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

Figure 12.6. 
Boutros 
Boutros-Ghali, Secretary 
General of the UN, 
opens the Conference 
on Environment and 
Develop ment in Rio de 
Janeiro, 1992
Figure 12.7. 
Sustainable 
development of the 
environment, economy 
and the social domain

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294 
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.
 
Š
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.
 
Š
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.
 
Š
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.
 
Š
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:
 
Œ restrict human impact 
on the surrounding 
natural environment 
and prevent further 
over stepping the self‑
regeneration capacity 
of the environment;
 
Œ maximally decrease 
the consumption 
of non‑renewable 
resources and ensure a 
more extensive use of 
renewable resources;
 
Œ safeguard and protect 
nature to ensure 
the preservation of 
biodiversity;
 
Œ promote economic 
development to satisfy 
human needs, improve 
the quality of life and 
ensure fair distribution 
of the world wealth;
 
Œ create a decision‑
making and 
management system 
that is conducive to 
citizens’  partici pation 
in the decision‑making 
process.

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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:
 
Š
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;
 
Š
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.