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Institutional and administrative planning 1. Administrative division and subordination Functioning of local authorities is based on the actual Constitution of Turkmenistan. In compliance with the Law on khakims (governor/mayor) of 24 November 1995, khakims of provinces, etraps and cities are exercising executive and directive powers in Turkmenistan. The Mejlis (Parliament) of Turkmenistan approved the Law “On order of resolving issues of administrative/territorial arrangement of Turkmenistan”. In accordance with this law, the lowest level of administration is gengeshlik, which can comprise several oba (small village). The whole Caspian coast of Turkmenistan is part of the province of Balkan, with the administrative centre in the city of Balkanobad. The total area of the province is 138 500 km2. In turn, the province of Balkan is divided into 6 etraps:
And 5 cities equated with etrap:
And to two territories reporting to khakimliks of the cities of Khazar and Balkanabad. Etrap Turkmebashi, territories under authority of khakimliks of the cities of Khazar and Balkanabad and etrap Esenguly are located on the Caspian coast. The biggest inhabited localities situated on the Caspian coast include: cities – Bekdash, Turkmenbashi and Khazar; and settlements – Turkmenbashi and Esenguly. 2. Local authorities Local authority is an independent system constituting of several levels such as city, gengeshlik comprising several oba), oba (village council) and public territorial bodies. The administration system has a vertical structure, with gengeshlik in the bottom. Gengeshlik elects archyn, who governs affairs of gengeshlik and reports to it. Gengeshs (members of gengeshlik) follow principles of legality, power sharing, and transparency, and are not restricted with administrative subordination. Gengeshs are empowered with the following authorities:
After discussion and approval of any decision, archin should submit them for consideration of relevant Khakimlik, where depending on the nature of the issue, they either can be solved on the spot, or transferred to the administration of the province of Balkan. In case, when the tasks are too complicated, they can be considered at the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan. Administrative management in etraps and cities happens in the same way – whatever can’t be resolved on a local level is passed for consideration of khakimlik of the province of Balkan. If necessary it can be further passed to the Cabinet of Ministers. There are two public environmental organisations at the considered territory: territorial branch of the Nature protection society of Turkmenistan and independent ecological club. 3. Public participation in development of plans and measures for use of natural resources and environmental protection. Presently, Turkmenistan has ratified the Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice, concerning environmental issues (date of ratification – 15 September 1999). Provisions of this Convention are applied to the whole territory of Turkmenistan, including the coastal zone. Now, a hearing is convoked, with participation of experts in this field and stakeholders, under commencement of construction and exploration, development of a field and other works, posing threat to the environment. A protocol, which includes all comments on a submitted project regarding possible environmental hazards and ways to prevent them, is compiled based on results of a hearing. Then the protocol is passed to the Ministry for Nature Protection of Turkmenistan, where precise instructions to this project will be provided taking into account proposals pointed out in the protocol. In case, the implementing organisation refuse taking measures for resolving contradictions, then the issue will be decided by the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan. As it was indicated above, there are two non-governmental environmental organisations at the considered territory. Amateur environmental club “Lalezet” was founded in 1999, mainly disseminating information among local population. In the same time, the Turkmenbashi branch of the Nature Protection Society of Turkmenistan can co-operate with local authorities, and through its head organisation with authorities at the higher level. 4. Environmental legislation 4.1 National laws In accordance with the Constitution of Turkmenistan, adopted in 18 May 1922 (article 78), Cabinet of Ministers is entitle to direct economic and social development and environmental management and protection. In the same time, the Cabinet of Ministers supervises activities of governmental agencies, which are responsible for various issues, such as environmental protection and public health, preservation of the vegetable and animal world, use of natural resources and so on. These are:
Branches of the above agencies are functioning at the territory of the province of Balkan. In the compliance with Article 86 of the Constitution of Turkmenistan, local authorities in provinces and districts are responsible for measures on natural resource management and environmental protection on. The following laws regulating their activities:
Mejlis (Parliament) is the legislative body of Turkmenistan. Mejlis can entitle President with the right to issue laws on certain issues with binding following approval. The right of legislative initiative belongs to President, deputies and Cabinet of Ministers. According to formed practise, all environmental laws, as well as laws related to public health, are submitted to one of the five committees of Mejlis via the Cabinet of Ministers. Economic and environmental instruments are determined by Decrees of President of Turkmenistan and decrees of the Cabinet of Ministers, and provisions on Ministries and agencies, methodologies, orders, etc. Namely:
A number of environmental laws were prepared or are in the pipeline including:
Law “On protection of the environment” was amended and added in regards to legal and social protection of the personnel of governmental agencies on environmental protection. Enforcement of the environmental legislation is provided by a number of ministries and agencies, and also by law-enforcement agencies. Delimitation of control is determined by both the effective legislation and provisions on these ministries and agencies, approved by President of Turkmenistan. Particularly, the Ministry for Nature Protection, according to relevant provisions, is a special authorised agency in the field of environmental protection. Both provisions and intro-governmental agreements regulate relations of agencies responsible for environmental protection. Such an agreement on delimitation of functions was concluded between the Ministry for Nature Protection and Ministry for public health and medical industry of Turkmenistan. Overall state control over enforcement of environmental legislation is carried out by Public prosecution office of Turkmenistan. The Law “On protection of the environment” (Section XI), Sanitary Code (Section XII), Law “On mineral resources” (Section VI), Land Code, Code of Turkmenistan “On administrative offences”, Law “On increasing responsibility for environmental offences” and Law “On amendments and additions to the Code on administrative offences” (1994) regulate environmental responsibility. Administrative responsibility for violation of environmental legislation and compensation for damage from violation of environmental legislation is determined in the following cases: incompliance with standards and norms, refusal to pay for use of resources, emissions and discharges, environmental pollution, exceeding environmental capacity of a territory (including import of environmentally dangerous products), failure to take necessary actions for restoration of the environment, etc. Criminal responsibility for violation of environmental legislation is stipulated by the Criminal Code of Turkmenistan – p 255 “Water, land and air pollution”; p 255 “Sea pollution with substances detrimental to human health and animal resources of the sea or with other waste and materials”. 4.2 International agreements In regards to international agreements, Turkmenistan is partaking in the following international conventions:
4.3 Guidelines In correspondence with requirements of Article 16 of the Law “On protection of the environment”, designing, siting, construction, reconstruction, expansion, upgrade of plants, installations and other objects, bringing in exploitation, exploitation and winding-up should be carried out with compulsory requirement of environmental safety. Therefore each project or proposal should be accompanied with environmental impact assessment (EIA) conducted by developer. EIA should contain analysis, summary and information dissemination on such an impact, as well as necessary measures for environmental protection. The Ministry for Nature Protection of Turkmenistan developed in 1999 and approved in 2000 guidelines for environmental impact assessment complying with the Law “On state environmental expertise”. Development of the instrument was carried out in frames of the National Programme on environmental protection, implemented by the Government of Turkmenistan in conjunction with UNDP. The following activities are subject to EIA:
Environmental standards include:
Presently, the environmental guidelines of the former USSR are in effect at the territory of Turkmenistan, in compliance with the agreement of countries that participated in “Agreement on harmonisation in the fields of standardisation, metrology and certification” from 12 March 1992. In the same time, on the basis of Sanitary Code of Turkmenistan, the Ministry for Public Health and Medical Industry in some cases can change norms of maximum permissible concentrations of pollutants in natural objects. 5. Mechanism of planning use of natural resources Economy of Turkmenistan is focused on increase of the share of local raw materials and food resources in industrial production, which is mentioned in the Development Programme of Turkmenistan till 2002. Besides, the budget of Turkmenistan is filled mainly from incomes from supply of hydrocarbons to the world market. Hence, the further wellbeing of the country hinges on development of the mining industry and agriculture. In the same time the main stress in investment policy is placed on the combination of development of both export-orientated and import-replacing productions. This leads to intense development of land resources, mineral resources, construction of plants and factories and development of transport communications, which result in worsening environmental conditions. Due to this planning of use of natural resources is centralised, which facilitates control over environmental situation. Certain Ministries and offices prepare yearly plans of exploitation of natural resources based on the Development Programme of Turkmenistan. These plans should take into consideration all environmental norms, such as presence of protected zones, observation of quotas for catches, non-exceedance of maximum emissions, capacity for waster utilisation, etc. Then these plans are considered in the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan, where they are corrected, endorsed and directed for execution. Relevant inspectorates control all works, related to use of natural resources, and administrative measures are imposed on an organisation or a natural person in case of any incompliances with environmental requirements. In some case, infringers are demanded to restore the inflicted damage. The State Commission on Emergency Situations under the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan assumes control in case of an emergency situation. There are branches of the Commission on emergency situations and protection of the population in the city of Balkanabad and in centres of etraps. Under emergency situations all actions are taken on the bases of the existing plans of joint actions. |
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