97 percent of the Hungarian public view environmental protection and conservation as priority issues, the Ministry of Rural Development's Minister of State for Environmental Affairs Zoltán Illés said on Friday in Budapest.c

The Minister of State was speaking at the National Museum to mark Earth Day and the opening of the 4th Science Festival, and presented awards honouring individuals who had achieved significant results within the field of environmental protection and conservation.

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Mr. Illés emphasised that even more environmental protection and conservation is required, because environmental and natural pollution does not differentiate between people according to their political view, but does equl harm to everyone.

"For this reason it is the responsibility of all of us that people should protect environmental and natural treasures", he said, adding that without the preservation of the natural requirements for survival there can be no economic growth either.

The Minister of State told Hungarian news agency MTI that Hungary had utilised tens of billion of forints in national resources and hundreds of billions of forints in European Union funding to provide solutions to environmental and conservation issues during the last EU financial period in 2007-2013.

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During the upcoming funding period in 2014-2020, Hungary has available some 10,500 billion forints (EUR 33.8bn) in funding, of which some 800-1000 billion forints (EUR 2.5-3bn) are expected to be available for environmental protection and conservation purposes. As an example, he mentioned that 130 billion forints could be available for dearsenification and improving the quality of drinking water, some 500-600 billion forints will be available for water management projects and a further 100 billion forints are expected to be available for tasks related to waste management.

Managing Director of the National Waste Management Agency Oszkár Vámosi told MTI that science and the issue of environmental protection had been handled together at the event because the two areas are closely linked. Science has taught people that they are very small, while environmental protection has taught people that the planet they are living on is also very small, and accordingly it is expedient to apply a global approach and affect local action with regard to environmental protection issues.

Mr. Vámosi also mentioned that some 4 billion tons of solid municipal waste are currently generated in Hungary each year. Some 1 million tons of this are reused and 600 thousand tons are recycled, while some 400 thousand tons are incinerated. The goal, however, is for all waste generated to be recycled.

At the opening of Earth Day and the 4th Science Festival, head of environmental protection department of the National Institute for Environmental Affairs Antal Vida spoke in memorial of the great Hungarian scholar Otto Herman on the occasion of the new memorial year launched in his honour, and Director of the Science Festival Péter Farkas Zárug explained that the event is important because it aims to popularise science and to present scientific results, knowledge and Hungarian innovations in a way that the public can easily understand.

(MTI)