Ecology — A Category of National Security
A meeting of the permanent commission of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (IPA) of the CIS on agricultural policy, natural resources, and ecology was held on the shores of Issyk-Kul. It was chaired by its head, the chair of the Moldovan Parliament's Commission on Environment and Climate Change, Violeta Ivanov. Participants in the meeting included parliamentarians from the member states of the Commonwealth from the upper legislative bodies of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
The chair of the IPA CIS Commission on agricultural policy, natural resources, and ecology, Violeta Ivanov, thanked the host country for creating comfortable working conditions, which, according to her, took place in a unique location that can be called a piece of paradise. She noted that the commission meeting format included discussions on very useful and necessary model laws and recommendations for the CIS countries, primarily concerning environmental issues that cannot be addressed partially, as they have no borders. We have many transboundary waters, territories, and other factors. At the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the issue of ecology was raised to the same level as the issues of the economy and social protection.
At Issyk-Kul, work was conducted on the development of five model laws — this is a draft concept on environmental expertise in a new edition, which was reviewed taking into account strategic environmental assessment and from the perspective of environmental impact. The issue of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) was also discussed, as this problem is currently being addressed at a global level. At the commission meeting, basic methodologies for the use and labeling of GMOs were developed to ensure they do not harm either the environment or humans.
The issue of environmental safety was also considered. In all countries, it is currently addressed within the framework of national security because it is impossible to talk about it without touching on the topic of agricultural production and its consequences. "And since many interesting proposals were made," V. Ivanov said, "we asked the developers to consider them and supplement the laws discussed by the commission. At the next meeting, which will take place in October in St. Petersburg, they will be approved for adoption within the framework of the IPA CIS."
In turn, the member states of the Commonwealth, considering the laws under discussion, will harmonize them and use them as a basis for developing national legislative acts. "Each country should choose what is most necessary for itself, and although the specifics of our states are different, there are many relevant pressing issues that need to be addressed together, such as the preservation and restoration of agrobiodiversity, prevention and minimization of the negative impact of biocides on the environment," V. Ivanov concluded.
There, at Issyk-Kul, a meeting of the Permanent Commission of the IPA of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) on agricultural policy, natural resource management, and ecology was also held, chaired by its head, the deputy head of the Federation Council Committee of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on agricultural and food policy and natural resource management, Sergey Belousov. Parliamentarians, including those from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Russia, considered a number of projects on harmonizing the legislative acts of the EAEU member states in the field of environmental safety. The meeting also adopted a number of recommendations on harmonizing the legislation of the EAEU member states regarding sanitary and epidemiological safety in areas where hazardous facilities are located, as well as on safety in genetic engineering activities.
Deputies from the CIS countries noted as a positive example the adoption by the Jogorku Kenesh of the draft law "On the prohibition of the cultivation, production, import, and sale in the Kyrgyz Republic of products containing genetically modified organisms."
Subsequently, parliamentarians from the CIS countries participated in the second international cultural and educational forum "Children of the Commonwealth," the official opening ceremony of which took place at the historical and cultural center "Rukh Ordo." Delegations of child leaders from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan attended the forum. At the ceremony, the deputy chair of the Jogorku Kenesh Committee on International Affairs, Bakhtyiar Kadyrov, read a greeting to the participants of the "Children of the Commonwealth" forum from the speaker of the Jogorku Kenesh, Asylbek Jeenbekov, which noted that the international meeting of children on the shores of the Kyrgyz pearl is already becoming traditional. The speaker of the Jogorku Kenesh emphasized that all children deserve good upbringing and education, and for this, the state must create the necessary conditions, and the parliaments of the Commonwealth countries are making active efforts to form a friendly space for the development of the younger generation.
This year, the theme of the important and serious conversation between children and adults at the forum was ecological culture and the ecology of intercultural dialogue. Together with the parliamentarians of the IPA CIS, participants of the youth camp at Issyk-Kul held a roundtable dialogue on the legal provision of sustainable development of the CIS member states.
Alexander SHEPELENKO.
