The 25th UN Climate Change Conference (COP25) has completed its work in the capital of Spain, Madrid. Over 25 thousand people from almost 200 countries took part in it. The conference was attended by representatives of Central Asia. Representatives of the project of the Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia “The Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Program for the Aral Sea Basin” (CAMP4ASB), financed by the World Bank, informed us about the events of the Central Asian countries that took place within the framework of the conference.
The conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change is held annually. It serves as a global platform for reporting on countries' compliance with the Convention and the Paris Agreement.
The experts are sounding the alarm: the gap between the projected level of emissions by 2030 and the goals of the Paris Agreement is growing rapidly. Humanity is not doing enough to stop climate catastrophe.
Opening the conference on December 2, 2019, UN Secretary-General António Guterres encouraged people to take more decisive measures to combat global warming.
“If we do not change our lifestyle right now, then we will undoubtedly jeopardize life as such,” he emphasized.
The countries of the Central Asian region are parties to the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement. They made commitments under the 2030 Agenda and voluntary nationally determined contributions (NDCs). All these measures are important given the fact that Central Asia is very sensitive to the effects of climate change, which negatively affects the economy, water, energy, agriculture, and health.
Photo: Water crisis. The photo was taken in the Roshkalinskydistrict of the Republic of Tajikistan. Residents have to go down from houses and walk 10 kilometers to fill their flasks with water from the Panj River. Photo by Maksud Gayesov.
All these days, representatives of Central Asia actively participated in the conference and informed colleagues and parties about the progress of countries in combating climate change.
The CAMP4ASB program held working meetings with potential partners for implementing projects in Central Asia and supported the delegations of Central Asian countries at meetings and presentations.
On December 4, 2019, the side event “Turkmenistan: Exchange of Experience in Promoting Climate Plans and Programs” was held. The event, which aroused great interest among the conference participants, was organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection of Turkmenistan with the participation of representatives of national hydrometeorological services and environmental agencies of Central Asian countries.
Photo: Irina Bekmirzaeva, regional coordinator of the project “The Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Program for the Aral Sea Basin” (CAMP4ASB) is giving a speech at the side event “Turkmenistan: Exchange of Experience in Promoting Climate Plans and Programs”.
In Turkmenistan, climate change adaptation issues play an important role. The decisive policy of Turkmenistan in this direction is confirmed by the developed national plans, which incorporate energy-efficient and energy-saving development models in the context of diversification of the country's economy.
A set of adaptation measures has been planned to:
• rationally use natural resources,
• combat land degradation,
• develop forestry and expand forest areas,
• improve the condition of irrigated lands,
• prevent soil salinization.
Measures aimed to increase the forest area in the country serve as a tool to neutralize carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, stabilize the soil, and prevent its erosion. The national forest program aims to continue large-scale activities to increase forest plantations. Nationwide campaigns are held annually as a part of this program to plant up to 3 million seedlings. Over the past 20 years, over 100 million trees (coniferous and deciduous) have been planted in Turkmenistan. The taken measures contribute to the annual reduction of emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere. For example, in the period 2015-2018, emissions decreased by almost 20%.
Photo: Discussion held at the side-event “Turkmenistan: exchange of experience in promoting climate plans and programs”.
Work aimed at achieving resilience to climate change requires creative thinking and a willingness to apply new approaches and methods. Taking this into account, the organizers of the conference presented the Resilience Lab. This site has become the venue for events related to sustainable development. During the conference, representatives of Central Asia spoke on this global platform twice. On December 7, 2019, the first deputy general director of the Center for Hydrometeorological Service of Uzbekistan Bahriddin Nishonov gave a speech about the work of the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan aimed at mitigating the effects of environmental disasters in the Aral Sea basin.
Photo: The ecological disaster of the Aral Sea and its consequences. Photo by Azamat Matkarimov.
Since 2017, Uzbekistan has been taking several important measures to combat the consequences of the Aral crisis. These measures affect:
• the state of drinking water supply to the affected areas,
• measures to improve public health,
• forestry activities in 2018-19 aimed to stop sandstorms from the dried bottom of the Aral Sea.
The President of the Republic of Uzbekistan ShavkatMirziyoyev put forward some important initiatives that, if implemented, will dramatically improve the environmental situation in the region.
Photo: The First Deputy General Director of the Center of the Hydrometeorological Service of Uzbekistan Bahriddin Nishonovgiving speech at COP25.
Nishonov proposed to declare the Aral Sea the area of ecological innovations and technologies and called for transforming the crisis into new opportunities. To implement this idea, the work on the development of a new concept of the Aral Sea region was put in force. It includes:
• development and production of innovative products;
• sustainable production processes that reduce the negative impact on the environment,
• introduction of a green economy, green investments, etc.
On December 9, 2019, Zafar Makhmudov, Executive Director of the Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia, gave a speech at the Sustainability Laboratory site.
The Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia (CAREC) is an independent, non-political, non-profit international organization with the mission to assist the governments of Central Asian countries, regional and international partners in solving environmental problems and sustainable development in the Central Asian region. CAREC is an observer organization of the IPCC.
Makhmudov presented the approach launched in Central Asia aimed to improve water resources management by creating small basin councils in the region. The methodology was developed jointly by GIZ and CAREC and work in this direction is currently being carried out under the project "Water, Education and Cooperation" (Smart Waters) with financial support from USAID.
Photo: CAREC Executive Director Zafar Makhmudov speaks at the COP25 conference.
One of the most pressing issues related to climate change is the increasing shortage of drinking water, as well as the difficulties arising from the distribution of water. Small basin councils based on the principles of integrated water resources management are called upon to regulate this problem. At each water body, a basin council is created, which includes as many interested parties as possible. They include water users, associations of water users, farmers, NGOs, councils of elders, government agencies involved in water resources management (water enterprises, sanitary and epidemiological stations, city water utilities), and representatives of the Ministry of Emergencies and many other parties. All decisions related to water distribution and access to water are taken jointly and the responsibilities are fairly distributed among all parties. In his speech, the CAREC Executive Director spoke about the implementation of this approach using the example of two transboundary rivers - Isfara and Aspara. Basin-wide transboundary councils were created on both rivers with support of CAREC. As a result, water problems were resolved with minimal financial investments. The parties sat down at the “negotiation table” and peacefully resolved not only old, but also arisen issues, and also made decisions on the introduction of resource-saving technologies. The benefits of creating basin councils are obvious, therefore, nowadays all the Central Asian countries are introducing a basin approach to water legislation in their territories.
Thus, the countries of Central Asia presented their experience in promoting plans and programs in the field of climate change, exchanged information and knowledge with other countries at the UN Conference on Climate Change, held in Madrid. Central Asia is of great interest to the world community, therefore it is important to represent it more and more often at such global events and talk about the problems and achievements of the region in the field of environmental protection and issues related to climate change.
The project “Adaptation to Climate Change and Mitigation in the Aral Sea Basin” (CAMP4ASB) (http://ca-climate.org/) is aimed to solve common problems and challenges associated with the consequences of climate change in Central Asia through enhancing access to improved knowledge and data on climate change for key stakeholders (decision-makers, expert communities, etc.), as well as through increased investment and technical capacity-building. The project implementation is taking place from 2016 to 2021
________________________________________________________________
PHOTOs
Photo at the beginning of the article: Erkin Bolzhurov. "Forced crossing." After another flood, the women of the village of Kulcho are forced to wade a cold river to get to the neighboring village.
Photos were sent to the PHOTO COMPETITION “50 images of the effects of climate change”, which took place as part of the The Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Program for the Aral Sea Basin (CAMP4ASB).
Photos from the conference were provided by project # CAMP4ASB.
____________________
