Since the early 1990s positive trends have been observed in demographic processes in Uzbekistan. The death and birth rates are declining, as is the natural population growth. The total death and birth rates for the past seven years (1990-1996) fell by 0.3 and 5.4 per cent respectively. The current demographic situation has emerged against a background in which the economic decline is being checked, the structural transformations in the economy continued, the macroeconomic stabilization consolidated, and the market reforms developed. In 1985-1986 life expectancy was 68.2 years, in 1990 69.3 years, and in 1994 70.4 years. For the same years this indicator for men and women respectively was 65.1 and 71, 66.1 and 72.4, and 68 and 72.5. Thus by 1994 life expectancy had increased by 2.2 years in comparison with 1985-1986.

Recent years have seen improvements in the indicators of infant mortality. The mortality rate among children aged under one year fell to 22.2 per 1,000 as against 26 per 1,000 in 1995 and 35.1 per 1,000 in 1991. However, the infant mortality rate is still high in comparison with the developed countries of the world.

1. Decision-making structure: The Ministry of Labour is preparing and implementing measures to achieve the basic goals of social and demographic policy. The Ministry of Macroeconomics and Statistics prepares for the Government quarterly reports on the country's socio-economic development which, together with other aspects of social development, reflect the current position and the trends of demographic change and contain proposals for the solution of population problems.

2. Capacity-building/technology issues: No information.

3. Major groups: The Ministry of Macroeconomics and Statistics and the Ministry of Labour coordinate the work of the relevant ministries, offices and local authorities on the fundamental problems of the demographic development of Uzbekistan.

4. Finance: The State budget and the Employment Fund.

5. Regional/international cooperation: The Ministry of Labour, in conjunction with the Ministry of Macroeconomics and Statistics, acts as the lead agency for Uzbekistan's participation in international organizations dealing with population questions and coordinates the work of the regions on their demographic development.

The Government has a fundamental task in the period of socio-economic transformation - to maintain the established level of medical care and provide the guaranteed volume and quality of medical services for the people, and to prevent the spread of infectious diseases and any further increase in the mortality rate among vulnerable population groups - children, mothers and old people.

In the light of the fundamental goals of ensuring justice in the provision of health care, prolonging worthwhile life, and reducing premature death, disease and disability, the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan has carried out a reform of the health system with the basic aim of creating a sound network of health care with guaranteed access and high standards of medical care for the country's population.

The principles of the concept of reform of the health system are:
- Review of the network and structure of health institutions at all levels;
- Protection of the health of mothers and children;
- Review of the principles for financing the health sector, with a shift from the hospital bed as the funding unit to funding per inhabitant on a long-term basis;
- Consolidation of prophylactic health services, with increased out-patient and polyclinic services and the establishment of new forms of provision of medical care: daily home visits, ambulatory surgery facilities, specialized out-patient clinics, local health posts, etc.
In 1991-1996 hospital beds which were being used inefficiently were taken out of service (90,000 beds or 40 per cent of the total). It was thus possible to create better conditions for the treatment of in-patients and to increase the efficiency of hospital use. As a result resources were redistributed, with priority given to out-patient services, which offer greater possibilities of prophylactic treatment and rehabilitation of patients.
Expensive in-patient treatment has been replaced by a network of efficient out-patient services: day-hospitalization for treatment in polyclinics and local rural hospitals, home visits, and out-patient centres for individual categories and groups of illness (pulmonary, gastroenterological, etc.). In addition, out-patient surgery facilities have been established all over the country.

In 1996 1.4 million patients received day-hospitalization treatment. This reduced the rate of round-the-clock hospitalization to 16.4 (in 1995, 18.1) per 100 inhabitants (1991, 24.7; 1992, 23.6). The development of out-patient surgery facilities has altered the ratio of operations carried out in hospitals and in out-patient facilities in favour of a higher number of out-patient operations. In 1996 44 per cent of operations were carried out on an in-patient basis and 56 per cent on an out-patient basis, including 25.2 per cent in out-patient surgery facilities.

These measures have led to a steady decline in the mortality rate without any increase in the morbidity rate.

There are 163 districts (excluding urban districts), 120 towns, and 114 urban settlements.

Uzbekistan has one city with a population of over a million (Tashkent - 2,109,500) and 11 towns with a population of over 100,000. Migration from the countryside is making a substantial contribution to urban population growth.

One special feature of Uzbekistan's population distribution pattern is the predominance of rural settlements. The rural population pattern is structured around regional centres in the shape of small towns, settlements of the urban type and rural settlements. The district centres bear the whole weight of organization, services and administration. These types of settlement constitute in fact the skeleton of the whole system of population distribution.

The demographic situation is characterized by a low level of mobility of the local population within the country, persistent demographic patterns, and strong population growth with the accompanying problems of effective use of manpower resources and the natural resource potential of rural areas.

At present the most pressing problems in the establishment of sustainable human settlements are connected with the creation of an efficient jobs system and the development of the industrial and social infrastructures which will ensure maximum satisfaction of the people's social needs and create the conditions for attracting production investments to the countryside.

In view of the shortage of land and water resources there is a need to create additional jobs by organizing small- and medium-sized enterprises in the countryside and in the district centres, primarily for the processing of agricultural products and other local raw materials.

In this process of establishing a sustainable system of human settlements particular attention will be given to the environmental health of towns and rural settlements, especially in the Aral Sea zone of ecological crisis, and to the establishment on this basis of a favourable human habitat and maintenance of the historical traditions and authenticity of the environment of the various ethnic and ethno-cultural population groups.

The established processes of harmful ecosystem change are not an exclusively national problem since they have an effect on neighbouring countries as well. Accordingly, in tackling Uzbekistan's environmental problems particular attention is given to the joint efforts of the countries of Central Asia and international organizations, primarily in connection with the improvement of the environmental situation in the Aral Sea basin.

As a result of the joint initiatives of the World Bank, UNDP, UNEP and other international organizations, since 1993 programmes have been prepared and measures implemented to combat the Aral Sea crisis.

By a decision of the second European Conference on Environment and Health (Helsinki, 1994) Uzbekistan was designated a pilot country for the formulation of a national plan of action on environmental hygiene. The plan was that the document prepared by Uzbekistan would be taken as the basis for a recommendation to the countries of Central Asia and the Transcaucasus. The work is being coordinated by the State Environmental Protection Committee and the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The State Environmental Protection Committee is responsible for the legal regulation and monitoring of emissions from industrial enterprises and motor transport.

The Principal Hydrometeorological Office is responsible for monitoring the state of the atmosphere.

In 1996 the Supreme Assembly adopted the Protection of the Atmosphere Act, which takes into account the national experience in this area as well as the international requirements.

As part of the development of international cooperation for the protection of the atmosphere against anthropogenic activities, in 1993 Uzbekistan signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This was particularly important for Uzbekistan, for it is among the countries which are extremely vulnerable to climate change: the desert and semi-desert zone occupies more than 80 per cent of its territory. The increasing shortage of water resources may lead to further degradation of the agricultural and ecological systems.

For the purposes of coordinating the activities of ministries, agencies and organizations in the prevention of dangerous climate changes, measures have been prepared to adapt the economy and the environment to such changes, and the Government has created the National Commission on Problems of Climate Change. Its members include managers and experts from more than 30 of the country's ministries, agencies and scientific centres.

The Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and the London and Copenhagen amendments to the Montreal Protocol were signed in 1995.

The State Environmental Committee was designated the lead agency for matters connected with the implementation of these instruments. A working group composed of representatives of the ministries and agencies concerned has begun work on a national programme to protect the ozone layer.

The condition of Uzbekistan's land remains unsatisfactory and in some regions critical. Harmful processes continue to develop: decline of humus content, flooding, subsidiary salination, and pollution of soil with pesticide residues, heavy metals, etc.

In these circumstances it is a matter of immediate urgency to introduce land monitoring, legal and standard-setting instruments regulating land use, and economic regulators which will ensure rational land use.

1. Decision-making structure: Order of the Cabinet of Ministers of 17 June 1996 on "Confirmation of the instructions concerning the procedure for and implementation of a unified system of State land surveys of the Republic of Uzbekistan".

A methodology has been prepared for evaluating the land of agricultural enterprises on the basis of use-efficiency ratings.

Work is continuing in conjunction with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to develop and introduce an electronic system of land survey and registration in Uzbekistan.

2. Capacity-building/technology issues: No information.

3. Major groups: No information.

4. Finance: State and local budgets.

5. Regional/international cooperation: No information.

There is no status report: the area of forests totals 9,119,000 hectares or 20 per cent of the country's territory.

Uzbekistan is a thinly forested country. Nevertheless, its forests are of considerable economic importance and their role is increasing still further as a result of the deterioration of the ecology in the region because they are such a powerful and irreplaceable factor for improvement of the environment. Forests play a protective, water-conservation, health and recreational role, as well as regulating the climate and providing a habitat for the animal world.

The fight against the destruction of forests in Uzbekistan is conducted on the basis of a system of rational and sustainable use and sound management of forests as a purposeful, long-term and economically advantageous process.

The preservation of forests as a component of land use in accordance with scientifically based standards and comprehensive assessment of possible impacts on forest ecosystems is established in the corresponding legislative and regulatory instruments and in the guidelines and recommendations on forestry in Uzbekistan.

The country's programme to combat deforestation has the following components:

- The concept of sustainable forest use, which is one of the fundamental criteria for preservation of the biodiversity and sustainable development of forest ecosystems;

- Development of forestry management plans and monitoring and regulation of the extraction of forest products in conjunction with forestry and forest-protection measures of various degrees of stringency, with a view to preservation and enhancement of the social, ecological and economic value of managed forests for succeeding generations;

- Redirection of forest management away from environmentally unsound practices which may contribute to destruction of the environment and biodiversity, and their replacement with environmentally sound technologies for the use of forest resources.

1. Decision-making structure: In order to satisfy the requirements of the local population for building timber, on the proposal of the forestry agencies the Government adopted Order No. 62 of the Cabinet of Ministers dated 8 February 1994 on "Measures to develop the industrial cultivation of poplars and establishment of plantations of other quick-growing species", which envisages the establishment of such plantations on more than 90,000 hectares by 2003.

2. Capacity-building/technology issues: No information.

3. Major groups: No information.

4. Finance: No information.

5. Regional/international cooperation: No information.

Intensive processes of desertification are at work in the shrinking of the Aral Sea - 33,400 km of sea bed has dried up.

The International Convention to Combat Desertification was ratified by Uzbekistan on 31 October 1995.

The National Commission to Combat Desertification and Drought has now been established, and work has started on the preparation of a national programme.

Pursuant to article 26 of the Convention Uzbekistan will submit reports on its implementation of the decisions of the Conference of the Parties in accordance with the form and schedule for submitting information.

1. Decision-making structure: The National Commission to Combat Desertification and Drought coordinates the activities of ministries and agencies connected with combating desertification and drought in implementation of the United Nations Convention and it is responsible for informing the population about the work done in these areas.

2. Capacity-building/technology issues: No information.

3. Major groups: No information.

4. Finance: The State budget, international organizations and donor countries, and the public funds of organizations, enterprises and commercial organizations.

5. Regional/international cooperation: No information.

The specific characteristics of their mountain areas influences to differing degrees the socio-economic development of the regions of Andizhan, Namangan, Ferghana, Tashkent, Surkhan-Darya, and Kashkadar, in which 53 per cent of the country's total population lives. These regions also have the highest population density, hence the need for accelerated economic development of foothills and mountains.

The arid climate invests mountain ranges acquire with special importance for the formation of river flows, since irrigated land provides more than 95 per cent of the total production of crops, and the availability of water resources is a decisive condition for the sustainability of agriculture. This circumstance is of great significance in view of the contribution of agriculture to the country's economy - it supplies some 25-30 per cent of GDP and determines the conditions and sustainability of other sectors (processing, light industry, agricultural engineering, etc.).

The following are the most acute problems of mountain and foothill regions:

- Water erosion and washing away of soils in the foothills, affecting about 20 per cent of the land. These processes have natural causes but are also due to anthropogenic activities involving the use of inappropriate irrigation methods and techniques;

- Degradation of grazing land trampled down as a result of unregulated grazing of livestock;

- Pollution of rivers and groundwater by toxic chemicals and industrial, agricultural and domestic wastes;

- Depletion of transboundary water resources at the regional and national levels, which is a constraint on the development of traditional and other water-intensive economic activities and a potential source of conflicts between States;

- The difficult natural conditions, heavily broken relief and irregular precipitation pattern with periods of torrential rain cause unusual conditions for the formation of surface flow and extremely dangerous natural phenomena such as flash floods and landslides. The fact that the mountains are thinly forested (about 2 per cent of the area) contributes to these processes;

- Monitoring of possible radioactive pollution of the waters of underground and surface transboundary flows from areas where the waste storage facilities of neighbouring countries and mine tips are located;

- One of the most difficult problems is the establishment in mountain regions of a social and production infrastructure, with creation of additional jobs to ensure a rational employment structure, and fuller use of their natural resource and manpower potential.

The years of reform in Uzbekistan have seen radical changes in the structure of agriculture. Almost all the State farms and collective farms have been transformed into joint stock companies or small private farms; farm owners have become the main producers of agricultural goods.

By the beginning of 1997, 19,800 small farms had been established on 308,200 hectares of irrigated land. The non-State sector produces 97 per cent of the gross agricultural product. As a result of privatization, the processing and marketing of farm products are undergoing considerable changes.

In general terms Uzbekistan's agriculture and its foodstuffs market are in an extremely difficult situation. It is essential to devise a price-setting machinery for fuel and energy resources and agricultural products, and to ensure the preparation of a suitable legal and regulatory framework, institutional structure and flow of investments for the sustainable development of agriculture.

To this end Uzbekistan is elaborating the concept of developing agriculture and fisheries for the long term, which will specify the means of reform and the development of effective and sustainable agriculture under a market system.

A system of measures of State regulation and serious support for the country's agro-industrial complex is envisaged.

The only way to do this is to preserve and restore natural ecosystems at a sufficient level to guarantee the stabilization and support of biosphere processes. Uzbekistan has acceded to the Convention on Biological Diversity, which was ratified by the Supreme Assembly on 6 May 1995.

Work is proceeding on a frontier project on biodiversity (Western Tyan-Shan).

1. Decision-making structure: Governmental project UZB/96/G-31/A-1G/014, which has been approved by UNDP. Work is also proceeding on a project on a national strategy to preserve biological diversity and on the formulation of a plan of action.

2. Capacity-building/technology issues: The State Environmental Protection Committee has established an Intersectoral Coordination Council (Steering Committee).

3. Major groups: These will be set up by the Intersectoral Coordination Council if necessary.

4. Finance: State budget, Global Environment Facility, UNDP.

5. Regional/international cooperation: A variety of activities are being carried out under bilateral and multilateral cooperation agreements.

Water is the most valuable resource of the Aral Sea basin. The region's main water arteries are the Amy Darya and Syr Darya rivers. The use of their water resources must be regulated in the light of national and regional interests and the conflicting interests of economies and ecology.

Uzbekistan has 4,298,000 hectares of irrigated land, of which a possible 2,306,000 hectares require rehabilitation. In view of the limited water resources in the region, the principal measures for ensuring an increase in the water supply for irrigation are: rehabilitation of land, main inter-economy and intra-economy canals, collector systems, drainage measures and basic land planning.

The use of groundwater and collected/drainage water is an important means of increasing the irrigation water supply.

With a view to supporting regional cooperation in solving the many economic, environmental and social problems, in January 1994 the Heads of the five Central Asian States adopted a programme of concrete measures to improve the environmental situation in the Aral Sea basin; this programme takes into account the quality aspect of the region's water resources and envisages the formulation of principles governing the improvement of water quality, the reduction of all kinds of pollution, the adoption of effective measures to prevent discharge into the rivers and other water sources of the Aral Sea basin waste water with high mineral content and other polluted collected/drainage water, and unpurified industrial and domestic effluents.

1. Decision-making structure:
- Water and Water Use Act of 6 May 1993;
- Regulations of 7 August 1993 on "Water protection zones, reservoirs and other storage facilities, rivers and main canals and collector networks, and sources of drinking, medicinal and mineral water in the Republic of Uzbekistan";
- Interim regulations of 3 August 1993 on "Limitation of water use in the Republic of Uzbekistan";
- Environmental Protection Act of 9 December 1992;
- Natural Resources Special Protection Act of 7 May 1993.

2. Capacity-building/technology issues: No information.

3. Major Groups: No information.

4. Finance: The national budget, budget of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, regional and district authorities, resources of enterprises, foreign investments, bank loans and other extrabudgetary sources.

5. Regional/international cooperation: Joint management of water resources under the auspices of the Inter-State Water Management Coordination Commission of the countries of Central Asia.

Drafting and adoption of international agreements on water resource quality control. The Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Water Courses and International Lakes and the Nukus Declaration of the States of Central Asia and international organizations on the problems of the sustainable development of the Aral Sea basin (Nukus, 1995), and the recommendations of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe on assessment of water quality must serve as the basis for such international agreements.

The availability of the necessary information for assessing the potential threat of chemicals to human health and the environment is an essential condition for ensuring their safe use and disposal.

For the purposes of exchange information about hazardous chemicals the State Environmental Protection Committee collaborates closely with the International Register of Potentially Toxic Chemicals (IRPTC/UNEP) and this Committee is the organ responsible for introduction of the London Guidelines for the Exchange of Information about Chemicals in International Trade.

Work is proceeding on the drafting of national legislation and standards regulating the production of chemical wastes, their use, storage, transport and disposal. A national register of potentially toxic chemicals is being compiled.

A selection of pesticides is being made for inclusion in the "List of toxic chemicals authorized for use in agriculture".

1. Decision-making structure: No information.

2. Capacity-building/technology issues: No information.

3. Major groups: No information.

4. Finance: No information.

5. Regional/international cooperation: The State Environmental Protection Committee participates in the work of the intergovernmental committee which is drafting a document to be vested with legal force ("Convention" status) concerning the management of a number of chemicals and pesticides; this instrument will increase the responsibilities of producer countries, importers and exporters.

Uzbekistan has accumulated over 21,000 tons of hazardous industrial wastes. This figure is increasing every year.

The present situation with regard to hazardous wastes is such that immediate action must be taken to solve this problem and make a start on the creation of a network of specialized sites for disposal of toxic wastes and treatment facilities for their destruction or disposition.

With a view to creating a system for the management and disposal of hazardous industrial wastes, Uzbekistan is working on the creation and improvement of a legal and regulatory framework for dealing with these matters.

A bill on "Industrial and consumer wastes" has been prepared.

1. Decision-making structure: Order of the Cabinet of Ministers of 24 October 1992 on the collection and storage of wastes containing mercury.

2. Capacity-building/technology issues: No information.

3. Major groups: No information.

4. Finance: No information.

5. Regional/international cooperation: The CIS countries have signed an agreement on the regulation of transboundary shipments of dangerous wastes and their disposal. Under this agreement the parties will take measures to regulate the import of wastes into their territory and the transit of hazardous and other wastes through their territory.

Uzbekistan has accumulated a total of over 2 billion tons of industrial wastes.

It is working on the improvement of the legal and regulatory framework for the creation of a system for management and disposal of industrial and consumer wastes.

Bills on "Industrial and consumer wastes" and "Interim rules on environmental protection and industrial and consumer wastes" have been prepared.

1. Decision-making structure: No information.

2. Capacity-building/technology issues: No information.

3. Major groups: No information.

4. Finance: The work of improving the waste management system is funded both from the State budget and from local budgets in the form of financing for regional waste disposal programmes.

5. Regional/international cooperation: The CIS countries have signed an agreement on regulation of transboundary shipments of hazardous wastes and their disposal. Under this agreement the parties are required to implement agreed measures to regulate the import of wastes into their territory and the transit of hazardous and other wastes through their territory.

Uzbekistan has a special site for disposal of radioactive wastes. It is intended for the centralized disposal of solid and liquid radioactive wastes collected from laboratories, institutions and industrial enterprises in Uzbekistan.

The radiological service of the national public health and epidemiological system is the organization basically responsible for State supervision of installations using sources of ionizing radiation. Institutions and enterprises using in their activities radiation equipment and sources of ionizing radiation have official radiation protection services. Monitoring of background radiation is the responsibility of units of the Principle Hydrometeorlogical Office. The "Uzkyzyltepageologiya" industrial combine monitors radioactivity in public areas, towns and villages.

1. Decision-making structure: No information.

2. Capacity-building/technology issues: No information.

3. Major groups: No information.

4. Finance: No information.

5. Regional/international cooperation: No information.

Legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan concerning scientific activities:

- Section iv "Intellectual property" of the Civil Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan;
- Copyright and Associated Rights Act;
- Inventions, Working Models and Industrial Models Act;
- Information Technology Act;
- Trademarks and Trade Names Act;
- Legal Protection of Computer Programmes and Databases Act;
- Plant and Animal Species Selection Act.

The existing legal framework provides effective protection for items of intellectual property, and stimulates the development of innovations in Uzbekistan in tune with the priorities of sustainable economic and social development and ecological balance.

Work is proceeding on the preparation of an international programme on the study, preservation and rational use of the resources of the deserts of Central Asia. The implementation of these projects is envisaged on the basis of grants from INTAS, INCOCOPERNICUS, the Scientific Committee of NATO, USAID and the McArthur Fund. Funding for a project on study of the mechanisms of degradation of the vegetation cover of the Kyzylkum desert and of strategic means of rehabilitation and protection is being provided by the State Committee for Science and Technology in 1997-1998 as part of an innovatory programme.

The plan is to publish materials connected with problems of the environment and sustainable development in each of the future Bulletins.

STEPS TAKEN TO ENHANCE SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING, IMPROVE LONG TERM SCIENTIFIC ASSESSMENT, BUILDING OF CAPACITY AND CAPABILITY: No information.

33,98

35,09

27,31

1993

1994

1995

32304,4

378,2

1033,9

1993

1994

1995

(a) Reorientation of education towards sustainable development :

A national training programme is being developed in the context of the emerging concept of Uzbekistan's sustainable development. The proposal is to introduce a guaranteed and compulsory 12-year period of secondary education. Teaching programmes have been created, textbooks are being produced, and a teacher-training system is being organized.

(b) Increasing public awareness :

Public information on matters of sustainable development is provided under the leadership and coordination of the State Environmental Protection Committee.

The State publicizes through the mass information media the advantages and importance of education and informs the public about the problems of sustainable development and environmental protection.

(c) Promoting training :

The Ministry of Higher and Secondary Special Education and the Ministry of National Education have drawn up recommendations for the redesign of teaching courses relating to questions of environmental protection to take into account the problems of Uzbekistan's sustainable development.

In 1997 for the first time the country's higher education institutions will enrol secondary school graduates to take the subject "Environmental protection".

Uzbekistan has established the Coordination Council for Economic Education, headed by the Prime Minister, to promote education and public awareness of sustainable development. The general-education schools have introduced additional subjects relating to economic education.

ROLE OF MAJOR GROUPS: No information.

FINANCING AND COST EVALUATION OF THE LABOUR ACTIVITIES: Funding for the work of re-educating the public in the problems of sustainable development is provided from the resources of the State budget and international programmes.