Environmental Issues of Mining Industry in Uzbekistan

The mining industry is important for the sustainable development of Uzbekistan. At the same time, mining damages the environment and leads to land degradation. Over the past decade, free economic zones (FEZ) have been created to improve Republic of Uzbekistan’s economic growth and attraction of investments. Most FEZs are based on already existing mining complexes. Over the past 70 years, a large amount of waste has already accumulated on the territory of mining enterprises of Uzbekistan. This has a number of extremely negative effects on the state of the environment. In this research manuscript, we assess the environmental conditions of the two largest industrial FEZs in Uzbekistan: Navoi and Angren. In particular, this article presents the historical context and describes the accumulation of environmental damage present in FEZs due to the decades of mining in these areas. Based on these concerns, a number of measures that are important for the conservation and maintenance of natural assets are identified.