Analyzing The Environmental Protection Competence Of Sverdlovsk Region Officials

The paper presents the results of analyzing objective and subjective indices of environmental protection competence of Sverdlovsk Region officials. The empiric basis of the article was statistical data provided by the Office of the Russian Federal State Statistics Service in the Sverdlovsk and Kurgan Regions specially for this purpose, as well as semiformalized expert interviews with state and municipal officials, carried out in five municipal formations of the Sverdlovsk Region. From analyzing the empiric data, the authors concluded that formal requirements regarding qualification of municipal officials are met, but it cannot ensure efficiency of solving environmental problems on the municipal level. Thus, there is a pronounced deficit of environmental protection competencies. Rich expertise enables municipal officials to perform their duties, but it cannot solve the problem of the insufficient knowledge of environmental protection. Municipal officials overestimate their environmental protection competence and expertise. Though the majority of municipal officials lack the specialized environmental protection education, as well as complete regular further education courses on this subject, specialists from the municipal formation administration consider their qualification high enough and professional experience successful. This means that no strict requirements are set for the competence of municipal authorities, while further education seems to be a formal process. It was shown that the environmental protection issue is not a top-priority for the local administration; administration representatives are barely motivated to be involved in environmental protection, while different officials have different levels of the appropriate competence, depending on their positions. Inevitably, environmental protection capabilities of municipal executive authorities decrease gradually. To improve the environmental protection competence of municipal authorities, educational organizations should focus on designing the innovative and substantial courses, further education, and professional courses, dedicated to environmental protection.