Socio-Ecological Union (SEU), Russia

The Socio-Ecological Union (SEU) serves as an umbrella group for over 250 independent non-governmental organisations and groups from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tadjikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and the United States of America.

The organisation of the Socio-Ecological Union, is aimed at maximising the "cooperation of the intellectual potential, material and financial means, and organisational possibilities of the Union's members for the preservation of nature and the protection of living beings; for the protection and revival of mankind's natural and cultural heritage; for the protection of human's physical and mental health; and for guaranteeing a safe environment and sustainable development."

The SEU was established in 1988 as a voluntary association of environmental groups active at regional, city, and district levels, and of various legal status's. These groups are extremely diverse, from teams of radical environmental activists to associations of environmentally-minded officials; from nature-clubs for school children to independent research laboratories; from societies of victims of radioactive pollution to conservation organisations planning national parks. The members are united by devotion to practical environmental action, a spirit of openness, cooperation and freedom of information, and the deep belief that we have one planet and the environment cannot be divided by national borders.

The Socio-Ecological Union operates without a vertical administrative structure. Its associated members are organisationally and financially independent. There are no membership fees. The supreme body of SEU is the Conference. A council, elected at the annual conferences, is not a governing body, but an assembly of persons entrusted to represent the SEU and act on behalf of the SEU in between conference gatherings. The SEU operates a centre for Coordination and Information in Moscow which collects and disseminates information and coordinates working groups. A number of centres have been organised around specific topics such as biodiversity and nuclear ecology.

The SEU's activities include:

Environmental monitoring:
- Radiological monitoring in regions surrounding military plants and cities;
- Dioxin-pollution monitoring in regions surrounding paper-plants, and chemical-pollution monitoring in several regions of Russia and Uzbekistan; and
- Monitoring the management of boreal forests by Russian and multinational timber companies;
Protection of biological diversity and the management of protected areas:
- A Bio-diversity Conservation Centre (BCC) programme was designed to facilitate long-term survival of nature reserves in the CIS countries;
- The first private nature reserve was established in Amur region to save nesting habitat of rare crane species; and
- Designated and established many protected areas.
Non-governmental environmental-impact assessments of several energy projects were managed by SEU experts.
The SEU is also active in environmental education, sustainable development issues, environmental aspects of local self-government, development of new environmentally sound technologies, and military conversion issues, among others.