Caspian Sea State of the Environment 2019

gramme is to reduce anthropogenic pressures on the environment by improving the ecologi- cal efficiency of the economy (Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation of 2014, revised and amended in 2018). Regional environmental programmes adapt the federal environmental protection programme to suit conditions in the regions and aim to re- duce the anthropogenic impact on the marine and coastal environment of the Caspian Sea and promote integrated management of coastal zones (Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation 2014, revised and amended in 2018; Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Dagestan 2007; Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Kalmykia 2008). Reforms of the environmental protection legisla- tion of the Russian Federation targeted two fed- eral laws, “On environmental protection” (Feder- al Law No. 7 of January 2002, as amended by No. 404 in December 2016) and “On production and consumer waste” (Federal Law No. 89 of June 1998, as amended by No. 254 in July 2016). Changes were adopted and previously adopted changes came into force. These changes related primarily to payments for adverse environmental impact; the redistribution of powers to manage production and consumer waste, the accumu- lated damage to the environment, best available technologies and public oversight, including em- powering citizens to exercise it. It is envisaged that all 14 existing types of state environmental monitoring will be combined in a single state en- vironmental monitoring system. The following laws of particular importance to the Caspian regions were also amended: • The federal law “On specially protected natu- ral areas” (1995 federal law “On environmen- tal expertise”, as amended in 2015) regulates relations in the field of environmental assess- ment • The 1995 federal law “On wildlife”, as amend- ed in 2016 • The federal law “On strategic planning in the Russian Federation” (dated 28 June 2014), which established the legal basis for the devel- opment and operation of an integrated strate-

gic socioeconomic development planning sys- tem in the regions of the Russian Federation Regional environmental protection legislation was also supplemented by a number of new laws, such as the 2014 law in Astrakhan Oblast “On certain issues of legal regulation of environmen- tal protection and biodiversity conservation in Astrakhan Oblast”. The primary law setting the direction of envi- ronmental protection in Turkmenistan is the law “On protecting nature”, which systematizes and summarizes the basic principles and tasks of environmental protection. The law significantly expanded the range of nature protection regula- tions, a fact explained by the beginning of greater awareness regarding the danger of uncontrolled environmental impact as the economy expand- ed and increased anthropogenic pressures. Thus, in recent years, a lot of work has been done to create a regulatory and legal framework for en- vironmental protection and sustainable natural resource management (Kepbanov 2016). Turkmenistan operates on the premise that re- forming the accounting and economic valuation system for natural resources and the system for paying for natural resources is key to striking a balance between the extraction of raw materials, the environment and the economy. Regulatory fees for environmental pollution by enterpris- es, organizations and institutions of all forms of ownership within Turkmenistan were approved by Order of the Ministry of Nature Protection and agreed by the Ministry of Finance in 2014 (Kepbanov 2015). As of 1 January 2018, 25 environmental protec- tion and environmental management laws have been adopted and are in force in Turkmenistan. In addition, there are a number of regulatory acts that affect the environmental field to some extent. The new laws adopted in recent years include laws “On chemical safety” (21 March 2011), “On fishing and conservation of aquatic biological resources” (21 May 2011), “On waste” (23 May 2015), “On pastures” (18 August 2015), “On protecting plants” (18 June 2016), “On the collection, conservation and sustainable use of the genetic resources of cultivated plants” (4 Feb-

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