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

 10.5. 
 Development of international cooperation
Policy  of  environ mental  protection  (at  least  in  its  first  stages) 
has  been  directed  towards  specific  events.  It  is  easy  to  attract 
the attention of the public by pointing out obvious and easily 
comprehensible problems such as acid rains, seal hunting in order 
to obtain furs and pollution caused by pesticides. However, when it 
comes to problems that become evident after a longer period of time, 
such as the global changes of temperature, expansion of deserts and 
depletion  of  biological  diversity,  it  is  considerably  more  difficult. 
The point of view of scientists regarding critical and problematic 
issues does not always coincide with that of the governments and 
international organisations.

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10. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
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For a government, an issue becomes critical only when it has 
attracted the attention of a great part of the public, its more promi-
nent members, or when the attention of the mass media has also 
been attracted. That is why the international policy of environ mental 
protection is concerned both with the growth of the movement of 
environ mental protection and the development of scientific thought 
regarding important ecological processes. The 20
th
 century has seen 
the most achievements of this kind.
In international political relations, the emergence of environ-
mental protection issues as problems can be divided into four 
phases. The first phase began in the 19
th
 century with the signing 
of  bilateral  fishery  agreements  and  ended  in  1945  when  new 
international organisations were established. The second phase 
began with the foundation of the United Nations and reached its 
peak during the United Nations Conference on the Human Environ-
ment in Stockholm, 1972; the development and establishment of the 
movement of environ mental protection took place during this phase. 
The third phase (1972-1992) witnessed an explosion of new environ-
mental protection institutions and agreements. The fourth phase 
began with the United Nations Conference on the Environ ment and 
Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The last phase is markedly 
characterised by integration of environ mental issues in nearly all 
public and private spheres, and the impact of these issues on the 
activities of the humankind.