New Source of Financing and Assessment of Efficiency of Nature Protection Activity - Juniper publishers
Journal of Trends in Technical and
Scientific Research
Short Communication
Environmental activities are characterized by high
risk, capital intensity, non-commercial nature and longer payback
period, which require improvement of information and analytical
management tools. Environmental activity is a set of specialized
engineering, technological, control, analytical, production, economic
and management operations that form an independent process of creating
the ecological utility of a commercial product. There are
non-traditional for modern practice factors which have simultaneously
stimulating and retarding influence: territory, assimilation potential,
market of best technologies, urbanization, global natural processes,
business and investment climate, social and economic globalization,
public administration and internal corporate resources [1].
The main fundamental principles of environmental
management are the principle of legality and civil responsibility, the
principle of universal significance of created values, the principle of
balancing environmental and economic interests, constant measurement and
analysis, delegation of authority and responsibility, regulation and
adaptive management [2]. Analysis of environmental activities of
enterprises is a thematic, scientifically based economic research, which
is crucial for solution of sustainable development challenges,
preservation of existing potential of natural resources, balance of the
economy development and introduction of innovations. The system of state
economic regulation of environmental management contributes to the
achievement of such level when the end results of enterprises are
closely linked to the effectiveness of environmental measures and their
interest in complying of environmental requirements [3]. By transition
to the principles of sustainable development, therole of economic
analysis in solving of issues related to the effectiveness of
environmental activities in all management cycles becomes supremely
important. Without detailed analysis of environmental measures, required
expenses and results of their implementation, it is impossible to make
appropriate management decisions.
Nowadays, the imperfect environmental protection
system of the Republic of Tajikistan operates on the principle of
“identification and correction” instead of “averting and prevention”. By
analyzing of environmental issues, it is very important to carry out a
thorough assessment of how harmonized legislative and regulatory acts
are, how interconnected and mutually conditioned are the adopted
strategic and program documents, and how much planned measures are
provided with resources. Understanding of these issues is necessary as
for minimization of irrational use of natural resources, so for
reduction of negative anthropogenic impact on the environment and its
preservation for future generations. Environmental issues presented in
socio-economic strategies and programs are not always priorities and, as
a result, are funded insufficiently (Table 1). The Committee on
Environment Protection within the Government of the Republic of
Tajikistan (CEP RT) is the main environmental state body, which
activities are funded by both public funds and special funds. Special
funds of the CEP RT are formed mainly from inputs of enterprises,
institutions, residents and non-residents, physical and juridical
persons, in the form of mandatory ecological payments for environmental
pollution, waste disposal, use of natural resources (animals and plants,
included to the Red Book and other environmental documents) and for
excessive use ofnature resources. As the Figure 1 shows, despite
improvement of
environmental activities, the facts of violation of
environmentallegislation by citizens are still taking place, leading to
increase of
ecological penalties and fines.
Source: Committee on environmental protection.
Special Committee’s funds are used for rehabilitation of
natural resources, implementation of environmental protection
measures and improvement of ecological situation accordingly
to the requirements of current legislation. The major portion
of budget financing and alternative sources is spent for implementation
of biotechnical measures. Accordingly, to the data of
Figure 2, the total amount of funding for biotechnical measures
over the past 10 years has increased sevenfold, indicating an
improvement in the work on environmental protection and stabilization
of ecological condition. Also, the funds are allocated
for the construction and restoration of environmental entities.
For these purposes, in 2018, 1396,2 thousand Tajik somoni were
allocated from the budget, that is 1.6 times more than in 2008.
In 2018, the total amount of 5524,1 thousand Tajik somoni wasallocated from special funds for construction and restoration of
environmental entities, that is 64.1 times higher in comparison
with 2008 (Figure 3). The central state executive body responsible
for environmental policy implementation is the CEP RT. Its
competence includes such important functions as environment
protection, forestry development, hydrometeorology, coordination
of implementation of environmental measures by ministries,
departments, enterprises and institutions, observation
of ecological safety standards, protection and reproduction of
natural resources and coordination of activities in fulfillment of
international agreements by the Republic of Tajikistan as well as
establishment of collaboration with international partners in the
field of environment protection (Figure 4).
Over the past 7 years, the CEP RT has undergone reorganization
four times: Ministry of Nature Protection (2003), State
Committee on Environment Protection and Forestry (2004),
Ministry of Agriculture and Nature Protection (2006), Committee
on Environment Protection (2008), which indicates the instability
of its activities and undermines the executive capacity
of its subdivisions leading to high turnover of highly qualified
personnel. In this regard, to date, the existing structure of CEP
RT remains functionally unsustainable and the potential of state
environmental management cannot fully implement its assigned
objectives, identified in numerous legislative, strategic and program
documents. First, this is stipulated by absence of special
body in the structure of the CEP RT on strategic planning, which
would deal with self-assessment and assessment of existing and
required capacity for both implementation of environmental activities
and development of measures to strengthen this capacity.
Secondly, the activities of the CEP RT structural subdivisions
are focused mainly on control of implementation environmental
legislation and normative acts by enterprises, which use natural
resources, and to a lesser extent on organization of regular
work on management and interdepartmental coordination of
environmental protection, improvement and harmonization of
environmental legislation, monitoring of environment condition,
realization of adopted decisions, advocacy of rational nature resources
use, training/retraining and certification of personnel
and all involved partners, whose activities are connected to both
environmental management and human impact on the environment
at all levels of central and local authorities.
CEP RT established its administrative offices in regions, cities
and districts all over the country to control observation of
environmental legislation and regulatory requirements to assure
prevention of environmental pollution. In general, the organizational
structure of regional departments on environment protection
is like its parent organization, the CEP RT. In accordance
with the Laws of the Republic of Tajikistan “On Local Government
Authorities”, “On Self-Government Bodies”, “On Nature Protection”,
“On Ecological Expertise”, “On Natural Protected Areas”
and etc., the key role in coordination of environmental activities
and decision-making is given to the local authorities. Local authorities
are empowered to coordinate environmental issues on
their administrative areas, such as environment protection, use
of natural resources, including allocation and withdraw of land
plots, monitoring of their purposive use, water use, etc. [4].
However, in the structure of local territorial administration
there is no special body responsible for the coordination of environmental
measures. This is probably stipulated by the fact that
environmental issues are functionally related to the activities of
municipal, industrial and agricultural sectors, water and land
administrations, etc. In addition, the local departments of environmental
protection of the CEP, which in turn do not have the
authority to coordinate the environmental activities of Khukumats’
economic sectors, are accountable to the Khukumats. This
institutional structure was established in the Soviet period and
did not undergo any changes, despite of market transformations
and national development processes in the country. The existing
duplication of functions, dual subordination between the state
authorities at all levels and between specially empowered state
and local authorities requires thorough analysis and streamlining
of functions in environmental protection activities, and primarily
at the legislative level.
Local governments, in accordance with their powers, carry
out the regulation of some issues connected to land and water
use by farms and population [5]. Nowadays, legislative regulation
of environmental activities of local governments is not legally
fixed and is limited to certain issues concerning disposal
of solid waste, landscaping and gardening. The general norms of
the Constitution of the Republic of Tajikistan concerning powers
of local authorities are reflected in the Law of the Republic
of Tajikistan “On the self-government bodies of settlements and
villages”. The place and role of the local authorities in addressing
environmental issues are not clearly formulated in the existing
legislation. These legislative acts do not contain clear differentiations
of competence between central and local governments,
as well as between specially authorized bodies, although formally
some issues are specified. The concept of powers/functions
of local self-government is completely absent in environmental
legislation and, consequently, the competence and place of local
authorities in solving of environmental issues are not defined.
Thus, the interaction of local and central authorities is the most
important condition for ensuring the effectiveness of environmental
management in general [5]. Today, one of the most important
tasks in the reform of local self-government is to develop
the effective interaction mechanism.
The system of environmental management and regulation
in
Tajikistan operated based on laws and regulations developed inthe former
Soviet Union. To date, a relatively well-developed national
environmental legislation has been created. However, the
current legislation has certain weaknesses, and namely:
a) it is somewhat declarative, due to the lack of mechanisms
and resources for the implementation of the citizens’
rights on favorable environmental conditions
b) its clauses are not sufficiently interconnected; and
mechanisms of monitoring the effectiveness of its implementation
are not developed
c) the mechanisms of its clauses interrelation with other
regulatory documents of economic sectors are not worked
out, and the functions and responsibilities of ministries and
departments to solve environmental problems and issues of
nature resources use are not clearly defined.
The existing regulatory framework requires a review as well
as inclusion of executable requirements; it should clearly reflect
the mechanisms of implementation of main clauses of adopted
legislation. In the current legislation of the Republic of Tajikistan,
the environmental protection activity is defined as “the
activity of state authorities represented by the Government and
specially empowered state bodies, local authorities, public and
other non-profit associations, juridical and physical persons
intended on conservation and rehabilitation of environment,
rational use and reproduction of natural resources, prevention
of negative impact on the environment caused by economic or
other activities”.
The national environmental legislation is based on the principle
of two-level system of legal regulation of relations in environmental
sphere, including state legislation and corresponding
regulatory acts, along with the acts adopted at the local level. At
the same time, the legislative acts do not quite clearly define the
powers of the bodies responsible for environmental policy implementation;
also, these acts are not sufficiently coordinated
with each other and often are duplicated. Insufficiency and often
the lack of financial resources as well as low level of qualification
of personnel does not allow carrying out the assigned functions
at all levels of state and local regulation of environmental
issues. Tajikistan is a party of 9 International Environmental
Conventions and two related Protocols; currently, 5 National Action
Plans are developed and implemented in order to fulfill the
correspondent commitments of the country. This was stipulated
by active integration of the country into international politics,
the need to preserve unique ecosystems and resources, stability
of species habitats, conservation of biodiversity etc. Success in
achieving of adequate results depends undoubtedly on development
of mechanisms for international and interdepartmental interaction,
attracting significant financial and economic material
resources, as well as the availability and stable growth of highly
qualified personnel.
The effectiveness of implementation Conventions by the RepublicRepublic
of Tajikistan depends largely on creation of appropriate
conditions, development of institutional capacity and interagency
cooperation. Coordination functions on implementation of
these Conventions are assigned to the leading persons of CEP
RT, who are responsible for supervision of relevant activities and
corresponding sectoral subdivisions. The formerly established
centers for direct cooperation with Secretariats of Conventions
on realization of National Action Plans (programs, strategies
etc.) and fulfillment of country obligations accordingly to Conventions’
requirements, are now abrogated. At the same time,
the development of international environmental policy and implementation
of corresponding strategies require improvement
of management structure of CEP RT. The basic strategic document
on national development is “National Development Strategy
of the Republic of Tajikistan for the period until 2030” where
the following clauses are specified: (Goal 7): “Achievement of environmental
sustainability” and (Task 9): “Inclusion of sustainable
development principles to the national strategies and programs
for prevention of natural resources loss.” Tajikistan is one
of Central Asian countries having relatively small area of arable
land. Provision of irrigated land per capita is only 0.116 ha and
0.006 ha of irrigated arable land, including 0.09 ha of ploughlands.
Lands, which are suitable for cultivation of agricultural
crops, occupy only 8% of the territory. Low natural soils fertility
causes significant costs for agrotechnical and reclamation works.
At the same time, the current tendency of agricultural sector development
and financial incentives from government sector and
international organizations have helped to ensure food provision
in the country through a consistent and steady growth of
agricultural production, increase of income and employment of
population.
In Tajikistan, the economic mechanisms for integration of
environmental protection and rational nature management are
based on general methods of payment for natural resources use.
These include taxes on land and subsoil use, payment for services
for collection, removal and disposal of waste, use of sewage
system, water supply, penalty for violation of water legislation,
air pollution, damages caused to forestry due to illegal felling,
damage by plucking of plant resources, destruction and illegal
collection of plants and hunting of animals listed in the Red Book.
The main sources of environmental activities funding are:
a) Budget financing, which includes financing of the
managerial office and staff, monitoring and research activities,
partial funding of targeted programs on protected areas maintenance,
reforestation, programs for sanitary cleaning of cities and
other settlements.
b) Internal funds of enterprises, which are deducted directly
from the company’s profits for the construction and rehabilitation
of environmental facilities, for modernization of technological
processes, as well as payment for depreciation in order
to restore the fixed assets of environmental entities.
c) Ecological funds, which are formed out of payments for
environmental pollution and other fines, collected both in cities
and districts, are distributed as the following: 60% remain in disposal
of these cities/districts, 30% are transferred to the regional
fund and 10% - to the state environmental fund.
Out of all in payments to the environmental fund, which
were collected in cities and districts of the republican subordination,
which then should be transferred to the state environmental
funds, 30% are reserved for ecological activities in the
region from where these in payments are. All in payments are
imposed the 10% tax, which in transferred to the state budget.
In recent years, the in payments to the funds are gradually increased,
which is essential factor for implementation of planned
environmental activities. The main expenses from the funds include
financing of costs for forest planting, land improvement,
development of local action plans, ecological education etc. Inadequate
transparency in allocation of these funds makes it impossible
for enterprises and public to understand which activities
are chosen for financing [6]. Thus, the results of deep analysis of
effectiveness of environmental protection system and its financial
sources, showed the necessity of revision of the entire environmental-
economic policy of taxation and payments as well as
finding of new sources of financing for solution of such essential
issues as continuing degradation of the environment due to
absence of effective economic incentives for implementation of
preventive measures, compensation for environmental damage
due to irrational natural resources use, and prevention of environmental
pollution.
Introduction of best practices on rational nature
resources
use and corresponding payment for it can ensure the finding of
additional financing sources for improvement of environmental
measures [7]. One of such efficient technologies is payment for
ecosystem services (PES). Payment for ecosystem services is the
compensation paid to the “supplier” of ecosystem services by
their “consumer”. Suppliers of ecosystem services are economic
entities (factually, it may be any physical or juridical persons),
in whose activities certain ecosystem services are “produced” or
maintained at the existing level. Ecosystem services are not “produced”
by man in the literal sense of the word. However, certain
actions of individual people or organizations (in particular, protected
areas) are aimed at preserving the ecosystems and their
properties, which are necessary for production of ecosystem
services. For example, taking into consideration of the country
specifics, an important type of ecosystem services is to maintain
high quality of fresh water in the rivers. The service providers
will be land and water users whose plots are located in the upper
reaches of the river; the methods they use for farming (including
the extent of their consumption of fertilizers and pesticides,
deforestation or, conversely, reforestation, normalized consumption
and pollution of water resources, etc.) impact directly on
quality and quantity of water downstream. If this quality is kept
on fixed level because of certain actions of upstream land users,it is
considered as provision of ecosystem services by the service
providers.
Users of ecosystem services are the economic entities that
benefit economically from using the service and ready to pay for
it. In the legislation of the Republic of Tajikistan, an ecosystem is
defined as a dynamically developing complex of plants, animals,
microorganisms and their habitat, functioning as a single unit.
There is no direct definition of ecosystem services in the legislation,
but they are indirectly defined as the benefits that people
receive from ecosystems. All ecosystem services are conditionally
divided as: supplying (food, water, forest, raw materials), regulating
(impact on climate, control over floods, natural disasters,
quality of water resources, etc.), cultural (recreational resources,
aesthetic and spiritual values of nature) and supporting services
(soil formation, photosynthesis, nitrogen cycle, etc.).
Thus, payments for ecosystem services (PES) provide incentives
for owners of natural resources, such as farmers and forestry
owners, to manage resources in such a way as to provide ecosystem
services. PES is the additional source of replenishment
for ecosystem service providers, which can be used to perform
their planned activities and achievement of their tasks that have
a beneficial effect on improvement of both nature resources use
and environmental condition. The mandatory audit is an appropriate
prerequisite for use of PES funds purposively, including
prevention of negligence and assurance of effectiveness of their
spending. In these cases, it is advisable to conduct the audit of
ecosystem providers not by audit firms or individual auditors
with general competence but by the certified auditing companies,
which are qualified in environmental issues. Only such
auditing companies can make appropriate assessment of effectiveness
and completeness of PES funds use for environmental
activities and rationalization of nature resources use in frame of
PES agreements. In Tajikistan, this type of audit is conducted by
the CEP Environmental Audit Service within the Government of
the Republic of Tajikistan. Audit of PES funds is relatively new
sphere because the PES is recently introduced technology and,
consequently, is not widely spread due to undeveloped normative-
legal base, low awareness of the population in general and
farmers about its essence etc.
In future, in the context of PES development and full-scale
application, it is necessary to conduct researches intended to
improvement of accounting methods and auditing of revenues
from PES, to introduce the control over PES rational use, as well
as elaboration and introduction of special reporting forms on
PES funds use for ecosystem service providers. Annotation. This
article reflects the issues of effective management of environmental
protection system, condition of regulatory framework
that allows development of environmental activities, analysis
of funding sources, possibilities of finding new sources of environmental
activities financing, which also include payments for
ecosystem services. Also, the concept of environmental activitiesis clarified; non-traditional approaches and modern practice,
which simultaneously have a stimulating and disabling effect on
environmental activities, are identified; and fundamental management
principles are defined. Organizational structure of main
environmental authority is analyzed in detail, and the forms of
environmental management are reviewed. The institutional
framework of environmental activities development as well as
advantages and disadvantages of environmental legislation are
described in detail.
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