Turkmenistan has ratified the main UN environmental conventions and their protocols relating to the protection of biological diversity, combating desertification, climate change, protection of the ozone layer, etc. Among them is the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, ratified by our country in 1996. The purpose of the Basel Convention is to protect the life and health of people, the environment from the adverse effects of transboundary movement and disposal of hazardous waste, which include biomedical and medical waste, used petroleum products, persistent organic pollutants, chemicals and pesticides, electronic and electrical waste, materials containing mercury and asbestos, etc. As part of the implementation of the Convention, state control is exercised over their transportation by rail and road, a regulation has been developed on the control of transboundary transportation of hazardous wastes and their disposal.
At present, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection of Turkmenistan, which oversees the implementation of the country's international obligations under the Basel Convention, has instructed the Scientific Information Center of the Interstate Commission for Sustainable Development of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (SIC ICSD IFAS) to implement the project, which was told by the director of the SIC Mukhammed Khudaiberdyevich Durikov. The relevance of the project is due to the growing role of Turkmenistan in transit Eurasian transportation, the need to ensure the readiness of the country to prevent the import of hazardous waste into its territory and, in general, to effectively manage waste.
According to the specialist, the project is at its initial stage, when one of the tasks is to prepare an analytical review of national legislation related to waste management by experts. Based on it, proposals will be prepared on changes and additions to existing laws in order to improve the legal framework for waste management. Within the framework of the project, three seminars are expected to be held, to which representatives of all interested parties will be invited - the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection, the State Committee for Water Resources, the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry, the State Migration and State Border Services of Turkmenistan, and other departments related to waste problem.
The seminars will be aimed at increasing the capacity of the employees of these state bodies. Currently, the booklets on the Basel Convention received from the secretariat are being translated into Turkmen, which explain the basic concepts and give classifications of wastes to be stored, removed or disposed of locally. It is intended to reproduce and distribute these materials among interested parties.
Turkmen specialists also intend to closely cooperate and support the activities of the Regional Waste Management Center, which will be created in accordance with the decision taken at the next meeting of the ICSD IFAS in March this year.
