The national meeting in the Republic of Kazakhstan with representatives of CSOs took place on March 31, 2021, in Nur-Sutan, Kazakhstan in online mode.
Uniting the common efforts to develop the policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan for the 26th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC has become a priority goal of a large-scale online meeting of representatives of civil society organizations.
Representatives of the Department of Climate Policy and Green Technologies, Department of Environmental Policy and Sustainable Development of the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Environmental non-profit organizations, OSCE Center in Nur-Sultan, UNDP, embassies in the Republic of Kazakhstan together with leading experts on environmental protection enjoyed live communication and exchange of experience. Participants kept their focus on opportunities and tools in terms of their effectiveness and involvement of the broad public in the discussion of legislative initiatives on the environment throughout the meeting.
The member of the CAREC Board of Governors, Chair of the Association of Legal Entities "Civil Alliance of Pavlodar oblast" Svetlana Mogilyuk emphasized the CAREC role in generalizing practices that are promoted at the level of local communities. She outlined out the problems that should be addressed. Among them - the problem of incineration of household waste, which increases greenhouse gas emissions; the problem of fuel poverty - the use of low-quality fuel, the incineration of plastic waste. She highlighted the need to promote climate issues in environmental education, and also raised the issue of the need for more active funding of NGOs' activities in the framework of climate change.
Director of the CAREC branch in the Republic of Kazakhstan Shynar Toilybayeva presented the CAMP4ASB project achievements for 2020.
CAREC Consultant Ismail Dairov in his speech “Facilitating policy dialogue and capacity building for Central Asian countries to the 26th COP of the UNFCCC” named main documents that will form the basis of the regional project of the countries of Central Asia at the 26th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC.
“The cleared text of the regional declaration will serve as the basis for an appeal for donors' support at the meetings in Bonn, Rome, and COP-26 in Glasgow,” said Ismail Dairov. He believes, Central Asia is the most vulnerable region in the world and it is important to demonstrate the problems of the region at the international level. This is one of the tasks of the regional declaration. If the regional statement allows reaching the political consensus then the problems of the region, including financing, climate adaptation, new technologies implementation, can be tackled systematically within the framework of negotiating groups and at the next COPs of the UNFCCC.
CAREC consultant Bulat Yessekin informed the participants about the work done within the framework of the CAMP4ASB project. He reported about the collection and dissemination of over 120 technologies for climate change adaptation. We selected simple, proven, available technologies in such areas as access to water, access to energy, food production. For example, dirty water treatment technology is simple and inexpensive, no more than $ 50 worth. Bulat Yessekin highlighted the importance of designing local action plans to mitigate climate change for farmers. “Over 30 million population in Central Asia is potential and interested users of these initiatives,” said Bulat Yessekin. He expressed gratitude to CAREC, the organization included this important component of climate resilient technologies into its CAMP4ASB project.
According to the discussion’s results, it is planned to organize regional meetings, thereby giving impetus to the national processes of public participation in the lawmaking and the implementation of programs and strategies in climate change.
The online meeting was organized by the Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia (CAREC) within the framework of the regional project of the World Bank / EC IFAS “Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Program for Aral Sea Basin" (CAMP4ASB).