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

participate  at  the  initial  stage  of  defining  the  problem 
and identifying the possible alternatives. Participation 
facilitates responsibility and motivates people to make their 
contribution towards the implementation of the adopted 
decision. Besides, participation claims the participants’ 
time and interest, openness of the institution involved and, 
as a rule, more time and funds than the accurate hierarchic 
decision-making. The chosen procedure may pose a risk that 
the decision may not comply with the experts’ opinion, while 
the principle of participation commands respect for diverse 
interests and opinions.
Although  there  are  various  basic  principles  of  sustainable 
development, their application adds a practical dimension to 
adopting responsible decisions concerning economy, policy and 
environ mental  protection.
Assessing the implementation of sustainable development, the 
issue of using the concept of sustainable development in countries 
with  different  economic  and  social  regimes  is  particularly 
important. Up to now, the most extensive research pertains 
to the perspectives of sustainable development in industrially 
developed  countries.  Although  the  number  of  such  countries 
is relatively small, their complying with the basic principles 
of sustainable development is particularly topical due to the 
high level of consumption which, in interaction with the free 
market economy and globalisation processes, is, in fact, one of 
the principal causes of global environ mental and development 
problems.  At  the  same  time,  precisely  the  industrially  developed 
countries display the understanding of the necessity of sustainable 
development.  A  strategically  important  trend  of  sustainable 
development in industrially developed countries is the concept 
of  dematerialisation  –  decoupling  economic  development  from 
material consumption or ensuring the growth of well-being against 
the background of diminished needs of material consumption and 
use of resources. The situation in industrially developed countries 
is considerably different from the situation, for example, in Africa, 
most  of  Asia,  in  South  America  as  well  as  in  many  European 
countries. The people’s desire to reach the level of welfare 
of industrially developed countries as fast as possible makes 
the necessity to decouple economic development and material 
consumption even more topical. Even so, sustainable development 
issues in the developing countries are related to the solution of 
the problems caused by the backlash of free market economy and 
globalisation, which cannot be solved locally.

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