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

 12.2. 
 Concept of sustainable development
Today the concept of sustainable development is not just an 
opinion on how humanity as such and also each community and 
society should develop; it is principally a set of opinions about 
the model of a society that can ensure its own existence. The 
concept of sustainable development includes physical conditions, 
political conceptions, the notions of the quality of life or welfare 

---

12. Sustainable Development
 289
and an optimised influence on the environ ment to ensure that the 
resources are equally accessible to all generations. The concept of 
sustainable development is based on the understanding of three 
notions: development, needs of society and needs of the future 
generations. Within the concept of sustainable development, the 
notion ‘development’ includes not only growth (of production, 
gross national product, welfare) but also the development of social 
and economic spheres that guarantees the preservation of natural 
ecosystems and the human living environ ment. Thus, the concept 
of sustainable development not only looks at short-term processes 
(to satisfy the current needs) but also aims at ensuring equal 
possibilities for the next generation.
A society that would exist eternally could be deemed sustainable. 
With this perspective, the concept of sustainable development is a 
frame of reference that aims at influencing the future of humanity 
and the existence of society. So far, social development models have 
been unsuccessful and have proved either their obvious inability to 
ensure social development, or they have not managed to take into 
account essential differences between various regions of the world. 
Re-evaluation of social development conceptions largely depends 
on understanding the impact of social development on the environ-
ment and the urgency of environ mental protection. Many arguments 
support the necessity to re-evaluate the models that have been 
practiced up to now.
 
Š
Development, especially in Western societies, is understood 
as human domination over nature (illustrated by the phrase 
‘man – the crown of creation’) and the use of its resources for 
the development of production. This attitude ignores the role 
of nature and ecosystems in providing for the development of 
humanity; it also ignores the value of nature per se and that 
other forms of life and living organisms may have needs and, 
most importantly, a right to exist. 
 
Š
The main priorities in the development model that dominates 
in Western societies is economic growth and consumption, 
the latter being the principal parameter of an individual 
person’s and humanity’s welfare. In conformity with this 
concept,  social  welfare  is  the  standard  of  life  –  the  part  of 
income that is used to purchase goods and services. This 
model of development, based on individual consumption, 
eventually leads to huge inequality in terms of income and 
welfare even within a single country (especially because of 
the cyclic nature of free market economy), to say nothing of 
the arising differences between different regions of the world. 
The  inevitable  differences  of  such  welfare  model  result  in 
social tension, military conflicts and social instability.

---

290 
ENVIRONMENT, POLLUTION, DEVELOPMENT:  THE CASE OF UZBEKISTAN
 
Š
The consumer society’s development based on the increase in 
resources unavoidably leads to the increase in consumption 
and industrial waste (pollution) and depletion of resources. 
Due to the growth of production and increase in consumption, 
the nature of environmental problems over the last decades 
has changed.
 
Œ
Environmental  pollution  sources  –  point  or  non-point. In 
the past, point sources of pollution were common, for 
example, pollutant discharge into the air or water from 
a plant, leakage of hazardous substances as a result of 
an  accident  or  from  a  landfill.  Gradually,  the  harmful 
influence on the environment became less concentrated, 
and non-point sources of pollution started dominating, 
such as agricultural runoff of nutrients, domestic use of 
chemicals, pollution arising from automobile exhausts. 
The consequences of point source pollution can be tackled 
by restrictive measures; dealing with the problems 
created by non-point sources is much more complicated 
and takes more time to achieve positive result.
 
Œ
Scale of environmental problems – local, regional or global. 
Until quite recently, pollution was of a local nature, 
usually around the point source of pollution. Later on, 
it transpired that pollution can impact regions, crossing 
the borders of countries, for example, acid rains and 
eutrophication. At present the most topical environmental 
problems are of a global scale. The larger the scale of the 
problem, the more difficult it is to tackle it, as it requires 
international cooperation.
 
Œ
Duration  of  environmental  problems  –  short-term  or 
long-term. In many cases the harmful impact on the 
environment is short-term if the activity of the source 
is limited in time. Such were the cases of air pollution 
from district heating plants or water pollution from small 
inhabited places. Currently, most of the environmental 
problems are long-term; they do not disappear 
immediately even after the source is liquidated. Persistent 
organic compounds, compounds of heavy metals or 
radioactive  contamination  can  affect  the  environment 
long after the pollution has stopped. An example of this 
is the eutrophication of the Baltic Sea, the reduction 
of which is going to take several decades, even if the 
nutrient release were totally stopped.
 
Œ
Complexity  level  of  environmental  problems  –  simple  or 
complex. Many environmental problems are becoming 
more  and  more  complex.  A  single  enterprise  may  use 

---

12. Sustainable Development
 291
hundreds of various chemical substances and many of 
them can be environmentally persistent. Also, consumer 
goods  can  affect  the  environment  in  more  ways  than 
one. Not just various substances, even different sectors of 
industry, have a synergistic influence on the environment. 
The more complex the environmental problem is, the 
more complicated it is to understand and tackle it.
 
Š
The consumer society’s model of development ignores the fact 
that it is unviable to globally sustain the type of production 
which consumes resources and degrades the environment 
and which ensures the lifestyle of the world’s most developed 
countries. Already now, when the desirable consumption level 
has been attained in a relatively small number of the world 
countries, all the ecosystems of the planet cannot absorb 
the human-created pollution, like in the case of greenhouse 
gas emissions causing climate change. It is obvious that 
the  Earth’s  resources  are  insufficient  to  ensure  the  existing 
consumption  level  in  West  European  and  North  American 
countries over a long period of time, not to speak of ensuring 
such a volume of consumption for all people in the world. 
Similarly, the consumption rate increase is unviable in the 
future, even if we do not take the technological progress into 
account.
 
Š
The understanding of the character of the development of 
the so-far existing Western societies was based on the idea of 
limitless development and growth. Now we have to admit that 
there are limits to economic growth. They are determined by 
the planet’s carrying capacity, accessibility of resources whose 
amount is limited, and the capacity of the planet’s ecosystems 
to  absorb  pollution.  Although  technological  progress  can, 
undoubtedly,  increase  the  efficiency  of  how  resources  are 
used, it is impossible to overcome these development limits. 
Hence, the development of humanity must guarantee a 
balance between the planet’s ability to sustain human 
existence and the desired lifestyle.