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ENVIRONMENT, POLLUTION, DEVELOPMENT: THE CASE OF UZBEKISTAN
preserving biodiversity and protecting the genetic potential
of species. The ways of carrying
out this task are well known,
for example, the development of alternative energy sources,
recycling of industrial and other waste, development of new,
environment-friendly technologies.
Balanced development of the human-created (anthropogenic)
environment and the natural environment, related to,
for example, the necessity to preserve the productivity of
agricultural lands or optimise the use of urban territories and
traffic flows.
Ensuring the quality of the environment that allows social
development by discontinuing or restricting the processes
that degrade the environment and exert an adverse impact
on the self-regeneration
of ecosystems, and by eliminating
processes that may be hazardous for human health and
lower the quality of life. Besides, it is necessary to restore the
degraded environment at the same time.
Ensuring social equality. Sustainable development cannot
be achieved without ensuring social equality in individual
countries as well as among countries by preventing the
growth of income inequality and ensuring the kind of
development that reduces social inequality.
Social participation in the management of the state and the
environment clearly shows that sustainable development must
enjoy an overall people’s support. Sustainable development
is unattainable without a change in the citizens’ attitude
to consumption and use of resources.
Social transition to
sustainable development can be ensured only if there is a
political commitment and transition from a socio-economic
society based on the overuse of the existing resources
and unequal distribution of benefits to a society based on
social equality, considerate use of resources and efficient
management. It is also clear that such social changes cannot
be achieved by administrative reforms; instead, they must be
introduced and supported by the grass roots. The objective
of sustainable development is to bring about changes in the
people’s attitude to values by ensuring greater participation of
citizens in political decision-making and social management.
Sustainable development can be attained by solving the above
five tasks – implementing social planning within the framework
of market economy without stipulating the instrumental political
system.
Sustainable development is functioning when the aggregate
stocks of the Earth’s capital remain
undiminished or continue
growing.
Sustainable development
goals and principles
have become guidelines
for the adoption of
corresponding decisions
concerning economy,
policy and environment
protection with the aim
to:
restrict human impact
on the surrounding
natural environment
and
prevent further
over stepping the self‑
regeneration capacity
of the environment;
maximally decrease
the consumption
of non‑renewable
resources and ensure a
more extensive use of
renewable resources;
safeguard and protect
nature to ensure
the preservation of
biodiversity;
promote economic
development to satisfy
human needs,
improve
the quality of life and
ensure fair distribution
of the world wealth;
create a decision‑
making and
management system
that is conducive to
citizens’ partici pation
in the decision‑making
process.
12. Sustainable Development
295
Sustainable development involves continuous development and
preservation of all forms of capital, as humanity’s existence and
welfare depend on them now as well as in the future. Since the
Earth’s aggregate capital consists of
the totality of these capitals,
there is a possibility that the aggregate capital stocks can increase
even if one form of capital diminishes. For example, the natural
capital can decrease, while the economic growth may be sufficient to
ensure the growth of the aggregate capital.
This is why the mutual substitution of capital forms can be
described as two approaches to sustainable development:
strong sustainability is achieved if none of the sustainable
development capital forms is depleted. This approach is not
based on the substitution principle and does not admit of
the substitution of the natural capital with the human-made
capital. As a result, the approach creates problems when
the critical limits of the natural capital are determined. The
denial of substitution of capitals, in turn,
creates a situation
when certain forms of capital are endowed with an absolute
value which is higher than that of others;
weak sustainability is based on the assumption that welfare
and sustainability do not depend on a certain form of
capital; instead, it is ensured if the Earth’s aggregate capital
stocks grow. This approach permits the mutual substitution
of different forms of capital. Consequently, it would admit
of logging Brazilian virgin forests to develop green farming
in the vacated territory, or to invest the procured funds
in the development of human capital. In this case, the
problem arises as two incomparable categories – forests
and people – are compared, determining their value and
level of substitution. Weak sustainability is also based on
the
analysis of gains and losses, which admits of mutual
substitution.
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