Ministry of Natural Resources has been renamed to the Ministry of Ecology, Environment and Climate Change with an aim to address environmental problems in Uzbekistan. The decree to this effect was signed by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on May 31.
Minister Aziz Abdukhakimov said in an interview with Gazeta.uz that serious environmental problems were caused by the inattention of the governors, heads of environmental and police departments. Numerous violations occur, among other things, due to insufficient powers of nature conservation authorities.
He noted that in recent years, Uzbekistan’s ranking in freedom of economic activity, human well-being or tourism had been rising, but in the Well-Being Index for 2022, the environmental situation in the country is one of the worst in the world.
The presidential decree says that in the provinces of Uzbekistan, especially in cities, the situation with air pollution is deteriorating even further, systemic work has not been organized to reduce the load of emissions into the atmosphere.
“The increase in cases of uncontrolled and unsystematic livestock grazing in protected natural areas, the use of groundwater without scientific justification leads to disruption of ecosystems, increased degradation and desertification of large areas of land, as a result, the impact of climate change is increasing, and there is a threat to human life and health,” it says. in the document.
According to official data, in 2022, a total of 27 cases of environmental offenses were prosecuted, and they were punished only in the form of light financial penalties.
The state of affair of waste landfills continues to fail to meet environmental and sanitary requirements, the delay in the introduction of waste processing and disposal technologies poses a threat of their transformation into a problem at the level of an environmental catastrophe in the future, the adopted document noted.
By presidential decree, the reformed ministry, together with the Prosecutor General's Office and the Interior Ministry, must submit draft documents to the government on tougher punishment for environmental violations and cruelty to animals by July 1. They should provide:
Previously, the verification of enterprises was equated to the verification of business activity. It had to be coordinated with officials and government agencies. This measure was introduced in 2018 to give businesses more freedom. However, as a result, employees of the ecology system often could not enter the territory of enterprises in order to check compliance with legislation in the field of nature protection and ecology. This enabled businesses to break the laws with impunity.
In addition, the “Public Environmental Controller” system will be introduced from July 1. Caring citizens can become them, said Aziz Abdukhakimov. Controllers will receive uniforms and certificates. If environmental violations are detected, they will be able to draw them up and enter them into a special platform. Controllers will also be able to receive free education and advanced training for their activities.
Public controllers, when they pay social tax to the Pension Fund in the amount of 50% of the BRF, are subject to the procedure for calculating the length of service necessary for calculating a pension, established for self-employed persons.
The presidential decree also introduced the position of Deputy Prosecutor General, responsible for the legislation in the field of ecology, environmental protection and forestry. Department for Supervision of the Execution of Legislation in the Field of Ecology, Environmental Protection and Forestry is being created within the structure of the Prosecutor General's Office. The new department will involve 77 staff positions, which are allocated due to the optimization of the staff of the system of the Ministry of Ecology.
