ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS IN THE CENTRAL ASIAN REGION

 

Done by: Zenfira Djafarova

 

The international community long ago recognized the status and inviolability of a human being's rights not only for life, but also for the normal environmental conditions that are necessary for an adequate and healthy way of living.

And in my opinion the problems of ecological safety and environmental protection deserve special attention.

This problem has become more acute in recent years. As a result of the chaotic transition of some of the CIS countries to a market economy, and the loss of management and control of the overuse of natural and raw material resources, they began to be plundered, extracted predatorily and exported at low prices, and turned out to be a source of super-profits for individual 'nouveaux riches' and for entire corrupt groups, who sacrifice the ecological safety and the health and wealth of present and the future generations for their greedy interests. Shamelessly, huge material resources, a unique patrimony of mankind, are being plundered and exterminated, causing enormous damage to the whole environment and affecting the climate; and, what is more important, the natural conditions of life and activity for successive generations are being deformed.

To stand idly by, to be impartial, means to be condemned to extinction. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who are too careless, too irresponsible about this problem,

The problem of ecological security long ago surpassed national and regional limits and became a global problem for mankind. Nature and man interact on the basis of certain laws; infringement of these laws leads to irreversible ecological disasters.

The issue of ecology is a topical one in all countries of the world, in all parts of the earth; the degree of its acuteness varies from country to country and from world region to world region.

We must regretfully say that the Central Asian region represents one of the most dangerous areas of ecological disaster. The cumulative result of having ignored this problem over many decades underlines the complexity of the situation. Practically all spheres of human habitat and activity in the region are jeopardized by the risk of ecological disaster. We have learned to our cost that nature does not tolerate presumptuous mistreatment, Nature forgives nothing.

The false dogma of socialist ideology stipulating that man is master of nature has turned out to be, particularly in the Central Asian region, a tragedy for many people. It has put entire populations and nations on the brink of extinction, and of the disappearance of their unique genetic make-up.

Uzbekistan itself has not escaped the influence of these processes. According to some researchers, an extremely complicated and even dangerous situation exists in this country. What does it consist of ?

Firstly, the threat of a scarcity of usable land and its low quality is an increasing cause of concern. In Central Asia land is an invaluable treasure: it literally feeds, clothes and creates a material basis for the well-being not only of families directly related to agricultural production, but also of the entire population of the Republic where all branches of the economy are closely linked with the land, and benefit from its generous fruits. At the same time land is not only an enormous patrimony, but also a factor affecting the country's future. This is particularly relevant for Uzbekistan where economic and demographic pressure on the land is growing year by year.

As a result of all this, the recovery of the land and the implementation of a broad set of measures targeting a reduction in polluted soil is a task of paramount importance in the environmental protection of Uzbekistan. Radical improvement in the use of natural resources is the main task of the day.

Secondly, the acute shortage of water resources and their contamination, both surface and underground, cause great anxiety in Uzbekistan from the point of view of ecological security. Rivers, canals and water reservoirs of the Republic and even underground waters are subjected to various man-made effects.

In arid areas water is an invaluable gift of nature. All of life depends on water: life comes to a halt where water has gone.

Yet water resources in Central Asia are extremely limited. The major waterways are the Amu-Darya river with an annua1 capacity of 78 cubic kilometers and the Syr-Darya river with 36 cubic kilometers.

Nowadays all the water resources of the Aral Sea basin are fully consumed by the national economy.

As the watershed is mostly located in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and most water resources are used for irrigation by all Central Asian republics, the problem of the joint and coordinated management of the limited water resources of the Aral Sea basin in the interests of all the states of the region and in line with ecological requirements to provide water to the rivers' delta and the Aral Sea in order to create acceptable living conditions there is acute and demands a constructive solution.

Another important problem of the region is connected with the need to implement a set of measures aimed at water protection and water saving through closer linkage of the irrigation network performance with irrigation techniques in order to minimize losses of water. It will be necessary to regulate the flowing of collector drainage waters and to stop completely the residual waters flowing to the rivers and reservoirs.

Thirdly, the disappearance of the Aral Sea has become the most acute ecological problem, and a national disaster. The roots of the Aral Sea problem date back far into the past, but the scope of it has expanded over the last decades. The intensive construction of irrigation systems all over the territory of Central Asia, apart from giving water to many settlements and industrial sites, was the cause of a global catastrophe: the drying out of the Aral Sea. Not long ago triumphant trumpets celebrated the increase in new irrigated land reclaimed from deserts. This irrigation water was taken from the Aral, and it was 'forgotten' that this was 'drained blood' from this sea. Today, the Aral Sea area is a zone of ecological disaster.

The Aral crisis is one of the biggest ecological and human catastrophes in recorded history and affects approximately 35 million people who live in the sea basin. Over a 20 - 25 year period we are witnessing the disappearance of one of the biggest exclusive water reservoirs in the world, Never before has such a case been witnessed in history: in the lifetime of only one generation, the death of a whole sea.

Fourthly, air pollution is also a threat to ecological security in the Republic of Uzbekistan and in the Central Asian region.

All these environmental problems could be written not only in one book but in many ones.