"To preserve in perpetuity": environment initiatives in the southern Russia in 1914-1920

The article reveals the environmental activities of scientific societies of the multinational South of Russia in the conditions of the First World War, the Revolution of 1917 and the Civil War. The author, based on the data of central and regional archives and information from periodicals, considers the initiatives of scientists as an answer to the challenges of the time. It is shown that natural-science associations and individual scientists resisted destructive tendencies in the field of nature management, which became especially pronounced after February 1917 and during the Civil War. The problem of nature conservation at that time was closely linked with the development of nature excursions, educational tasks. It is noted that the mass migration of scientists to the South from the revolutionary capitals contributed to the detailing of the old and the birth of new projects as well as the actualization of environmental discourse. Particular attention is paid to the projects of creating new protected areas in the South of Russia.