The all-Russian scientific conference “A modern view of ecological education through Botanical Gardens” has started its work at the Botanical Garden of ISU Biology and Soil Faculty today. The conference is held both online and offline. The participants are scientists from the Murmansk region, Krasnodarskiy Krai, Yaroslavl region, Donetsk city, the Republic of Tatarstan, Moscow. The scientists from Irkutsk and Irkutsk region will give their reports too.
The meetings will take place at two locations of the university – ISU Scientific Library and ISU Botanical Garden.
The opening ceremony started with the welcoming speech of Natalia Ponomareva, Rector of the Institute of Development of Education of the Irkutsk region:
Two training facilities have been already established in Irkutsk region: “Alive Nature of Siberia” and “Baikal Studies”. This kind of connection between science and school is invaluable. Everything we are creating now we will leave for our children, grandchildren. I hope the scientific conference will be fruitful and productive.
The conference is dedicated to the 85th anniversary of ISU Botanical Garden celebrated on April 15th.
On April 15, 1940, the Irkutsk city Council decided to allocate 18 hectares of land for the Botanical Garden, granting Irkutsk State University the right to develop this site. On October 8, 1940, the City Council assigned a fairly extensive area, almost 100 hectares of land, to the Botanical Garden. According to the old master plan, the garden was supposed to cover almost the entire current Universitetskiy district, half of Pervomaisky district, and the entire Studgorodok district with the territory of the current Technical University. The work in the Botanical Garden began in the spring of 1941.
Pavel Ivanovich Malinovsky was appointed the first director of ISU Botanical Garden. He believed that the garden “... should be a scientific institution for the study, alteration and display of the flora and vegetation of Eastern Siberia, while being a place for reasonable recreation for workers at the same time”.
Throughout its history, ISU Botanical Garden has carried out various types of its multifaceted activities over the years, depending on social demands, be it creation of green spaces for the city, providing home-gardeners and enterprises with seedlings, advising on the cultivation of certain crops, introduction and reintroduction of plants, protection of endangered species and, of course, science.
Svetlana Sizykh, Associate professor, Head of the ISU Botanical Garden:
There are more than 4000 species, varieties and forms in our collections of open and protected ground plants. Display zones are already functioning on the territory of the Garden, such as heather and lilac areas, rosarium, Korean garden, apothecary garden, ecological trail, greenhouse, ethno-botanical center, and a “Garden of Feelings” is to be opened soon.
The plant collection was built over 85 years through the daily, meticulous work of the staff, who tenderly care for the plants with love, creating optimal conditions for their growth.
Alexey Vokin, Candidate of Biological Sciences, ISU Vice-Rector for Education, congratulated all participants and guests:
I am not only the Vice-Rector for Education but also an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Biology and Soil Studies. Environmental education is a topic very close to my heart. I congratulate you on the Botanical Garden’s anniversary, the opening of this conference, and I wish you all productive work!
