Tatarstan plans to increase grants for environmental protection projects
How volunteers of the republic are developing the environmental agenda and saving birds in Anapa

Last year, About Ecology to Each Other competition of socially significant projects was held in Tatarstan for the third time. On 3 February, seven winning teams reported on the implementation of their initiatives to the deputies of the State Council Committee of Tatarstan on Environment, Nature Management, Agro-Industrial and Food Policy. In total, eco-volunteers received 300,000 rubles as a grant. In 2025, this amount may be increased. Read more about it in a report of Realnoe Vremya.
New projects have become a “vector in the environmental culture of the republic”
The winners of About Ecology to Each Other competition already managed to hold the planned events in Kazan and in five districts of Tatarstan. They had to fight for this opportunity: more than 300 participants from all over the republic applied for the grant.
“We are not abandoning them under any circumstances. Those people who today find time to deal with environmental issues must be valued and given opportunities to grow in every sense of the word,” said Azat Ziganshin, deputy of the State Council of Tatarstan and CEO of Tatagroleasing.

67 environmental events were held in the republic, 1,500 interested children, teenagers and youth representatives were covered, said Yegor Tarnavsky, Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Tatarstan. According to him, the new projects have become a “vector in the environmental culture of the republic.”
Last year, eco-volunteers received a total of 300,000 rubles as a grant, said Azat Ziganshin, answering a question from Realnoe Vremya. In 2025, the amount may be increased, said Azat Khamayev, Chairman of the Tatarstan State Council Committee on Environment, Nature Management, Agro-Industrial and Food Policy. He later explained to our publication that this issue would need to be discussed with the Ministry of Enviroment and Natural Resources.
“Grants for 2025 still need to be looked at in terms of finances. This is my wish, I think we will discuss this issue. Today, the budget has already been adopted, but there should be opportunities here,” he believes.

They want to launch eco-shifts in school camps
The project participants paid special attention to environmental education of the younger generation. For example, volunteers of GreenLight youth environmental squad held a number of creative master classes for students of the Derbyshky and Laishevo orphanages.
“In mini-greenhouses, we were able to follow the process of germination of micro plants. The children planted seeds and watched them turn into plants,” the State Council reported today.
As part of the Eco-landing project, the Drozhzhany College of Industrial Technologies acquired a green corner — a space where students can be among plants and take care of them. “It has become a symbol of our desire to create a harmonious space,” the volunteers emphasized.

This summer, the first eco-shift was held at a school camp in Nurlat District of Tatarstan. It was not possible to plant trees due to the hot weather, but the vegetable garden was always under the supervision of young nature lovers. Now, dishes from environmentally friendly vegetables are prepared for the children in the school canteen.
“This is a good practice. We will continue it in the future, because school camps are held in all schools, and environmental programs, unfortunately, are not implemented everywhere yet. We will offer,” promised chairperson of It Will Be Clean youth public organisation Dilara Satikova.
Saving birds and board games on environmental protection
An unusual project was implemented in Nizhnekamsk District: schoolchildren were asked to come up with a concept for board games with an eco-theme. Five options made it to the finals, which are already being printed. The games will soon be distributed in local schools. And in Menzelinsk, the media school taught how to talk about nature. Young journalists, designers, and photographers took a number of classes, and are now developing relevant projects on social networks.
Fourth-year students of Kazan Federal University Alina Rakhimova and Yekaterina Zinurova managed not only to conduct educational classes for children undergoing long-term treatment, but also to make their contribution to the elimination of the consequences of the fuel oil spill in the Black Sea.

“On 10 January, we left for Sochi for three days. We were rehabilitating birds at an innovative veterinary centre. We cleaned them from fuel oil with starch, Fairy, washed them, fed them, gave them medicine. We worked three shifts of five hours, washed an average of seven to eight birds,” Alina told Realnoe Vremya.
If the opportunity arises, the activists hope to go again to help. “The atmosphere there can be depressing, but by helping, we feel that we are making our contribution,” our newspaper’s interlocutor explained.
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