Day 4.

Today, the participants of the International Olympiad on Climate Change and Environmental Issues tackled the individual stage of the theoretical round. They had to independently apply their knowledge to solving an environmental problem. The points they earn will determine their places in the individual standings.

Each participant received one out of four tasks which were developed by Sirius’s partners: the Limnological Institute of the RAS (Russian Academy of Sciences) Siberian Branch, the RAS Far Eastern Branch, the Federal Scientific Center for Biodiversity of Terrestrial Biota of East Asia (the RAS Far Eastern Branch), the SIBUR company, and also the Kenozersky National Park.

"All the Olympiad tasks are united by the main theme which is climate change — but they reveal it from different perspectives," said Elizaveta Krestyannikova, a research specialist in the International Research Center for Ecology and Climate Change at the Sirius University of Science and Technology and secretary of the Olympiad jury. "For example, one of the assignments was devoted to producer responsibility for packaging. School students had to analyze the issues of recycling, reuse of materials, and their environmental safety. In another case, the students examined how mercury can serve as an indicator of climate change over the long term and be used for retrospective research. Another task concerned the survival of the Yezo spruce in different landscapes: the participants had to predict how climate change would affect the existence of this plant under various conditions."

At the same time, all the cases are comparable in difficulty and cover related disciplines. As the organizers emphasize, contemporary ecological research requires knowledge from different fields of science.

Ecology is closely connected with mathematical modeling, physical chemistry, and an understanding of the geographical and landscape features of territories. Therefore, the participants are expected to be able to examine an environmental problem from different angles.

"I got a task related to forest protection. I had to propose environmental solutions for protecting forest ecosystems. For me, this was my first environmental Olympiad, but I was able to find a path to solving the problem. I study forests and am interested in the problem of deforestation and the tasks of reforestation. And the case I received is close to my interests," shared Olynn Nokutenda Harare, a participant from Zimbabwe.

Alper Tapky from Uzbekistan is also participating in the IOCE for the first time.

"What attracts me most in ecology is not individual topics, but natural processes. I like studying flowers, animals, and so on. The process itself — the way everything develops. In the theoretical round, I got a task concerning the reuse of materials and their impact on nature, and also touching on the economic side of the issue. To be honest, I handled the theoretical part quite easily and approached the solution confidently," said Alper Tapky from Uzbekistan.

Russian team member Zilya Galieva noted that the Olympiad tasks turned out to be truly fascinating — they allowed participants to look at one problem from different sides and see the challenges associated with it. Zilya received a case devoted to the impact of burning coal — a nonrenewable fossil resource — on the ecosystem of Lake Baikal and the surrounding territories.

"It was very interesting for me to work with such a large and significant ecosystem as Lake Baikal. It is one of the key natural sites of our country. The task consisted of several calculation questions, where it was necessary to use formulas to identify patterns and, on their basis, formulate possible technological solutions capable of favorably influencing the environmental situation," Zilya emphasized.

Two schoolgirls from Myanmar — Thaw Dar Zaw and Thoon Wathan Shin Thant — met in 2024 when they began attending an extracurricular course together, and have since become close friends. For both, participation in the Olympiad is not just a competition.

"We would like our country, our school to be proud of us and our parents too," shares Thaw Dar Zaw.

Here is what Thoon Wathan Shin Thant says about her aspirations:

After an intense competition day, the teams were treated to a creative evening. One of the highlights was a workshop on cooking ‘kurnik', a traditional Russian covered pie.