Year 2009 came to its end. It has become the year of new undertakings and the period of the consolidation of the achievements.
The editorial board of the ‘Ekologichesky Vestnik-Ekologiya Xabarnomasi’ Journal decided to sum up its performance and at the same time congratulate you, our readers, on the coming New Year.
During the last year, our journal acquainted the readers with a lot of key news in the world of ecology and environmental protection. We try to publish as many materials as possible for each reader to find firm guidelines for himself and answers many questions concerned with the ecological and environmental problems.
Scientific, Pedagogical and Public Activity of Jura Kamolovich Saidov
Today is the centennial anniversary of the birth of the academician of the Academy of Science of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Honoured Scientist of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Professor Jura Kamolovich Saidov. J.K. Saidov was born on 29 December 1909 in Kokand city of the Fergana province in the family of employees. He graduated from the pedagogical vocational school in 1927 and worked as a teacher. Then in 1932 he graduated from the Natural and Mathematical faculty of the Samarkand State Academy and began his work in the field of biology. At this time he also began his pedagogical activity, at first as a lab-assistant at the botanical department of the Institute of Cotton-growing, later as a head teacher of biology of the workers’ department of the Kokand Medical Institute.
The 12th - Holiday New Year’s Number of the "Ekologichesky Vestnik- Ekologiya Xabarnomasi" Journal has been released
On the first pages, the editorial staff of the ‘Ekologichesky Vestnik- Ekologiya Xabarnomasi’ journal has summarized results of the leaving 2009- the year of new undertakings and the period of consolidation of the achievements. During this year, the readers of our journal could know about much key news in the world of ecology and environment protection, positive practical experience; four topical numbers of the journal devoted to the International Day of Biological Diversity, the World Environment Day, the World Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer were published. This year has become significant and very meaningful to the whole editorial staff because just in this year the 100th number of the ‘Ekologichesky Vestnik’ journal was published. As usual, the editorial staff of the ‘Ekologichesky Vestnik’ journal is ready to continue, deepen and widen our cooperation and sends sincere and warm congratulates and wishes for coming Year to all our readers.
On the whole, the number is devoted to the interrelation of nature and society. So, Z. Tojibaev, the assistant professor of Fergana State University and
2010 – The International Year of Biological Diversity
The world community is showing deep concern with both global and regional ecological problems. The problem of preservation of biological diversity occupies a significant place among the global ecological problems. Biological diversity is necessary for the maintenance of live systems, providing our health and prosperity, supplying us with clean air, food and other indispensable conditions of human life. As a result of human activity the biological diversity is reducing at the increasing speed. These losses are irreplaceable and they daily undermine the perspectives of our life. The humanity is a part of the rich diversity of the Nature; and we are able either to destroy or save this diversity.
In recent years, protection and reproduction of biological diversity has become an important ecological problem. Great efforts on preservation of biological diversity are made all over the world. New reserves are being founded; the legislative base is being developed.
In 1995, recognizing the necessity to preserve biological diversity for sustainable development, Uzbekistan joined the International Convention on Biological Diversity, in 1997 - the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wi-0ld Fauna and Flora, in 1998 - the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals. Carrying out its obligations undertaken following the Convention on Biological Diversity, in 1998, the Republic of Uzbekistan worked out the National Strategy and Plan of Action on the conservation of biological diversity. While implementing them during these years, the Republic of Uzbekistan has accomplished a number of international projects, published two volumes of the ‘Red Book of Uzbekistan’, the works of the reserves staff.
Meeting of the Working Team on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) was Held
“Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature”. This is the first Principle of the Declaration on the Environment and Development adopted in Rio de Janeiro. For achievement of the sustainable development states adopt efficiently legislative acts in the field of the environment. There are certain legal and legislative base for the promotion of ESD into scientific and educational systems in the Republic of Uzbekistan; they are reflected in number of the regulatory and legislative acts, e.g. in the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan ¹ 212 ‘On the Program of Actions for Environment Protection in the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2008-2012’ dated 19. 09. 2008.
Integration of Science and Education in Pasture Management
Shifts of the ecological balance in nature caused by man’s irrational economic management on the Earth make us revise modern nature use doctrines and methods.
Agriculture is becoming more and more high-technological. Important discoveries in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology and other sciences have created prerequisites for the intensive use of natural resources.
Different systematic measures on environment protection, efficient use of natural resources, including pastures, are carried out in the Republic of Uzbekistan. Agricultural lands make up 50.12 percent of total in Uzbekistan; and they do not only ensure the agricultural industry, but also serve for the favorable climate of agro-landscape and ecological conditions. Pastures occupy the most part of the agricultural lands and serve the main source of fodder base for cattle-breeding.
Young Leaders on the way of Harmonious Development
The Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan pays a great attention to the youth, raising its activity in resolution of ecological problems of the country. On 24 December 2009 the meeting of the Youth Wing (YW) of the Eco-movement was held in the office of Eco-movement. During this meeting the performance results of YW for 2009 were summarized and priority directions of activity for 2010 – ‘The Year of Harmoniously Developed Generation’ were defined.
At least 120 years ago, only nine vegetable cultures were traditionally grown in Uzbekistan: melon, crook-necked pumpkin, yellow and red carrots, turnip, radish, onion, garlic, spinach and wild purslane.
In subsequent years other vegetable cultures such as potato, tomato, egg-plant, water-melon, cucumber, capsicum and many others were introduced into agricultural industry. In the course of time, many vegetable varieties lose their peculiar features, resistance to different kinds of diseases; they mix with other varieties and form the strain mixture. Many years of selection and zoning are needed to overcome these phenomena and cultivate new vegetable varieties and lines.
Mass media has great possibilities for raising awareness of the population on the ecological problems and on the ways of their elimination. To encourage better highlighting of the ecological problems, the state nature protection organizations together with the civil society institutions organize competitions among journalists for the best coverage of the ecological subjects.
Results of two competitions were at once summed up on 19 December in Tashkent: the 8th National Competition of the Ecological Journalism Festival of the Central Asian Countries and the Competition of the Posters and Articles on the Energy Efficiency Issues.
The Ecological Journalism Festival of the Central Asian Countries has been held since 2001, and journalists of the Republic of Uzbekistan have been actively participating in it since 2003.
The State Committee for Nature Protection of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan, the Public Fund for Support of Independent Mass Media and News Agencies, the Ecoforum of NGOs (non-government non-profit organizations) of Uzbekistan, the RECCA (Regional Ecological Center of Central Asia) Representative Office in Uzbekistan and others became the organizers of the 8th National Competition. The UzA, the NAEMM (National Association of Ecological Mass Media), the Ecological Publishing company ‘Chinor ENK’, web-sites of the Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan, the NNO National Association of Uzbekistan provided the information support for the national eco-journalism competition.
Modern zoos carry out a lot of important and actual tasks. Primarily, they are institutions keeping various species of animals from different regions of the world. They create for the animals conditions maximally approximated to the native once. Thousands of zoo experts study and analyze peculiarities of biology in nature, and then develop methods of keeping animals in managed conditions - in the zoos. Scientific and creative relations of all zoos are greatly important. For the Tashkent Zoo, research materials of the EARAZA organization (Euro-Asiatic Regional Association of Zoos and Aquariums) serve the powerful information source; it became a member of this organization in 2000.
But a zoo is also an institution that is opened for people. Taking this opportunity, zoos are carrying out great educational work, and this is the second important task of a zoo.
The 11th Issue of the ‘Ekologichesky Vestnik- Ekologiya Xabarnjmasi’ Journal has been released
The 11th issue of the ‘Ekologichesky Vestnik - Ekologiya Xabarnomasi’ journal opens with the congratulation to the Karakalpak Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan on its 50th anniversary. The congratulation speaks about the outstanding persons of Karakalpakstan who contributed to the development of science, culture and art.
The article ‘The Victorious Procession of the Uzbek Cotton’ informs readers about the observance of the ecological standards and rules in the course of cultivation of raw-cotton and about the successes of the Uzbek cotton in the world market.
L. Stashunaite’s article speaks about the necessity of taking urgent measures on the prevention of climate change. It tells us what we can do to prevent climate change at the local level.
Ecological Problems of Tashkent in the Focus of the Public Attention
On 15 December 2009 a round table talk on the ‘Ecology of the Tashkent City’ and the official award ceremony of the competition winners ‘Ona Shahram Ecologiyasi –Toshkent Shahri 2200 Yoshda’ took place in the Tashkent City Committee for Nature Protection. The competition was announced in view of the 2200th anniversary of Tashkent by the Tashkent City Committee for Nature Protection, Ecological Publishing company ‘Chinor ENK’ and the Representative Office of the Regional Ecological Center of the Central Asian Countries in Uzbekistan.
Representatives of makhallya committees, public education department, higher educational establishments, mass media and non-governmental non-profit organizations of the capital of Uzbekistan participated in this talk.
Econews.uz sincerely congratulates all sportsmen – mountain-climbers and those who have ever climbed up the mountains!
The International Mountain Day is celebrated on 11 December. This date was fixed in January 2003by the Resolution of the 57th UNO General Assembly.
The mountains occupy about a quarter of the Earth’s surface and are the habitation place for almost ten percent of the human population. It is the reserve for many unique species of flora and fauna, the water source for all major rivers of the Earth.
The NNO Ecoforum of Uzbekistan that joined the International Mountain Partnership in 2009 has implemented a number of initiatives aimed at the development of mountainous areas.
Efforts of the state nature protection organs are not enough for the resolution of the ecological problems. Joint efforts of both the state nature protection ministries and departments and all institutions of civil society and public non-governmental organizations are needed. When solving the ecological problems, civil society institutions in many cases face the lack of financing. Grant programs for the ecological problems solution assigned by the Public Fund of Support to Non-governmental Non-Profit Organizations and Other Civil Society Institutions under the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan and by the international organizations can help in such situations. To receive a grant, it is necessary to draw up correct and well grounded projects.
The Third Republican Research and Practical Seminar
Different layers of civil society are getting involved in the solution of ecological problems in the Republic of Uzbekistan. The Republican Fund ‘Makhallya’, PMUY (Public Movement of Uzbekistan Youth) ‘Kamolot’, ecological non-government non-profit organizations, scientific and technical societies and National cultural centers are among them. Working with the population, they can help to activate people for the solution of the environment protection problems.
Thus, on 4 December Tashkent hosted the Third Republican Research and Practical Seminar ‘Achievements and Perspectives in the Field of Biological Diversities and Biotechnologies in Uzbekistan’ organized by the scientific and technical society ‘Tinbo’ and the Association of Korean Cultural Centers of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The first seminar of this type was held in Tashkent in 2005.
The Aral Sea Region is in the Focus of the Attention
The ecological crisis has entailed a great drop in the living standard in the Aral Sea Region including worsening of human health, loss of biological diversity, social and economic recession and etc. The Aral Sea disaster cannot be considered only as the national or regional problem. Its negative consequences accelerate the process of the climatic changes in Central Asia region and, as a result, in the whole world.
Since early 1990s, the International donor community has been rendering financial and economic support to the countries of region to liquidate the Aral Sea disaster and restore the Aral Sea. During 1995- 2005, the total volume of donor assistance made up USD 825 million (‘Review of Donor Assistance in the Aral Sea Region (1995 - 2005)’, UNDP, IFSAS, 2008). The projects included solutions for land degradation, restoration of vegetative cover, drinking water treatment and other problems. Some short-term results have been achieved, but they did not ensure complex resolution of the Aral Sea problem. Year-by-year, consequences of this problem are only increasing.
So far with expansion of global information network - the Internet network - development of the information networks, resources of data banks storage and geographically distributed high accessibility systems have turned into the world problems. Geographical information systems (GIS) that have just started their development in our country are particularly important among them. Application of the advanced world experience will help the Republic of Uzbekistan to promote many branches of its economy. Here is the development of cadastres of real estate, land resources, fauna and flora.
Development of GIS cadastre system will, in its turn, allow centralizing registration technology, recording and regular updating of the information resources at the regional level and many other things.The seminar organized by the ‘ITECO TASHKENT, Ltd.’ in Tashkent on 3 December was devoted to this topic. Representatives of the state structures, business, public and journalists participated in this seminar. During the seminar, managers of the ‘ITECO’ company presented the basic concepts on the development of the cadastre system, application of GIS technologies for solving cadastre tasks and issues of information security in the course of setting up the cadastre systems.
Development Stages of the Republican Specialized Research-Practical Centre of Medical Therapy and Medical Rehabilitation
The ecological publishing house ‘ENK Chinor’ has published the book ‘The Republican Specialized Research-Practical Centre of Medical Therapy and Medical Rehabilitation - 90 years (1919-2009)’ (former SRI of Balneology and Physiotherapy named after N.A. Semashko).
The book rather explicitly tells us about the history of strengthening and development of the Republican Specialized Research-Practical Centre of Medical Therapy and Medical Rehabilitation.
The Institute of physical treatment methods was founded on 6 February 1919. Professor S.I. Slonim was appointed the Director of the Institute, and professor R.I. Evseev was appointed the Head of the Treatment Unit. The Institute had only 20 beds and daily received 100 out-patients. In 1923 it was called the Institute of Physical Treatment Methods named after N.A. Semashko.
In the recent years desertification became a global problem. The world community is taking special measures to prevent desertification and reduce its negative influence on the environment and human health. The United Nations Organization has approved the Convention against Desertification that has been ratified by the Republic of Uzbekistan. The ‘Uzglavgidromet’ under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan is the coordinating organ of the Program from the Republic of Uzbekistan. The Central Asian countries have developed a large program ‘Initiative of the Central Asia Countries on the Land Resources Management’ (ICACLRM). The Asian Development Bank (ADB) carries out the general management of the ICACLRM Program.
