ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS TO MONITOR THE STATE OF THE ENVIRONMENT IN UZBEKISTAN Khalilulla Sherimbetov, Project Task Manager

In the international Conference “Environment for Europe” in Kiev in May 2003, the environmental ministers of 51 countries (including Uzbekistan) have considered and approved «Guiding principles on preparation of national environmental reports [on state and protection of nature]» prepared by UNECE Working Group on Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Special emphasis in this document was focused upon a selection of the required environmental indicators for an assessment of the state of the environment

The ultimate Project outcome To improve the quality of monitoring of the environmental state for more effective decision-making in the field of nature protection as well as nature resources use, and performance of the nature-conservative measures

The main Project objectives Main objectives 1. Identify representative aspects of the environment & create a core set of indicators adopted for each aspect 2. Develop the monitoring programme for the selected environmental indicators 3. Develop the environ- mental indicators database (EID) to process, store and retrieve data 4. Design and develop a software for the EID management

Expected outputs An effective system of indicators created for assessment of environment quality and nature resources use and development of the environmental monitoring system on this base. Database developed and updated on a regular basis in accordance with signed agreements between Goskompriroda and generators/owners of desirable ecological data. Data are being managed effectively in order to produce the products required by decision-makers and other clients. Good level of awareness by the clients achieved about the availability of such tool to increase effectiveness of their decision-making and other activities to reduce negative consequences for environment. Improved public awareness and sensitivity on the issues of the protection of environment.

Usage of the Project outputs The environmental indicators database can be used by interested ministries and other organizations responsible for protection of the environment and nature resources use for the following:  preparation of the State of Environment Reports as well as other reports on nature protection and nature resources use;  fulfillment of obligations of the Republic of Uzbekistan on various international environmental conventions;  development and realization of measures for protection of environment;  Economic and social development planning and other strategic areas to provide a sustainable development of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Creating of the national environmental indicators of the Republic of Uzbekistan  Key objective of the environmental indicators system designed for Uzbekistan is to establish a single national policy of the state of environmental monitoring, improving efficiency of relevant activities and environmental decision making, and rational management of national natural resources.  The Republic of Uzbekistan is a participant of the UNECE programme “Environment for Europe”.  Therefore, when selecting indicators, mainly, were only applied the criteria used by the UNECE and EAOC experts for the EECCA countries.

Criteria for the selection of the main core set of indicators: Linkage with country environmental priorities Linkage with international environmental policy Importance as a mean of communications and for informing public on the current state of the environment Measurability Availability of historical series of data (regular data flow) Predictability Reliability

The core set of the national environmental indicators In total 91 indicators were selected of which 68 indicators are from the international list of the EECCA countries and 23 indicators describe the specific environment of Uzbekistan

The selected indicators were grouped according to the following priority environmental problems and economy sectors: Atmospheric air – 20 Water resources – 25 Land resources – 14 Biological resources – 6 Waste – 9 Climate change – 6 Energy – 4 Taking into account the country specifics for Uzbekistan the list of indicators was supplemented with two sections related to Aral Sea and public health: Aral sea - 2 Public health - 5

Introduction of every indicator is time bound and it is agreed with the potential responsible party: short-term indicators to be introduced as of 2005; midterm indicators to be introduced as of ; long-term indicators to be introduced after 2010.

THE CORE SET OF ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS OFFERED BY UNECE AND USED FOR UZBEKISTAN Atmosphere air pollution 1.Total emission of acidifying pollutants (SO 2, NOx) from non-mobile and mobile sources (total and by sectors) 2.SO 2 emissions, related to power generation 3.NО х emissions, related to power generation 4.SO 2 emissions from non-mobile and mobile sources (total and break-down by sectors) 5.Particulate matter emissions, related to power generation 6.NH 3 emissions (total and break-down by sectors) 7.NOx emissions from non-mobile and mobile sources (total and by sectors) 8.NOx, СО emissions from mobile sources 9.Particulate matter emissions from non-mobile and mobile sources (total and break-down by sectors) 10.NОx emissions intensity, related to power generation 11.SO 2 emissions intensity, related to power generation (Tons/KW per hour)

THE CORE SET OF ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS OFFERED BY UNECE AND USED FOR UZBEKISTAN Atmosphere 12.Number of days when NO 2 concentration in urban areas is above the maximum allowed concentration (regular/routine observations) 13.Number of days when particulate matter concentration in urban areas is above the maximum allowed concentration (regular/routine observations) 14.Number of days when CO concentration in urban areas is above the maximum allowed concentration (regular/routine observations) 15.Number of days when SO 2 concentration in urban areas is above the maximum allowed concentration (regular/routine observations) 16.Urban population exposed to air quality axcceedances (e.g. multiplicity maximum allowed concentrations or air pollution index) 17.Efficacy of measures aimed at SO 2 and NOx emissions abatement

THE CORE SET OF ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS OFFERED BY UNECE AND USED FOR UZBEKISTAN 18.Consumption of Ozone Depletion Substances (ODS), taking into account Ozone Depletion Capacity (ODC) 19.Precipitation 20.Snow cover 21.Emissions of greenhouse gases and comparative analysis with target indicators, provided that any are available 22.Projected emissions of greenhouse gases by 2010 and comparative analysis with target indicators, provided that any are available 23.River Flow Deficit Index 24.Water level change (Aral sea) Climate change

THE CORE SET OF ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS OFFERED BY UNECE AND USED FOR UZBEKISTAN Water resources 25.Total water consumption (including all types of users) 26.Fresh water resources (surface and underground) 27.Utilities water consumption 28.Total integral water abstraction (surface and underground water) 29.Agriculture water consumption 30.(Index) of household drinking water consumption per capita 31.Total volume of water resources in water reservoirs 32.Industry water consumption 33.Irreversible water loses (in agriculture) 34.Proportion of reused water

THE CORE SET OF ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS OFFERED BY UNECE AND USED FOR UZBEKISTAN Water resources 35.Quality of drinking water (proportion of samples non-compliant with standard) 36.Organic matters discharge according to the Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) 37.BOD and ammonia nitrogen in surface water 38.Nutrients in surface waters (nitrates and phosphates) 39.Nutrients discharge from urban sewerage treatment facilities (nitrates and phosphates) 40.Proportion of urban raw sewerage in total urban water discharge 41.Nitrates concentration in underground waters 42.Industrial discharge of hazardous substances 43.Hazardous substances concentration in surface waters 44.Pesticides concentration in underground waters 45.Other hazardous substances concentration in underground waters 46.Water Pollution Index (WPI) classification

THE CORE SET OF ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS OFFERED BY UNECE AND USED FOR UZBEKISTAN Land 47.Soil pollution by pesticides 48.Proportion of agricultural land affected by wind and water erosion 49.Agriculture land cover change 50.Mineral fertilizer use 51.Pesticides use Biodiversity 52.Total amount of protected natural zones 53.Natural forests area 54.Proportion of endangered species of animals listed in the Red Book 55.Endangered species of plants listed in the Red Book

THE CORE SET OF ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS OFFERED BY UNECE AND USED FOR UZBEKISTAN Energy 56.Total energy consumption by type of fuel 57.Total power intensity (specific power consumption per Gross Domestic Product GDP) 58.Renewable energy consumption 59.Power generated from renewable energy sources Waste 60.Total amount of generated waste 61.Toxic hazardous waste generation 62.Industrial waste generation 63.Cross-border transportation of hazardous waste 64.Total waste disposal 65.Waste generation intensity (total amount waste per GDP) 66.Household waste generation 67.Waste recycling 68.Waste recycling output capacity

THE ADDITIONAL CORE SET OF ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS FOR UZBEKISTAN 1.Total gross emission of pollutants including: non-mobile sources, mobile sources 2.Pollutant emission per capita (regular/ routine observations in towns) 3.Atmospheric pollution in urban ( Atmospheric Pollution Index) Atmosphere Climate change 4.Temperature deviation from climate baseline norm ( )

THE ADDITIONAL CORE SET OF ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS FOR UZBEKISTAN 5.Approved amount of underground water available for consumption 6.Underground Water Pollution Index (UWPI) 7.Total agricultural land (including homestead and irrigated land) 8.Irrigated land used for sowing 9.Cotton crops capacity 10.Compliance of crop rotation on irrigated land for land reclamation 11.Quality of irrigated arable land 12.Land subjected to under flooding 13.Irrigated land salinization 14.Pasture overgrazing 15.Land radiation pollution Water resources Land

THE ADDITIONAL CORE SET OF ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS FOR UZBEKISTAN 16.Total forestry fund land area covered by forest 17.Protective afforestation coverage 18.Afforested dried seabed area Aral sea Biodiversity Public health 19.Population morbidity 20.Population mortality 21.Morbidity rate for children under the age of Infant mortality (for children under the age of 1) 23.Non compliance of foodstuffs and raw food materials with sanitation requirements SanPin N , N

Methodology and scheme A special methodology for defining the core set of environmental indicators as well as the description scheme for each of the selected indicators were presented by the UN Commission on Sustainable Development in its “Indicators of Sustainable Development: Guidelines and Methodologies", United Nations, New York, On this basis the following description scheme of the ecological indicators for Uzbekistan was developed: 1.Title 2.Brief definition 3.Unit of measurement 4.Purposes and usefulness in decision-making, including the indicator role in DPSIR framework 5.International conventions and agreements in the area, if available 6.International and national target indictors, issue-specific standards and normatives, if available 7.Framework 8.Measurement methods 9.Requirements to monitoring and data collection 10.Difficulties and limitations 11.Reference to national and international databases, if available 12.Reference materials 13.References corresponding publications This scheme is a basis for the development of the document “Guideline principles for the application of the environmental indicators in Uzbekistan”

All selected indicators enable to perform environmental assessment and observe its dynamics when monitoring the environment not only at regional and national level but, and this is very important, at local level. Tracing the environmental situation at local level facilitates a more reliable identification of the specific sectors where the most critical environmental situation lies, allowing the drafting of targeted action plans for its stabilization. The proposed environmental indicators are the fundamental basis underpinning environmental assessment, environmental policy and decision making in Uzbekistan. It is also possible to introduce changes and additions during environmental monitoring, with the purpose of dynamic and continuous improvement of the system.

Environmental Information Sharing Dataset B Dataset C Dataset D Dataset A Dataset N Environmental Information Portal Users  LAN Intranet Internet Data Providers Examples: the UNEP Geodata Portal ( the FAO GeoNetwork (

Users Concept of the Uzbekistan EIS Data providers Environmental Indicators for Uzbekistan (91) Themes: Atmosphere, Freshwater, Land, Biodiversity, Waste Energy, Aral Sea, Climate Change, and Public Health Goskompriroda and UNDP Environment Programme Search and query by: 1.Keyword 2.Environmental theme 3.Environmental Indicator 4.Time 5.Place Web site ( Environmental Indicators Database Output options: Table and Graph reports

Search Flow Mechanism Keyword* Dataset Time Output options Simple search by keyword (e.g. air, CO 2 emissions, water) *Advanced search allows searching for keyword, environmental theme, environmental indicator, time, place. List of matching datasets: the search is narrowed down to a dataset (single or aggregated). Search is narrowed down according by time: single time unit (e.g. year) or time range (e.g. 1991, 1992 or 1990 to 2000). Data display is available in a number of formats: interactive table display, interactive graphic display, data download. Search refine is also possible Data search range

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