Dmitriy Andreev

Candidate of sciences, geography. Associate professor of the department of biogeocenology and nature protection. Head of the laboratory of ecology and nature protection at Perm National Research University. Social activist.

Quotes

• I am delighted when I manage to keep what I am fighting for.
• I always want to leave Perm, but not for long.
• We consume too much: we do not need such plenty of things.
• The most significant influence on my professional views made a textbook on ecology by N. F. Reimers.
• I love disaster movies.
• When someone says that he is an ecologist, I do not understand what it means.
• I dream of a good life. A dream of fresh air is kind of an impossible one.

My story

I am from an ordinary Perm family: my father worked as a chief at the plant, and my mother worked as an economist in the communications industry. Nature always attracted me, so I loved geography at the school: to perceive the world is fascinating. However, we were taught in an offhand way, but I studied the material on my own and by the 10th grade decided to enter the Faculty of Geography. I loved and still love to read maps, I memorize them well and have an eye for the ground. As soon as I grew up and started rafting, I plotted the route myself and guided the whole group.

I entered Classical university in the department of biogeocenology and environmental protection. During my studies, I began to understand the chosen subject more deeply, many nuances opened up before me. It was the time of the first disappointment: I realized how many problems exist today, and I did not see the actions of humanity to solve them. It became clear: in the near future there will be no serious improvements in this area.

In the second year I got a job at the department where I studied, and since then I have been working there: first as a laboratory assistant, then as an engineer, now as the head of the laboratory. At the same time, I started to teach and worked my way from a lab assistant to an assistant professor. I prefer scientific activities. As a teacher, sometimes I have a feeling that my knowledge, skills, and competencies are not needed by anyone, from students to management. But, fortunately, there are still interested students with whom we write courseworks on topical issues. From the rest of the teaching activity, there is much less return.

The ecologist is a diverse profession: there are theorists, there are technologists, applied workers who work at plants and factories, project designers, field workers. I have several qualities: I know how to work in the fields, to count projects, and to carry out expertise. I especially like working afield: there are a lot of different tasks, and you have to increase your own competences steadily.

In a few words, it is impossible to describe the current ecological state of Perm, especially since the system for collecting data on the environmental state itself is awful and outdated. I can't say, for example, that we have filthy air: there is not enough data, there are only 7 air observation posts for a million city, and those were built in the 70s-80s of the last century. There is more data on water, so we know that the rivers in Perm are not merely dirty, but very dirty, because of sewage and surface runoff. Water purification is weak, there is no storm sewer, plus in the headwaters of small rivers, some careless businessmen like to dump something. Soil monitoring is basically absent in the city.

It is necessary for citizens to be interested in this information, and now it is far from it: there is no public order. The discussion goes on at the level of kitchen and garage chatters, but no inquiry is formed from this. The ecological state issues are now minor on the agenda, and I am called to raise these issues to another level.

The basic principles of working with the public are education and enlightenment, including those among decision makers. They should know the realities, environmental threats, and their possible consequences. There is the experience of other countries, for example, Germany, where there is a separate Green Party. But they initially had the same situation as in Russia: an indifferent population and a handful of activists. The start of environmental education is always strict laws and control over their implementation, even if at first this leads to scandals and conflicts. Russian laws are in some cases rather strict, but this is compensated for by their nonfulfillment.

I engaged in social work when the plans to build a zoo in the Chernyayevsky forest emerged. For me, this forest is like my homeland; I not alone ran there, and jumped, and rambled, but also wrote my thesis work. It was called «Ecogeochemical diagnostics of anthropogenic transformation of the natural environment in specially protected natural territories.» I took two sites: one in the center of the city, which is subjected to a severe anthropogenic load, that is, the Chernyayevsky forest, and a similar pine forest 100 kilometers from Perm. I compared various parameters of the state of vegetation, biogeochemistry, then assessed changes and eventually developed a method by which it is possible to determine the irreversible stages of ecosystem change. Literally, right after my thesis defending, there appeared reports in the press that the Chernyayevsky forest was dying and only a zoo could save it — and in three years of writing my thesis work I came to completely different conclusions! That touched my nerve, and I went to the public hearing.

The Chernyayevsky forest doesn't die, most of its problems are solvable. The most serious issue is the trees near the roads, but they serve to protect the main forest. In recent years, the attendance of this territory has dramatically increased, which also doesn't benefit it. And people go here because in the suburban areas of the city there are no parks and public gardens. And it affects forest degradation. Of course, it is necessary to go to the forest, this is a recreational resource, but there is no need to hold mass events here. Allocating certain carefully calculated recreation areas is essential. In the forest, you need to walk and work out. Barbecues, picnics, concerts, and events should not be there.

New city improvement projects for some reason omit trees: they design park lanes, objects, and infrastructure, then impose this sheet on the existing space and calculate which trees are to cut down. However, the project approach should be different: first, examination of trees, identification of the sick and rotten ones, and a recommendation for their sawing or treatment. You can plant a new tree, but will it survive? A new tree will give an effect only in 30 years, and a present one already helps to purify the air and creates a microclimate.

Now I continue to protect natural objects — forests, parks, and even individual trees. A particular part of my activity is the small rivers of Perm. How to improve their condition, which is in the sorry state now? What legal acts, technical and organizational decisions, recommendations we need? How to carry out these projects through the Perm Duma and the Legislative Assembly of the Territory? There are many problems because the territory we are talking about is at least very cluttered up. We propose to use the valleys of small rivers as landscaping objects, parks, and public gardens. Separate areas are now in use, but there is still a lot of garbage there; recreation in these places should be steered in a useful course. A separate case is the legal status of the valleys: a part of the territory is in private ownership, a part is in the municipal, another in the federal, and in many cases, the legal estate in land is simply not defined. Therefore, we continuously run into interdepartmental interaction and the lack of clearly aligned decision-making processes. However, small rivers and their valleys are the wealth of Perm, a huge resource, and I hope that things will get off the ground sooner or later.