Ambassador Sterling hosted an environmental roundtable on Thursday, May 25 that brought together approximately 20 representatives from the Environment Ministry, NGOs, student associations, and businesses. The roundtable gave the Ambassador the chance to formally introduce himself to Slovakia’s main environmental stakeholders. Participants shared their views on what they believe to be Slovakia’s greatest environmental challenges. These included low public awareness about environmental issues, lack of formal environmental education and incentives for students to pursue environmental fields, limited concrete activities related to businesses’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, and the general mindset that “environmental protection is a luxury.” Participants agreed that the best approaches to solve these issues start at the local level and should involve all stakeholders working together to engage civil society by reshaping public messaging on the environment, highlighting success stories, and focusing on regional projects.
