Tajikistan Health and Pollution Action Plan.

Tajikistan Health and Pollution Action Plan (HPAP) establishes as one of the main objectives of the legislative and institutional framework ensuring interaction and collaboration of different sectors of the society on solving environmental problems. The main sectors include the authorities, business/industry and civil society. However presently in Tajikistan the development of economy is favored over the needs of environmental protection. And this has a negative effect on the interdepartmental coordination between government structures. The authority and role of the main environmental agency is declining. Presently the intersectoral interaction is most effective in the cooperation of state bodies with the civil society organization and less effective with business. This situation may improve as more businesses participate in some non-profit organizations, such as the Association of Small and Medium Business, Unions of Entrepreneurs, etc.
HPAP activities will be based on the following principles: (a) community involvement. Effective implementation of the Stockholm Convention on POPs needs effective coordination between the government, industry and nongovernmental organizations and communities; (b) transparency and providing general public information about POPs issues; (c) compliance with international criteria, standards and regulations, updates of existing national standards; (d) support to research on chemicals - alternatives to POPs; (e) clear distribution of responsibilities between national partners reflected in a separate detailed agreement; (f) timely compliance with undertaken obligations to avoid having exemptions on POPs; (g) cost-effectiveness of the action plan; (h) consideration of the real economic capacity of enterprises; and (i) compliance with Best Available Techniques (BAT)/Best Environmental Practices (BEP) principles.