HDR 2003, Human Capacity of Belarus: Economic Challenges and Social Responses
From WaterWiki.net
Publication Title | Human Capacity of Belarus: Economic Challenges and Social Responses |
Publication Type | |
Author(s) | |
Publication Date | 2003
|
ISBN-ISSN-EAN | |
Publication URL | |
Contact | |
|
Contents |
Summary
The report pays a great deal of attention to the analysis of modern economic conditions, the identification of key economic development problems and their causes, and rationale for the ways and means to address them. The original purpose was not to try to understate the extent of problems facing the economy, but rather to give a clear and impartial analysis of the current state of the economy, as well as the causes of the major negative processes within it.
The range of human development challenges in Belarus would be incomplete without an ecological component, especially in light of the consequences of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster, and the technical and technological capacity of the economy. Based on the analysis of main elements of the natural environment and parameters of industrial impact on ecosystems, the report makes the conclusion that there has been a reduction of negative anthropogenic influences on nature in the past decade. At the same time, the report mentions that this improvement has not yet led to positive changes in public health, considered as an integrated indicator of environmental security in most of countries. In addition, the study convincingly shows that ecological threats have not disappeared, but in many cases have an ever-increasing potential due to the high deterioration of industrial fixed assets (over 70 percent). In the future, radical improvement of the country’s ecosystem will depend on the efficiency of technical and technological renewal of production and rehabilitation of the contaminated areas. This topic logically unfolds further in the report, with the main focus placed on the following triad:
-development of environmentally unsound regions (problem regions);
- mitigation of Chernobyl disaster effects;
-rationale for the long-term sustainable development concept of problem regions.
