GLOBAL CHALLENGES OF THE 21st CENTURY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

At the Kazakh National University named after Al-Farabi, at the Faculty of Geography and Nature Management, the International Scientific and Practical Conference "Global Challenges of the 21st Century and the Environment" was held, dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the UNESCO Chair on Sustainable Development as part of the 30th anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The purpose of the conference was to discuss scientific problems and educational practices in the field of ecology, life safety to ensure sustainable development, namely, to attract the attention of representatives of government, science, education, business, the general public of Kazakhstan and other regions to the problems of protecting and restoring terrestrial ecosystems and promoting sustainable use, water scarcity, combating climate change and desertification, halting and reversing land degradation, and halting biodiversity loss.

An important task of the conference was to identify pressing problems and discuss achievements in the field of sustainable development in order to determine the best practical ways to solve problems that today have become of particular relevance in the field of ecology, economics, education, as well as discuss the possibilities and prospects for achieving the sustainable development goals approved by the UN in 2015

The conference was attended (online and offline) by more than 500 people, including Kazakh and foreign scientists from Italy, Portugal, Great Britain, Spain, China, Russia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Lithuania, Kyrgyzstan, representatives of departments and UNESCO, and also the Department of Ecology for Almaty CERC MEGPR RK. By the day of the conference, a collection of materials was published in 4 parts, in which 268 reports and articles by authors from 11 countries and 102 organizations were published. More than half of the conference participants are representatives of regions that actively promote the sustainable development of their territories, enterprises, organizations and initiatives.

The participants discussed issues of sustainable development relevant to society and got acquainted with the experience of colleagues from near and far abroad. The work of the conference was held in the form of a plenary session and 4 sections: "Modern problems of natural and anthropogenic terrestrial, aquatic landscapes"; "Sustainable nature management and "green" technologies"; "Technospheric safety and environmental protection"; "University education for sustainable development", as well as a "round table" for students on the topic "Youth and ecology: a look into the future".

The experts stated that the widespread reduction in funding for scientific research aimed at assessing the biological diversity of terrestrial, soil and water ecosystems has led to a significant limitation or even complete absence of reliable and complete information necessary for making managerial decisions in order to effectively manage natural resources at the regional level. A significant number of conference reports are devoted to environmental and environmental issues, technologies and approaches aimed at preventing environmental damage, including reducing the negative impact of production and consumption waste on the environment.

T. BAZARBAYEVA,

Candidate of Geological Sciences, Associate Professor

Head of UNESCO Chair

for sustainable development