Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) - President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a meeting on improving the environmental protection system and waste management.

At a meeting held in a critical spirit, the implementation of the Environmental Protection Concept of the Republic of Uzbekistan until 2030 and the Strategy for Solid Waste Management in the Republic of Uzbekistan for the period 2019-2028 was considered unsatisfactory.

In particular, environmental impact factors remain. A large volume of emissions of pollutants into the atomic sphere is observed. Damage to fauna and flora.

More than 7 million tons of household waste is generated annually, of which only 19 percent is recycled. The private sector is practically not involved in this process. Sanitation services are not available in all mahallas. Waste is increasing as a result of the expansion of construction and production.

The meeting indicated the need to ensure by 2021 full coverage of the population with sanitation services and bringing 221 waste landfills in line with sanitary and environmental requirements.

The Ministry of Construction, the State Committee for Ecology and Environmental Protection was instructed to commission this year in Tashkent, Samarkand and Andijan regions, and subsequently in other regions of the country landfills for construction waste and processing facilities.

Suggestions were made to expand the area of protected natural areas, to increase responsibility for catching Red Book animals.

As you know, a presidential decree introduced a moratorium on cutting down valuable species of trees and shrubs that are not part of the state forest fund. However, with the connivance of local leaders, individual cases of damage to the plant world are recorded. The Prosecutor General’s Office was entrusted with taking strict control over the activities of the khokims on this issue and ensuring the inevitability of responsibility.

The state of affairs in the field of compliance with environmental standards at work is analyzed.

It is indicated that 65 percent of the equipment of laboratories of the Goskomekologiya is outdated. In the total amount of pollutant emissions into the atmosphere, 60 percent is accounted for by the fuel and energy and 20 percent from the mining and metallurgical industries.

In this regard, instructions were given to stimulate industrial enterprises using environmental technologies and to establish production of dust and gas traps.

The personnel policy in the sphere has also been sharply criticized. In particular, there are not enough qualified specialists, research work, there are no environmental faculties in universities. The importance of allocating research grants, advanced training of researchers abroad, the introduction of innovative technologies and ideas was emphasized.

Responsible persons provided information on the issues discussed at the meeting.