Environmental Activities in the NO ASSR in the 1980-1990s (Based on Periodicals)

Increasing anthropogenic impact and increase in the scale of environmental pollution cause concern of society, increase of the level of ecological consciousness, activation of ecological movements. These phenomena also become a factor in actualizing the study of the historical experience of environmental protection activities at the regional level, identifying the origins and stages of the origin of the environmental public movement. The article discusses the organization of environmental activities in the SOASSR in the 1980s-1990s. This period is interesting for the dynamism of the socio-political processes that took place. It includes the official and formal environmental activities of the early 1980s, which are characterized by social passivity; the intensification of citizens’ participation in the context of increased criticism and self-criticism as the main trend in socio-political life associated with the change of power at the end of 1982, and “perestroika”, which caused the democratization of society, the actualization of social movements and the inclusion of environmental issues in the political agenda. The purpose of the article is to identify the main stages and trends of environmental activities, to study the prerequisites for the formation of environmental consciousness and the environmental movement. The main source of the research is the materials of the republican periodicals, which were entrusted with the task of promoting nature protection activities. The novelty of the research is caused by the fact that the history of the environmental movement in the region has not been studied, as well as the introduction of materials from the republican periodicals into the scientific circulation. The content analysis of periodicals led to the conclusion that the prerequisites for the public environmental movement began to form in 1983, when, along with the relevant authorities and institutions, public organizations and private initiatives for nature protection appeared. A powerful incentive for the development of the movement was scientific and educational materials, calls for the public to get involved in environmental activities. An analysis of the materials of the “perestroika” independent periodicals, which recognized the fact of constant deterioration of the state of the environment and launched broad discussions around it, contributed to the organization of an informal environmental movement by the end of the 1990s, which was not included in the system of public organizations.