Grand Prize for Solidarity
In 2024, the efforts of activists from Sakhalin brought a long-awaited result: the territory of the Zhdanko Ridge Park was expanded elevenfold. This decision by the authorities was prompted by the initiative of 29 local residents who, back in 2018, claimed Far Eastern hectares in order to protect the unique nature. On these lands, they cleaned up garbage, held ecological events, and created the community park “Cape Tikhy.” Later, the land was taken away from them — officially due to “lack of development.” But it was precisely their actions that became the basis for officially granting the site protected status. Now deforestation, the use of chemicals, and extraction of natural resources are prohibited here — a victory activists worked toward for six years. Most Popular Petition
In the spring of 2024, residents of Omsk succeeded in canceling the deforestation of the park “30 Years of the Komsomol” — a petition against development was signed by more than 11,000 people. Back in the fall, the city authorities officially designated part of the park as a recreational zone, where any construction is prohibited. However, by that time, three plots of land had already been leased to the company “Kedr,” as well as to deputies of the regional legislature and City Council from “United Russia.” Formally, the leaseholders promised to build sports facilities, but in reality, one plot was built over with a shopping center, the second — passed off an unfinished building as a sports complex, and the third was planned for yet another mall, with 260 trees to be cut down. It was this plot that residents managed to save thanks to a mass protest. Oldest Forest Saved
Residents of the village of Klyuchi-Bulak in Irkutsk Oblast saved 630 hectares of century-old forest, which had been leased by a businessman under the guise of agricultural land. When locals learned about the potential logging, they held gatherings, collected signatures, and sent petitions. Complaints to the Bratsk district administration, environmental prosecutor's office, and Investigative Committee were signed by almost all adult residents of the village — around 800 people. After public attention was raised, police and district administration officials arrived in the forest. Logging stopped. Fastest Prosecutorial Response
At the beginning of 2024, a section of the Tikhvin Forest in Vladivostok was leased to the “Institute of Clothing Modeling.” The company explained that it intended to build a sewing workshop, including for producing clothes for participants in the war in Ukraine. Local residents suspected that logging was planned in the forest. On February 3, they held a protest and filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office. That same day, authorities called reports of development “fake,” and the prosecutor’s office intervened. Soon, the leaseholders themselves gave up the site, asking the authorities to allocate another location. Most Creative Eco-Performance In spring 2024, urbanist Azat Usmanov staged an action on Goncharova Street in Ulyanovsk. Trees had previously been cut down there — according to officials, they “didn’t take root well.” Usmanov painted green squares on the pavement tiles — symbolically bringing the trees back. He called the action “forced greening.” The city administration reported that the paint could not be washed off and promised to sue the activist for 237,000 rubles. Later, they dropped the claim. The action was supported by locals, who also repeated the drawings. In the summer, the authorities dismantled part of the paving and connected tree bases to plant grass. Oldest Preserved Cultural Heritage Site
In the Tatar village of Klyuchishchi, activists succeeded in adding the Naryshkin–Paulucci estate park to the list of protected heritage sites. Back in 2021, an apple orchard on the estate was cut down, prompting local protests. Residents collected over 1,000 signatures and sent dozens of appeals to the prosecutor’s office, the Investigative Committee, and the administrations of Tatarstan and Russia. In 2024, the site received official protected status. Top 3 Fines for Environmental Damage - 805 million rubles — the amount recovered from entrepreneur Denis Topsakhalov from Stavropol Krai for environmental damage. The businessman created an illegal landfill in the village of Sanamer, on land belonging to a sanitary protection zone.
- 8 million rubles — this was the fine for the company “Clean Waters” for polluting the Kamenka River in Tatarstan. The regional Ministry of Natural Resources filed a lawsuit after complaints from local residents.
- 350 thousand rubles — the fine imposed on a waste processing facility in the Moscow region. The court found that it was improperly sorting waste.
| 
