ENSURING ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY
–
IMPERATIVE OF OUR TIME
According
to international organizations, every year, about 7 million hectares of fertile
land are taken away from the world’s agricultural cycle, and every year 7
million people in the world die from the effects of air pollution. By 2025,
more than half of the world’s population may be deprived of quality water
consumption.
In our
country, serious attention is being paid to creating the conditions for the
population to have a comfortable natural environment, the rational and practical
use of natural resources, and the prevention of emerging environmental
problems.
The
renewed Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, draft of which was highly
discussed, covers issues directed to ease the ecological threats. The number of
articles in it has increased from 128 to 155, and the number of norms has risen
from 275 to 434. That is, the text of our Basic Law increased by almost 65% and
was updated based on the suggestions of our people.
The draft
contains comprehensive measures for environmental protection to be defined in
the Constitution as a necessary condition for improving the population’s
quality of life and health.
In
particular, the Constitution is going to contain the norms stipulating that the
state implements measures to improve, restore and protect the environment,
maintain ecological balance, and create conditions for public control in the
field of urban development activities to ensure the environmental rights of
citizens and prevent harmful effects on the environment.
The vital
amendment to Article 49 of the Constitution gives the population the right to
reliable information about the environment and its condition. It articulates
that the state shall create conditions for public control in urban planning to
ensure citizens‘ environmental rights and prevent harmful effects on the
environment.
It is also
determined that by the principle of sustainable development, the state will
implement measures to improve, restore and protect the environment, maintain
ecological balance, take necessary steps to protect and restore the ecological
system of the Aral Sea region and develop the region socially and economically.
In
conclusion, it should be noted that the importance of these amendments is that,
firstly, the environmental duty of citizens is enshrined at the level of the
Constitution; secondly, these norms of the Constitution will serve to ensure
not only the legal rights and interests of citizens in the field of nature
protection, but also in the field of ecology and environmental protection,
create all the necessary conditions for the population to live in a comfortable
natural environment, use natural resources rationally and efficiently, and
prevent ecological safety problems.
Avazbek
KHOLBEKOV,
Expert of
the Development Strategy Center, Uzbekistan
