New Year's holidays are approaching — and very soon the clock will strike 12 times. This means that it's time to prepare gifts, make a menu for a festive table, in a word, it's time for shopping.

The USAID Regional Project on Water Resources and the Environment, together with the State Committee of Water Management of Turkmenistan, has strengthened the shoreline of the Shavat Canal in the Dashoguz region. For this purpose, coastal protection forest strips were created along the canal, which is the main waterway of the city of Dashoguz and the surrounding area.

The World Agreement on the Conservation of biodiversity until 2030 was signed following the XV Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biodiversity (COP15), which ended in the Canadian city of Montreal, China Daily reports. It was adopted after four years of discussions and two weeks of intensive negotiations.

The Commission for the Conservation and Rational Use of Aquatic Biological Resources and Management of their Joint Stocks of the Caspian Sea is discussing the extension of the ban on commercial fishing of sturgeon species in 2023, as well as the restoration of sturgeon stocks. It is planned that the catch of sturgeon in 2023 will be carried out only for research purposes and for artificial reproduction.

The United Nations has declared March 30 the International Zero Waste Day, supporting the project carried out under the patronage of the wife of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan - Emine Erdogan "Zero Waste".

The Research and Production Center "Renewable Energy Sources" of the State Energy Institute of Turkmenistan checks the relevance of the use of 120 watt LED lamps in arid climates, whose power supply is provided by solar panels.

The American space agency NASA has launched a satellite that is expected to change the way we think about water on Earth.

A practical seminar held in Turkmenabat by specialists from the Hydrometeorological Services operating in Ashgabat and regions of the country, as well as experts from the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection of Turkmenistan, UNDP and the Green Climate Fund was devoted to proper use of hydrological equipment and instruments that serve to monitor the hydrological regime of the waters of rivers, lakes, reservoirs and other water bodies.

The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (also known as the CMS or the Bonn Convention) and the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation plan to organize a meeting of the range states of the Persian leopard to adopt a Regional Strategy for the Conservation of the Species as part of the Central Asia Mammals Initiative.

The Caspian Sea has once again amazed Instagram users with its stunning views. Azamat Sarsenbaev, a resident of Aktau and the author of numerous videos about the nature of Kazakhstan, recently published a video of a partially ice-covered sea. Astana Times writes about this on Sunday, presenting this video to readers.