, (802) 229-2900; fax, 229-2919.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 28, 1996, No. 4, Vol. LXIV

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