Māris kļaviņŠ, azamat azizov, JĀnis zaļoksnis environment, pollution, development: the case of uzbekistan

Figure 11.6. 
Ozone 
estimated trend in 
MTDM calculated using 
the EMEP model
Note: MTDM – the 
mean of the ten highest 
daily maximum ozone 
concentrations (based on 
hourly mean data) during 
April‑September, corre‑
sponding approximately 
to the mean of the data 
≥ 95 percentile. 

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11. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT: LEGISLATION, POLICIES, INSTITUTIONS
 255
might not be a problem if people need it. Even so, if the noise is 
strong and damages hearing, it is a problem.
People should be interrogated as to what kinds of environ mental 
problems they see and how, in their opinion, these problems should 
be ordered by importance. Such information can be obtained from 
population surveys, by listening to the views of elected deputies and 
by other methods.
Estimations regarding future problems should also be made. 
Some of these problems can affect the entire country, such as a sharp 
increase in packaging material waste due to increased import of 
goods, or growing road traffic intensity due to increasing number of 
cars.
When problems have been identified, an accurate and possibly 
complete database should be created. It should be based on a suitable 
choice of parameters, which can vary in each specific case of local 
environ mental problems. These parameters can be both subjective 
and objective, but, in any case, they must be measurable. Otherwise, 
it will be impossible to determine whether any changes have 
occurred in the environ ment – environ mental quality improvement 
or degradation.
Sometimes the choice of standards can lead to sharp political 
debates. Even if the administration prepares research reports 
and, based on these results, proposes parameters or standards for 
selection, ultimately it is government or municipal council that has 
to take the final decision.
The EU has established a common framework of reference for 
standards. Still, in some cases, standards are also set at a national 
level, and local governments retain the right to use more stringent 
requirements, but not vice versa, i.e. they are not entitled to lower 
the national standard requirements.
Furthermore, when the indicators or parameters have been 
chosen and the corresponding measurements have been performed, 
they need to be assessed in order to understand the environ mental 
situation. If the parameters have corresponding standards, it is 
possible to make comparisons and assess whether a given parameter 
exceeds or does not exceed the standard.
If a problem is detected, it is necessary to study its causes and 
consequences. In many cases, it is obvious that there are a number of 
phenomena which point to existing problems, while in other cases it 
is not so clearly perceivable.
Each problem can have a hierarchical chain of causes, and, in 
case of its successful detection, there is a possibility to detect the 
root causes and deal with them first. If changes are found in the 
natural environ ment of a rural area, for example, some populations 
of species become larger, while some – disappear, the cause could 

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ENVIRONMENT, POLLUTION, DEVELOPMENT:  THE CASE OF UZBEKISTAN
be changes in agricultural activity, which could have been focused 
on more intensive production. This effect, in turn, could have been 
caused by some farm’s decline in income, forcing them to decide 
on a sharp increase in production to at least avoid impairing their 
quality of life. However, the deeper the root cause could be sought 
in the national food price policy and regulations on food product 
import.
If the root causes are discovered, some problems can be easily 
resolved. The situation may be improved – even if slightly – in any 
case. If enough data have been gathered and assessed, a public 
information  material  should  be  prepared  –  a  report  on  environ-
mental situation or a similar document.
At  any  rate,  the  process  should  be  pushed  on,  so  that,  by 
combining the administrative management of the environ mental 
impact assessment with the initiation of practical measures, it would 
be possible to improve environ mental quality. It may later become 
the basis for creating an environ mental monitoring system.