This year, the Environmental Control Service, which runs under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection of Turkmenistan, marks its decade of activity. This institution, which has been operating since 10 January 2013, oversees the application of legislation in the field of industrial and other economic operations, as well as guaranteeing ecologically safe conditions and monitoring the natural environment.
The activities of the service are described in detail in an article by its representative Nurtyach Geoklenova, published in the newspaper “Neutral Turkmenistan” (18 Jan 2023).
As it is noted in the material, for ten years the Service has carried out state supervision over the extraction and use of hydrocarbon and other natural resources, the state of soils, surface and groundwater (except hydrothermal vents) in order to identify any changes in the state and quality of the natural environment.
The Service has the authority to impose restrictions, suspend operations, or order the cancellation of permits for the use of specific natural resources if environmental laws are broken. It may also impose fines and file claims for compensation for harm from environmental pollution, among other things.
In addition, environmentalists are constantly monitoring the components of the natural environment – water, air and soil. Production waste generated as a result of the activities of industrial enterprises of the public and private sectors, as well as ozone-depleting substances at the capital’s enterprises, is being recorded.
In particular, the Service participates in the procedure of identification of ozone-depleting substances for issuing permits for their import into Turkmenistan. Drafts of legislative and other regulatory legal acts, pre-project and project materials, documentation on the introduction of new equipment, technologies, materials, substances, products are subject to examination.
Every day, specialists take air samples from city regular monitoring stations and subject them to chemical analysis in the laboratory of the Service. Similar information is received on a daily basis from the Balkan, Mary, Lebap and Dashoguz provinces, where regional offices are located. The state of the air is checked for a number of major pollutants, including dust, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and oxide, phenol, etc. The received data is analyzed, processed and archived.
Additionally, mobile monitoring of pollutants content in the air is done in the capital’s crowded parking lots and construction zones. For this purpose, vehicles are checked by the Road Supervision Service of the Police of the interior ministry of Turkmenistan for the presence of harmful substances in their exhaust gases and for compliance with acceptable standards.
On a regular basis, the condition of all surface waters in the country is checked for more than twenty indicators. These are the physical properties of water, total mineralization, major ions, biogenic and specific pollutants, etc. The survey area of the Ashgabat office of the Service includes the Karakum River, the Tejen River, the small Archabil and Sekizyab rivers, as well as hydraulic engineering facilities, including the Kopetdag reservoir, etc.
Annually in the spring and autumn seasons, soil samples are taken for ionic components – bicarbonate, chloride, calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium sulfates to determine the degree of salinity of agricultural soils for further planning of recultivation and salinization of cultivated areas and pasture lands.
Environmental expertise is a specific type of activity, the result of which consists of many years of efforts, serves for the future, prevents the negative impact of anthropogenic activities on the state of ecology and human health. In modern conditions of automation and digitalization of productive forces, comprehensive improvement of the material and cultural standard of living of people, the solution of problems of nature protection, conservation, restoration and improvement of its condition is of great importance. And the task of environmentalists is to contribute to maintaining economic growth, a healthy environment for people and all agrobiodiversity, maintaining ecological balance and preserving the beauty of nature for future generations. ///nCa, 18 January 2023