ИСТИНА

Environmental problems are negative factors from the position of commitment to sustainable development, because they have a direct impact on the quality of life and well-being of the population. For Russia with its vast size of the territory the development of effective strategies on the issues of interaction between nature and society is possible only with the right approach to informing the public about the existing problems of the natural environment, occurring in different regions of the country. Improving the quality of mass awareness of Russians about the environmental challenges and consequences of natural disasters occurring in different parts of the country, is an important task of the state on the path to sustainable development. The purpose of this study is the analysis and mapping of data on the number of news on the theme of ecology and natural resources of Russia’s regions by “RIA Novosti” agency. The study identified some geographical features of mass awareness of Russians about events in the field of ecology and environmental management. Regions-leaders by the number of news on natural environmental themes have been identified. Also on the example of wildfires conclusions are made about the disparity between the number of media stories with real fire hazard in the regions. A lot more subjective and objective factors, many of which cannot be assessed statistically, impact on the mentioning of region in the media. Maps and databases obtained in the research, can be used for optimization of environmental information policy of the country and regions in the framework of the concept of transition to sustainable development.