United Nations Economic Commission for Europe for Suggestions and Comments
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Unofficial translation* SUMMARY REPORT UNDER THE PROTOCOL ON WATER AND HEALTH THE REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN Part One General aspects 1. Were targets and target dates established in your country in accordance with article 6 of the Protocol? Please provide detailed information on the target areas in Part Three. YES ☐ NO ☐ IN PROGRESS If targets have been revised, please provide details here. 2. Were they published and, if so, how? Please explain whether the targets and target dates were published, made available to the public (e.g. online, official publication, media) and communicated to the secretariat. The draft document on target setting was presented in December 2015 to the WHO Regional Office for Europe and United Nations Economic Commission for Europe for suggestions and comments. After the draft document review, its discussion with the public is planned. To get suggestions and comments it will be made available on the website of Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan Republic and Ministry of Health of Azerbaijan Republic. Azerbaijan Republic ratified the Protocol on Water and Health in 2012 and as a Protocol Party participated in two cycles of the previous reporting. At present the targets project is prepared and sent to the WHO Regional Office for Europe and United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. It should be noted that the seminar to support the progress of setting targets under the Protocol on Water and Health was held in Baku on 29 September 2015. More than 40 representatives of different ministries and agencies, responsible for water and health issues, participated in it. * The UNECE does not guarantee the accuracy of the translation. 3. Has your country established national or local arrangements for coordination between competent authorities for setting targets? If so please describe, including information on which public authority(ies) took the leadership and coordinating role, which public authorities were involved and how coordination was ensured. In the process of targets setting in Azerbaijan, the following main authorities participated: -Ministry of Health, -Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, -Ministry of Emergency Situations, As well as the representatives of JSC Azersu, Regulatory agencies and an independent expert. Under the leadership of Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan Republic, the working group was formed. The representative of Ministry of Health headed the working group, which included the mentioned above organizations. 4. Which existing national and international strategies and legislation were taken into account? Please briefly mention the most relevant national and international strategies and instruments that were taken into account when setting targets (only a limited number of references are required under this question; indicatively, five references are considered appropriate, but the number will depend on your national situation). In accordance with the Concept of Development «Azerbaijan 2020: Outlook for the Future», stating the high-priority development path of the country, Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources has formulated the plan of the activities of the Ministry for the period of until 2020. This plan provides ecological safety by reducing environmental pollution and rational use of natural resources. In the context of tackling global ecological problems, the Strategic Activities Plan provides for conducting demands evaluation, setting high-priority development path of ecological policy and extension of international cooperation in the sphere of environmental protection. The main targets of the Activities Plan are: -improvement of environmental situation; -growth of the country’s population welfare and health; -promotion of non-waste technology development; -guarantee of sustainable development of country’s ecosystem for the future generations. To achieve the targets planned, the Activities Plan provides for fulfilling the corresponding measures, taking into account economical, ecological and social outcomes for the nearest future and long-run period. While fulfilling these measures, the opinions of all the parties concerned were taken into consideration. They are based on the following principles: 2 - restricting the activities of the enterprises, having an adverse impact on the environment; - applying international expertise and the best practices in the sphere of environment protection; -enhancing public awareness campaign for ecological culture among the population. As for environmental protection in Azerbaijan, the great emphasis is made on the issues of management, regulation and protection of water resources. The government’s high-priority activities include creating harmless drinking water supplies and providing population with ecologically pure water, as well as reducing the number of water related diseases. Azerbaijan accounts for 10% of total amount of water supplies in the South Caucasus. The territory of Azerbaijan is located in the underflow of the river Kura basin, which waters are contaminated with sewage and untreated water, as well as other various wastes from the territory of Armenia and Georgia. Due to it, Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources organizes and conducts monitoring works on 41 water objects, including 26 rivers, 10 lakes, 4 water reservoirs and water basins of the Caspian Sea. Monitoring helps to estimate the degree of surface waters contamination and predict the development of these situations, as well as to work out measures aimed at improving monitoring observations. The state program on «Socio-economic development of the Republic of Azerbaijan regions for the period of 2014-2018» specifies development and implementation of «National plan of integrated water resources management ». At present, «The program of measures aimed at improving ecological situation and rational use of the Azerbaijan Republic water resources for 2016-2020» has been worked out and the procedure of approval is being completed. Renovating its economic system, Azerbaijan considers the country’s development to be the greatest advantage in the framework of the modern requirements and standards. The most important part of all the agreements made between the EU and Azerbaijan is harmonization of its legislation with the EU legislation in the sphere of environmental protection, especially when it comes to water resources management, directly influencing the country’s population health. In Azerbaijan, water basins use and protection related legal relations are regulated by Water Code (1997), the following water resources usage laws are also in force: - Law on sanitary and epidemiological welfare, 1992; - Law on amelioration and irrigation, 1996; - Law on water supply and wastewaters, 1999; - Law on hydrometereological activity,1998; - Law on environmental protection, 1999; - Law on environmental safety, 1999; - Law on water economy of municipalities, 2001; - Law on safety of hydrotechnical facilities, 2002 and other regulations. To tackle the problems related to water relations successfully, more than 30 laws and regulation acts have been adopted. Within the scope of the program "Eastern partnership" of European Neighborhood Policy, the priorities, including such targets as harmonization of legislation and improvement of 3 administrative management principles, were set forth. For the purposes thereof, the following work was conducted in the period under consideration: - draft law on «Green Spaces Protection», adopted by the Parliament of Azerbaijan has been developed; - draft law on « Environmental Impact Assessment», which is under the approval process, has been worked out; - draft law on «Ecological Auditory Activity» (in the process of being approved) has been developed; -amendments to the law on «Atmospheric Air Protection», which has been approved by the appropriate ministries; -national law and regulation acts in the sphere of environmental impact and loads assessment, which will promote the improvement of management mechanisms, have been enabled; - normative-technical standards for «City sewage water treatment in view of the requirements of Water Framework Directive of EU» have been developed. - 5 ISO standards have been prepared. The reconstruction of water supply and sanitation systems sector is performed by the government of the Azerbaijan Republic, using the budget funds, as well as attracting various international financial institutions, fulfilling a number of projects. Nonalignment of neighboring region countries to he Convention of Helsinki on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention) hampers tackling the problem, connected with management and protection of water resources on transboundary rivers. Measures taken to protect water ecosystems At present Azerbaijan has a developed structure of ecological management, allowing for efficient decisions to be taken and for rational usage mechanism to be improved. For the purposes of ecological problems successive solutions, a number of national programs and development plans have been worked out: • State Program for “Poverty reduction and sustainable development in the Republic of Azerbaijan for years 2008-2015”; • State Program for “Socio-economic development of the regions of Azerbaijan Republic for the period of 2014-2018”; • State Program for “Socio-economic development of Baku City and its settlements for the period of 2014-2018”; • National Program for “sustainable socio-economic development of the country”;