Ecology and environmental protection are essential elements of building sustainable development and implementing Agenda 2030, the world development strategy until 2030. Agenda 2030 includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Their implementation requires the involvement of many people with various competencies.

In Poland, a large group of scientists, activists, educators and innovators take action every day to protect the environment of our planet. The ranking list includes Professor Joanna Kostecka from the Faculty of Technology and Life Sciences of our University.

The professor is an active educator. For 28 years, she has been promoting the aforementioned content by running a scientific journal as Editor-in-Chief, since 2015 under the current name Polish Journal for Sustainable Development. She was one of the national experts of the Green Certificate program, participated in international programs: CCN - Consumer Citizenship Network under the auspices of UNESCO and UNEP, and PERL1 and PERL2 - The Partnership for Education and Research about Responsible Living. She was the organizer and co-organizer of numerous scientific conferences and workshops promoting sustainable development at the University of Rzeszów and beyond. She cooperated with numerous secondary schools as part of the District Committee of the Biology Olympiad, and in the 1st high school in Łańcut for over 10 years she participated in the organization of biological and ecological competitions with elements of sustainable development (in cooperation with the District Office in Łańcut). In all these activities, she is supported by her colleagues from the current Department of the Basis of Agriculture and Waste Management; Professor Mariola Garczyńska, Professor Grzegorz Pączka, Dr Anna Mazur-Pączka and Renata Szura, M.Sc. Eng.

Scientifically, she deals with sustainable waste management, with particular emphasis on the biodegradable fraction. She is the author and co-author of nearly 400 scientific and popular publications. She is the President of the Main Board of the Polish Society of Ecological Engineering in the last two terms (2016-2022) and (2022-2026). As part of the Spatial Development Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences, she was a member of the problem team for Sustainable Development 2007-2010 and 2011-2014; the task team for Rural Areas and Landscape in the terms: 2015-2018, 2019-2022 and currently 2022-2026. She works in the Polish Committee for Standardization (commission for waste 1996-1998; commission for soil biology - from 1998 to the present). Her passion is to find an effective way to enable citizens to live a responsible and sustainable lifestyle.

The criteria for the ranking and the list of distinguished can be found at the link below;

https://www.ekologia.pl/wiadomosci/ranking-50-waznych-osob-w-polskiej-ekologii-w-roku-2024/